Audun Myskja

Audun Myskja, MD
Research project leader, Bergen Red Cross
Nursing home/University of Bergen
 Individualized
music - Ullevål University
Hospital
 Music at the end of life – Church City Mission
Oslo; Health and Rehabilitation
 Finding rhythm – Norwegian Parkinson Union;
Health and Rehabilitation
 Integrated music – Bergen Red Cross
Competence Center
 Music as a tool in improved quality of care –
Levanger/Nord-Trøndelag University
The creative hospital – EU; Sweden/Norway
 Den
musiske medisin – Cappelen 1999
 Metodebok – Unikum 2005
 Den siste song – Fagbokforlaget 2006
 The day the music died. NJMT 2008
 www.livshjelp.no
 www.tidsskriftet.no
 www.kulturforbundet.no
 www.fysioterapeuten.no
 Only
1/3 of the world`s population has
access to modern health care
 India, China, Greece – Pythagoras
(musicosmos), Plato (tuning the human
being), Aristotle (catharsis)
 Ancient roots: Native healers in all
cultures use incantations, voice, rhythm –
basic therapeutic elements
 Western culture after the Renaissance:
Split between medicine and music
 Bygren
LO. ”Unequal in death” – BMJ 1996
 Verghese J. Alzheimer incidence NEJM 2003
 Jindrak K- Research on brain circulation ”Sing,
clean your brain and stay sound and sane”
 Music
can supplement regular medical treatment
and enhance treatment effects
 Can be taught patients
 Can be used for different therapeutic goals in a
variety of settings:
 Dignity
 well-being
 fun
 symptom relief
 function improvement



1992: Glynn: No systematic studies on the effects
of music
2004: Thorgaard: “A medical doctor needs good
arguments to NOT use music as part of medical
treatment” Thorgaard P. Intensive Crit Care Nurs
2005
Myskja 2006: Pilot study comparing 10 Parkinson
patients training on their own to 10 Parkinson
patients training weekly in a group and daily
alone with a structured program based on joint
care and flow, to music. Training doses similar.
Group 1 functional decline, group 2 stability over
time, differences increasing over 3 years
 Rhytmic
auditory stimulation (Thaut M)
 Specially composed music (Thorgaard P, Myskja A)
 Individualized music (Gerdner L)
 Singing/toning (Gøtell E)
 Therapeutic dance and movement (Myskja)
 Integrated music (Myskja A)
 Rhythmic
auditory stimulation – metronomic
rhythm to aid gait, getting up, move freezing
(videos)
 Music to aid complex movements (video)
 Voice exercises to prevent speech disorders
(presented live)
 Active relaxation (CD with instructions)
 Parkinson,
stroke, gait disability,
developmental disorders, psychiatry
 Correct rhythm to aid mobility
 Metronome, song, dance


Tomaino CM, Sacks O. Music and neurologic
disorder. Int J Arts Med 1999; 1: 10 - 2.
Cubo E. Short-term and practice effects of
metronome pacing in Parkinson's disease
patients with gait freezing while in the 'on'
state: randomized single blind evaluation.
Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2004; 10: 50710.
 Rhythm:
Rhythmic auditory stimulation, dance
and movement
 Feelings: Music to break emotional patterns
 Relaxation: Mastery of autonomic responses
 Singing: Expression of feelings, toning to bypass
pain perception
 Creativity and music: Songwriting, poetry and
improvisation – access untapped resources
 Direct
– indirect
 ”Mozart effect”
 Mood – arousal
 Which musical elements: Rhythm/pulse,
melody, overtones
 Resonance
 Entrainment (Huygens` clocks)
 What responds in us?
 PET
scans of brain show that tapping feet to
different beats activate different regions of the
brain
Hypothalamus
CRH-release
ANS activation
Singing, music listening and dance can
 get you going after rest and in ”freezing”
 improve your flow and rhythm in gait
 help you relax and sleep better
 give joyful experiences
 strengthen self-confidence