Music-supported therapy induces plasticity in the sensorimotor cortex in chronic stroke: a single-case study using...

Music-Supported Therapy (MST) has been developed recently in order to improve the use of the affected upper extremity after stroke. This study investigated the neuroplastic mechanisms underlying effectiveness in a patient with chronic stroke.

MST uses musical instruments, a midi piano and an electronic drum set emitting piano sounds, to retrain fine and gross movements of the paretic upper extremity. Data are presented from a patient with a chronic stroke (20 months post-stroke) with residual right-sided hemiparesis who took part in 20 MST sessions over the course of 4 weeks.

Post-therapy, a marked improvement of movement quality, assessed by 3D movement analysis, was observed. Moreover, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of a sequential hand movement revealed distinct therapy-related changes in the form of a reduction of excess contralateral and ipsilateral activations. This was accompanied by changes in cortical excitability evidenced by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Functional MRI in a music listening task suggests that one of the effects of MST is the task-dependent coupling of auditory and motor cortical areas.

The MST appears to be a useful neurorehabilitation tool in patients with chronic stroke and leads to neural reorganization in the sensorimotor cortex.