Effect of music listening on hypertonia in neurologically impaired patients—systematic review

Tamaya Van Criekinge,Kristiaan D’Août,Eduardo Coutinho,Jonathon O’Brien

doi:10.7717/peerj.8228

Tamaya Van Criekinge, Kristiaan D’Août + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8228

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Journal: PeerJ	Publication Date: Dec 19, 2019
Citations: 2	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Antwerp, University of Liverpool

Abstract

BackgroundAs music listening is able to induce self-perceived and physiological signs of relaxation, it might be an interesting tool to induce muscle relaxation in patients with hypertonia. To this date effective non-pharmacological rehabilitation strategies to treat hypertonia in neurologically impaired patients are lacking. Therefore the aim is to investigate the effectiveness of music listening on muscle activity and relaxation.MethodologyThe search strategy was performed by the PRISMA guidelines and registered in the PROSPERO database (no. 42019128511). Seven databases were systematically searched until March 2019. Six of the 1,684 studies met the eligibility criteria and were included in this review. Risk of bias was assessed by the PEDro scale. In total 171 patients with a variety of neurological conditions were included assessing hypertonia with both clinicall and biomechanical measures.ResultsThe analysis showed that there was a large treatment effect of music listening on muscle performance (SMD 0.96, 95% CI [0.29–1.63], I2 = 10%, Z = 2.82, p = 0.005). Music can be used as either background music during rehabilitation (dual-task) or during rest (single-task) and musical preferences seem to play a major role in the observed treatment effect.ConclusionsAlthough music listening is able to induce muscle relaxation, several gaps in the available literature were acknowledged. Future research is in need of an accurate and objective assessment of hypertonia.

Highlights

A common symptom of upper motor neuron syndromes is hypertonia which is defined as an increased muscle tone, while lower motor neuron syndromes are related to hypotonia or decreased muscle tone
The aim of this study is to investigate if music listening interventions (MLI) are an effective tool to decrease muscle tension in neurologically impaired patients suffering from hypertonia
Quantitative analysis of the results in this review suggest that MLI are able to increased muscle relaxation in neurologically impaired patients, one study reported increased muscle activity

Summary

Introduction

A common symptom of upper motor neuron syndromes is hypertonia which is defined as an increased muscle tone, while lower motor neuron syndromes are related to hypotonia or decreased muscle tone. Pyramidal hypertonia known as spasticity is defined as ‘‘a velocity-dependent increase in muscle tone as a result hyper excitability of the stretch reflex’’ (Lance, 1980) and is mostly pronounced during voluntary movements. Effect of music listening on hypertonia in neurologically impaired patients—systematic review. As music listening is able to induce self-perceived and physiological signs of relaxation, it might be an interesting tool to induce muscle relaxation in patients with hypertonia. To this date effective non-pharmacological rehabilitation strategies to treat hypertonia in neurologically impaired patients are lacking. The analysis showed that there was a large treatment effect of music listening on muscle performance (SMD 0.96, 95% CI [0.29–1.63], I 2 = 10%, Z = 2.82, p = 0.005). Future research is in need of an accurate and objective assessment of hypertonia

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