approximately a million people in the US
have Parkinson's disease and another 50
to 60,000 people will be diagnosed this
year there is no cure for Parkinson's
disease which is a neurological
condition that robs people of their
ability to do everyday chores there are
treatment options to control the
symptoms medications surgery and therapy
and one of those therapies is music
therapy which takes place here at the
Norton Neuroscience Institute and spine
rehabilitation center
music therapy is the use of music to
achieve a non-musical goal so for like
for this Parkinson's group we're
focusing on using music to strengthen
breath support and and voice strength
and as well as fine and gross motor
movements so like you'll see the
stretching and the tapping to the
rhythms and playing different rhythms
with Parkinson's disease it's almost
like a person has lost some of their
internal rhythm and so things stop
moving the way that they used to in kind
of a rhythmic pattern so using music
listening to music with a steady beat
playing music with a steady beat and
practicing all of those things we're
hoping to kind of compensate for that
loss and a lot of reached research has
shown that music can help the brain
rewire itself around parts of the brain
that are damaged so that's one of the
reasons why music therapy works as far
as the folks that are already coming to
the group I think that they're enjoying
coming and being together with other
people who have the same interest and
also are having similar experiences with
living with Parkinson's and so they've
kind of formed their own social social
network usually they don't want to leave
once the group has ended is they they
want to visit with each other I
encourage them to come early and if they
want to stay late they can so there's I
think there's a self-esteem and it can
improve their mood so I think that's
really important for our patients as
well as building up their vocal
strengths and their and enhancing their
motor movement well I think it's a great
class and I would certainly recommend it
to anybody who has Parkinson's some
studies show that exercise and music
therapy are as effective as drugs and
helping people with their motor skills
if you want more information about the
therapy program here at the Norton
Neuroscience Institute you can call five
oh two six two nine twenty five oh one
four get healthy I'm Jackie Hays