For help in overcoming such symptoms as short term memory loss and impaired decision making skills, music is being considered as a therapy for those with head injuries. Some therapists are introducing neurological music therapy to their patients because studies indicate that music can promote new neural connections.
Music assists with speech and language skills, physical functioning and social interaction. Because music is a whole brain function, it can affect emotional well-being and assist with motor skills such as learning to walk again or in using fine motor skill development to manipulate small objects. Music offers an opportunity for those suffering from brain injuries or strokes to relate to others. It can increase confidence and self-esteem as well as help to rebuild self-identity.
Therapy includes listening to familiar music, relating to the rhythm and tempo, singing songs or playing an instrument such as the drums. Music therapy is used in a clinical setting by a qualified therapist to stimulate brain functions, encourage social interaction, emotional and cognitive requirements and rehabilitate speech and language disorders.
Music therapy is believed by many to improve the quality of life and to be beneficial for those with head injuries and strokes. Studies indicate that thythmic auditory stimulation will help with movement, musical improvision is good for emotional expression and singing can assist with speech. Listening to music is believed to be a benefit in controlling pain and in improving processing more quickly. It is also believed that music therapy will help prevent depression as well which is often a serious symptom of traumatic brain injury.
In many of these therapy sessions brain injury patients each have a drum and match rhythms and tempo set by the instructor. Studies of music therapy have indicated that there are improvements that when used have also been instrumental in reliving frustrations for those sufferers who have exhibited displays of violence as one of the symptoms following a head injury.
Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who suffered a brain injury from a sniper’s bullet, was given music therapy. This therapy has been credited with her ability to speak again by training her brain to use a less traveled pathway. The ability of the brain to be able to do this is call neuroplasticity. It is believed that few other things activate the brain as extensively as does music.
Music therapy helps to promote new pathways in the brain (known as neuroplasticity) thereby creating new neural connections which in turn increase the brain’s ability to heal. Studies indicate that music is a great step toward brain injury recovery.
Ms. Behnish has published ‘Rollercoaster Ride With Brain Injury (For Loved Ones)’, a non-fiction book detailing the difficult year following a brain injury; ‘His Sins’, a three generation family saga about how the actions of one person can affect future generations, and ‘Life’s Challenges, A Short Story Collection’.
She has also written numerous articles for newspapers, magazines and online on subjects relating to brain injuries, family issues, motivational topics and travel.
For more information go to: http://www.progressofabraininjury.blogspot.com
Music Therapy added from blog owner
Many musical therapy experts recommend making brain music a part of your daily life, because its effects can improve with time. There is evidence that, over time, your language skills, creativity, happiness, and more, can improve with regular musical therapy.
Brain Music
The evidence is also stacked up strongly in favor of brain music s healing power! A positive link has been found with music therapy also for those suffering from things like autism, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Tourette’s.
There are neuroscientists who are working to discover exactly why brain music therapy has healing powers. After all, it’s pretty amazing that brain music can stimulate certain areas of the brain, speed healing, and decrease anxiety and increase optimism.
There are different components to brain music that can have an effect. Pitch, harmony, frequency, melody, and rhythm all effect the brain in different ways. We know that some of the brain locations are involved in helping to heal and soothe the body as well.
The brain can be taught and stimulated to perform better — and it seems that brain music is the perfect vehicle to do that.
However, there is science behind brain music and its healing power and Dr. Mike Miller of the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, set out to study this brain music effect.
He used high-tech imaging to measure blood vessel size while listening to brain music. What he found was that the lining of the blood vessel relaxed and opened up. It also produced chemicals that help protect the heart.
Article from Sylvia Benish
Progress of a Brain Injury
I hope ‘Progress of a Brain Injury’ will help those who are trying to cope with the devastating impact of brain injury in their lives. My Blog is a follow-up to “Rollercoaster Ride With Brain Injury (For Loved Ones)”. It is about the journey of progress in the year following a brain injury. It can be ordered by e-mail at: writesylvia@shaw.ca or at www.trafford.com For every one hundredth person who subscribes, I will send you a free copy of my book. Thank you for taking the time to visit.
