[Music therapy as an effective method of neurorehabilitation]

To assess the role of music therapy in the recovery of motor, speech and autonomic functions in patients with ischemic stroke (II).

Forty-five patients with II in the middle cerebral artery were examined. The patients were randomized into three groups (main, comparison and control) of 15 individuals each. With patients of the first and the second groups on the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th days of the rehabilitation period the special set of exercises with music and without that respectively was fulfilled. The third group received a basic set of physical exercises (a control group).The third group was control. Dynamics of patients' state was estimated by the NIHSS, the Rivermead Mobility Index, the Action Research Arm Test and the modified scale for speech evaluation on the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 10th day of disease. A study of cardiorespiratory synchronization was conducted since the 6th day of stroke.

The statistically significant efficacy of music therapy was shown for all parameters. The authors suggest that neuroplasticity may underlie the mechanisms of the programs used in the study.