Sensorimotor Plasticity After Music-supported Therapy in Chronic Stroke Patients Revealed by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Journal

PLoS One

Year

2013

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Several recently developed therapies targeting motor disabilities in stroke sufferers have shown to be more effective than standard neurorehabilitation approaches. In this context, several basic studies demonstrated that music training produces rapid neuroplastic changes in motor-related brain areas. Music-supported therapy has been recently developed as a new motor rehabilitation intervention. METHODS AND RESULTS: In order to explore the plasticity effects of music-supported therapy, this therapeutic intervention was applied to twenty chronic stroke patients. Before and after the music-supported therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation was applied for the assessment of excitability changes in the motor cortex and a 3D movement analyzer was used for the assessment of motor performance parameters such as velocity, acceleration and smoothness in a set of diadochokinetic movement tasks. Our results suggest that the music-supported therapy produces changes in cortical plasticity leading the improvement of the subjects' motor performance. CONCLUSION: Our findings represent the first evidence of the neurophysiological changes induced by this therapy in chronic stroke patients, and their link with the amelioration of motor performance. Further studies are needed to confirm our observations.

Music and Health Institute Terms

Mobility; Music Therapy; Physiological Measures; Rehabilitation Exercises; Stroke

Indexed Terms

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; Elderly; Analysis of Variance; Biomechanical Phenomena; Case-Control Studies; Chronic Disease; Demography; Fingers; Hand; Motor Activity; Motor Cortex; Movement; Neuronal Plasticity; Stroke

Study Type

Quasi-Experimental Study; Quantitative Methods

Document Type

Article

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