Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative disorder that primarily affects the dopaminergic system in the brain.Decreased dopamine levels lead to various motor and non-motorsymptoms, such as tremor, muscular rigidity, involuntary movement and postural disturbances. People with PD often experience disturbances in the function of timing and rhythmic abilities. As rhythm is known to be closely related to movement, several studies suggest some musical and rhythmic interventions may improve symptoms of PD, namely walking impairments,as well as some other motor and non-motor symptoms. Several types of music therapy are already being used as a complementary treatment of PD, especially neurological music therapy (NMT), and rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS). In Slovenia, some forms of music and dance therapy are being used non-systematically, especially within the association of PD patients– Trepetlika. However, the existing and future efforts to ameliorate the symptoms of PD could benefit from more systematic research and quantification of these effects. We aim to fuel this research not only from existing literature but from the needs and experiences of people with PD.We designed a questionnaire for patients with PD, with which we aimed to get a better insight into the current (private) use of music for alleviating PD symptoms, their attitudes towards the systemic introduction of music interventions in healthcare for patients with PD, and their willingness to participate in a larger study that would test the effects of various music interventions on PD symptoms. We will present the preliminary results from the questionnaire and introduce some future directions. With these efforts we hope to acquaint future research on the benefits of music with the perspective of PD patients.
Music for people with Parkinson’s disease: the patients’ perspective
Ana Kuder, Manca Kok, Saška Rakef and Igor M. Ravnik
