Jamie Wilso/ Stockxpert
 For many, music is so much a part of our lives that we often forget its potential as therapy. Music affects us in many ways. It can help us relax, reminisce and generally feel better. Becausemusic affects the brain on many levels, it can be used to alleviate or help improve certain physical, psychological and cognitive conditions.
Music is not processed in one specific region of the brain but rather is processed in many areas, suggesting its potential for multiple therapeutic applications.
What is music therapy?
Music therapy is the systematic use of music within a developing relationship between a professional music therapist and a person to restore, maintain, and/or improve physical, emotional, psychosocial and neurological function.
Not only songs, but the various components of music, such as a specific tone or frequency of sound, certain patterns of beat or rhythm, harmony, and melody can be used independently to provide a clinical effect. The music therapist will work with the person to explore various types of music and/or actively engage them in musical improvisations to assess how music can maximise therapeutic outcomes.
How can music therapy help people with MS?
From aiding in stress management to reducing pain and spasticity, research in music therapy indicates that it can have a positive impact on many issues faced by people with MS, particularly psychological. For example, the rhythm of music can be used to help with balance and coordination. Rhythm can stimulate the impulse to move and help maintain motivation to increase physical activity. People who listen to music while they walk or exercise find that their movements are more even.
The music therapist explores various rhythmic patterns or musical styles with the patient to establish which patterns will help with walking, balance and movement in general. People with MS report that by focusing on rhythm and trying to feel its pulse they can walk or perform consecutive tasks better. Increased physical activity and attention can also be encouraged in those with even limited function through therapeutic drumming and rhythm-based activities that allow for spontaneous responses.
Music therapy can also help with short term memory issues and cognitive impairment. Just as TV or radio commercials use musical jingles to help listeners remember phone numbers and addresses, a music therapist can create a musical tool to help a client remember names, phone numbers and addresses. For long-term memory problems, music of personal importance can stimulate feelings and associations of past events. In music therapy the use of familiar music can also help improve attention and recognition memory, increase verbalisations, reduce anxiety and offer other improvements in quality of life.
Some people with MS have hypophonia (soft voice) or dysarthria (a motor speech problem), making verbal communication difficult. Singing the words of a song can improve the breath support needed for audible speech, as well as the articulation and timing issues needed for intelligibility. The music therapist will work with the individual to encourage lyric singing or provide vocal exercises that may aid improvement in speech.
Music therapy may also improve psychological problems, including depression and anxiety. The music therapist will encourage expression through improvised or composed music that focuses on a specific issue. The person may express verbally or non-verbally, in music, an emotional response, which may allow them to cope with feelings related to the past, or to present issues such as current injury, disease, loss of function or independence. Music therapy has also been applied to help individuals express and deal with fears, anxieties, mental blocks and resistances so that they can gain more control over their personal health and quality of life. Participating in music therapy groups, including therapeutic drumming groups, dance and movement groups, can provide an outlet for self expression and a closer connection to others. Thus active music therapy may promote both physical and emotional health and well-being.
Because some symptoms of MS appear to worsen with stress, it may be useful to find tools to help with stress management and relaxation. Research has shown that listening to pleasing music may elevate levels of certain neurotransmitters, resulting in enhanced mood and reduced discomfort or pain. Music aids in promoting relaxation through the associations one has to the music as well as its calming physical effects. The music therapist can work psychotherapeutically to create a musical environment or engage the individual in a musical experience, which may help the individual better understand their stress and the emotional issues affecting their mood. Techniques similar to the relaxation exercises used in meditation and yoga can be facilitated with music by cuing slow breathing.
In addition to music therapy there are other sound-based treatments that may be beneficial. For example, physioacoustics is the use of specific sound frequencies to induce sympathetic vibrations in particular areas of the body, such as the back or legs. It uses a chair or bed equipped with a frequency generator that is programmed to cycle through certain sound frequencies depending on the target area of the body.
Music therapy is a low cost, low risk treatment option that may help ease some MS-associated symptoms. Although large-scale, rigorous clinical studies have not been conducted, a review of music therapy research related to MS found that music therapy had a positive impact on improvement in self-acceptance, anxiety and depression, among other possible benefits.
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