Music therapy has become a very popular evidence-based intervention
whose benefits extend over a wide variety of clinical settings. Whether as an
aid for patients with chronic pain, children with migraines or cases of
psychotic disorders, music has become a very useful tool for
non-pharmacological treatment, facilitating movement, creating positive interactions,
and improving cognitive and emotional states in the patient.
Music can be used actively or passively. Active music intervention
requires the patient, with the help of a therapist, to create music and
sometimes bodily movements, which can complement physiotherapeutical protocols
in different ways, for music helps to reduce significantly the perception of
effort [Seath and Thow, 1995] and makes more enjoyable intensive
repetitive rehabilitation. However, the particular choice of music requires careful
considerations by the practitioner, for, as it has been known since the Greeks,
different musical structures produce different psycho-biological effects.
References
Bernatzky, Guenther et al. [2011]Emotional foundations of music as a
non-pharmacological pain management tool in modern medicine. Neuroscience
and Biobehavioral Reviews 35 (2011) 1989–1999.
Seath
Lorna and Thow, Morag. The Effect of
Music on the Perception of Effort and Mood During Aerobic Type Exercise. [1995]
Physiotherapy. October 1995. Vol 81 no.10.
