Motivating Stroke Rehabilitation Through Music

Digital approaches to physical rehabilitation are becoming<br/>increasingly common [14] and embedding these new<br/>technologies within a musical framework may be<br/>particularly motivating [11,12]. The current feasibility<br/>study aimed to test if digital musical instruments (DMIs)<br/>could aid in the self-management of stroke rehabilitation in<br/>the home, focusing on seated forward reach movements of<br/>the upper limb. Participants (n=3), all at least 11 months<br/>post stroke, participated in 15 researcher-led music making<br/>sessions over a 5 week intervention period. The sessions<br/>involved them ‘drumming’ to the beat of self-chosen tunes<br/>using bespoke digital drum pads that were synced<br/>wirelessly to an iPad App and triggered percussion sounds<br/>as feedback. They were encouraged to continue these<br/>exercises when the researcher was not present. The results<br/>showed significant levels of self-management and<br/>significant increases in functional measures with some<br/>evidence for transfer into tasks of daily living.