Active Music Therapy in Parkinson’s Disease

Active Music Therapy in Parkinson’s Disease: An Integrative Method for Motor and Emotional Rehabilitation

Claudio Pacchetti, MD, Francesca Mancini, MD, Roberto Aglieri, Cira Fundarò, MD, Emilia Martignoni, MD and Giuseppe Nappi, MD

Psychosomatic Medicine May 1, 2000 vol. 62 no. 3 pp. 386-393

BACKGROUND: Modern management of Parkinson’s disease (PD) aims to obtain symptom control, to reduce clinical disability, and to improve quality of life. Music acts as a specific stimulus to obtain motor and emotional responses by combining movement and stimulation of different sensory pathways. We explored the efficacy of active music therapy (MT) on motor and emotional functions in patients with PD.

METHODS: This prospective, randomized, controlled, single-blinded study lasted 3 months. It consisted of weekly sessions of MT and physical therapy (PT). Thirty-two patients with PD, all stable responders to levodopa and in Hoehn and Yahr stage 2 or 3, were randomly assigned to two groups of 16 patients each. We assessed severity of PD with the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale, emotional functions with the Happiness Measure, and quality of life using the Parkinson’s Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire. MT sessions consisted of choral singing, voice exercise, rhythmic and free body movements, and active music involving collective invention. PT sessions included a series of passive stretching exercises, specific motor tasks, and strategies to improve balance and gait.

RESULTS: MT had a significant overall effect on bradykinesia as measured by the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale