Responding to the Reader
Music therapy and disease
Dr. Bin Hu explains how music therapy can help relieve the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
Story by Tara Narwani/Image by Veer
About this feature
Alberta Innovates - Health Solutions frequently receives letters requesting information about Alberta research or about various medical conditions. "Responding to the reader" is a Research News feature intended to provide up-to-date information related to readers' questions, with the help of experts in the Alberta research community. Alberta Innovates - Health Solutions cannot provide medical advice, however; please consult your family physician about your specific health concerns.
Music can be extremely powerful: it has the ability to transform our mood—for example, favorite songs on the radio can bring smiles to our faces. It can also motivate us to move—an infectious rhythm can get us swaying to the beat. But a reader of Research News asks: can music help treat diseases?
According to the Canadian Association for Music Therapy, “music therapy is the skillful use of music and musical elements by an accredited music therapist to promote, maintain, and restore mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health.” It is believed that a wide range of people may benefit from music therapy, including individuals with autism, physical disabilities, or chronic illnesses.
The therapeutic potential of music has also caught the attention of the scientific community. Dr. Bin Hu, a professor in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Calgary, designed a research program to examine the phenomenon after learning that Parkinson’s patients reported feeling relief from disease symptoms while dancing, for example, at a wedding.
Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects approximately 1% of the general population. Although the disease isn’t fatal, it’s progressive and leads to a variety of mobility issues, such as tremors, loss of balance, and rigid muscles. Medications are available to treat the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease; however, their efficacy decreases over time, and they can cause negative side effects.
“Now there is more emphasis on rehabilitation, exercise, and cognitive treatment,” says Dr. Hu. “We take a multi-faceted approach to manage the disease.”
Dr. Hu launched his research into the effect of music therapy on Parkinson’s patients by first addressing a straightforward question: does simply listening to music help Parkinson’s patients walk better?
In collaboration with Dr. Lesley Brown at the University of Lethbridge, the team recruited a group of patients and gave them the task of completing walking exercises at home while listening to songs of their choice over a period of three months. A second group was asked to continue with their regular activities.
In the case of the individuals who walked with music, “when they came back for a functional assessment, they measured significantly better in terms of walking speed,” explains Dr. Hu. This result sparked another question for Dr. Hu: how does the addition of music lead to improvements in walking ability?
Dr. Hu suggested that the success of music therapy for Parkinson’s patients hinged on the fun of the experience. In other words, walking with music was rewarding.
To capitalize on the idea that reward was driving the observed positive walking outcomes in Parkinson’s patients, Dr. Hu and his team developed a device called the Gait Reminder and established the Gait Reminder Program to test it on patients. This device was mounted on a patient’s leg and used to measure the length and speed of their steps. If the patient walked with adequate long steps, the device rewarded the patient with music. If their steps were too short, no music was provided.
“Once we put the Gait Reminder on, some patients who couldn’t walk properly prior would keep walking for 40 minutes, even up to an hour. This is the highlight of the music therapy program,” relates Dr. Hu.
Given that individuals display a range of responses to music, Dr. Hu thinks some Parkinson’s patients will likely benefit more from music therapy than others. The question is, what criteria do you use to select those patients?
In collaboration with the Alberta Parkinson’s Society, Dr. Hu has initiated a community-based screening program—the first of its kind in North America. Individuals with Parkinson’s attend monthly or bi-weekly meetings at a community centre, where they engage in a detailed assessment of their gait or the ability to perform different kind of walking tasks. This type of assessment isn’t typically performed in a doctor’s office because space is limited.
The individuals benefit from the feedback they receive on their step length and walking speed, which gives important information on how fast their disease has progressed over time. The gait assessments also provide Dr. Hu with invaluable data to help develop selection criteria for the Gait Reminder Program.
What’s next on Dr. Hu’s agenda? He would like to investigate the long-term impact of music therapy on Parkinson’s patients. “My overall expectation is that, once music is fully integrated with walking, we will see benefits at multiple levels that will lead to improvements in the functional status of the patient and maybe slowdown the disease’s progression. This is a big maybe, but I’m hopeful.”