MUSIC THERAPY IN THE REHABILITATION OF THE MOTOR FUNCTION OF UPPER LIMBS IN PATIENTS WITH MULTIPLE

SCLEROSIS USING THE KEYBOARD

Musicoterapia en la Rehabilitación de la función motora de miembros superiores en paciente con esclerosis múltiple por medio del uso del teclado

Virginia Rodríguez-Moreno

Music Therapist and Neurology specialist doctor in Metropolitan Hospital San Carlos (Costa Rica).

ABSTRACT

Background: Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, inflammatory, and disabling disease of the central nervous system. It affects any functional area, mainly people of productive age. Rehabilitation must be comprehensive and involve the different systems simultaneously. Neurological music therapy offers strategies in which several brain areas can be stimulated at once. Objective: To analyze the effects of keyboard music therapy applied to patients with multiple sclerosis with compromised short pathways. Methods:This work is a single case study, in which 22 music therapy sessions are offered to a right-handed patient with multiple sclerosis with compromised motor function of the right upper limb. Both hands were subjected to the same process. Results: The function of the left hand remained without relevant changes, while the right hand achieved significant and sustained changes in the 9-pin test, which remained constant from session 15 onwards. Similarly, the patient reports having regained the ability to perform a series of activities of daily living with her right hand. Conclusions: It is concluded that the process of musical interventions favored the functional recovery of the right extremity in this patient.