Music Speeds Healing

Classical music is the most common choice among doctors and therapists. The vibration of stringed instruments in particular is thought to intertwine with the energy of the heart, small intestine, and the thyroid and adrenal glands as shown by research at the Gagnon Cardiovascular Institute in New Jersey.

Hip Hop Healing?
Scientists are now wondering what effect other genres of music such as hip-hop, country, rock, etc will have on healing? Will you heal faster with Mozart or with The Back Street Boys?

"I recommend listening to joyful music as part of an overall prescription for maintaining good heart health," said Dr. Michael Miller, director of the center for preventive cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Dr. Miller defines joyful as any music that brings on a natural high and maximizes the release of endorphins; the body's own feel good chemicals. His research has shown that hearing your favorite song causes your blood vessels to dilate, hence increasing blood flow. He examined healthy volunteers as they listened to songs of their choice and discovered that the diameter of upper arm blood vessels increased by 26%. After listening to music which they hated however, these vessels narrowed by 6%. His research currently supports that any music the patient finds enjoyable will be healing regardless of genre.

Will Music Be A Prescription For Healing Brain Injury?
Some of this research involves deep brain stimulation while the patient is awake. "We're in the infancy," said Dr. Ali Rezai, director of the Center for Neurological Restoration at Ohio's Cleveland Clinic. During a surgery called deep brain stimulation, performed while patients with Parkinson's disease are awake, Rezai and his team play classical compositions and measure the brain's response to those notes. "We know music can calm, influence creativity and can energize. That's great. But music's role in recovering from disease is being ever more appreciated."

This research at Cleveland Clinic during brain surgery is showing exactly how music stimulates neurons. Neurosurgeons collaborated with The Cleveland Orchestra to compose unique classical pieces which are then played for patients during brain surgery. Rezai then compares how neurons fire hearing this never before heard music vs. how they fire when hearing familiar music. He uses hair sized sensors placed in the brain which then translate the signals from the neurons to an amplifier. The study should be completed in three to 6 months.

When patients tell Rezai they find the music soothing, he is able to hear the changes in a single neuron. He is hoping this research will serve as the cornerstone for other studies of music's potential in treating traumatic brain injury, depression, stroke and multiple sclerosis.

Will Oldest Turn Out To Be Best?
The oldest healing music is possibly still the most potent. Frescos painted around 4,000 B.C. depict harp-playing priests. Because of the unique properties of the harp, live harpists are being used today at such places as Gagnon, at the University of Rochester Medical Center and at least five other hospitals.
"This gentle but powerful instrument goes to the deepest places of the body that need to be healed," said Tami Briggs, a pioneer in "harp therapy" who has played at the bedsides of hundreds of patients, including many at the Mayo Clinic. Ms. Briggs, while not a medical professional, has observed blood pressure decreasing and oxygenation increasing while she plays and watches the monitors. She has also noticed subtle signs of relaxation such as the patient sinking deeper into the bed.

What makes the harp so unique is that it is the only instrument that has 20 to 50 strings and is completely open, unlike other stringed instruments such as a violin or guitar. When a harpist strikes a chord, not only are the notes of the chord vibrating, but the strings above and below those plucked also vibrate. These vibrations appear to be absorbed by the body.