Study: live music helps Parkinson's symptoms subside

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Music as medicine has been tested and is often used for several disorders. But, for the first time, a study looked at how watching a live concert would affect people with Parkinson's.

The Fort Wayne Philharmonic teamed up with IPFW and Physician's Health Plan to conduct the study. It started in January and now the first look at results found that symptoms improved.

"The excitement at the end of each concert was palpable. They were so appreciative of hearing the music and excited their symptoms got better," Dr. Pamela Kelly, the Executive Board Task Force Committee Chair, said. 

There were 26 people with Parkinson's who participated in the study. Members of the Philharmonic performed three concerts: one was a string quartet, one was a woodwind quintet and one was a brass quintet. Of the 26 participants, 19 were able to attend all three concerts.

Each person filled out a survey rating their symptoms on a scale of one to five before, during and after the concert. The results showed tremors, stiffness, handwriting, swallowing and energy levels all improved during the music.

"These are subjective findings, or the person evaluating himself or herself. At some point we'll need to have objective findings," Kelly said. 

As far as they know, the organizers said this study is the first one to ever look at live music and Parkinson's. While the results are exciting, this study will ultimately lead to more studies. But, the eventual results could be life-changing for people living with Parkinson's.

"You can't have a live orchestra following [people] around so we need to figure out why live music does this and where in the brain it affects and why it it works and then be able to duplicate it in a manner other than live music," Kelly said.

One of the next studies could look at what happens when people with Parkinson's watch a video of a live concert, but Kelly said they aren't ready to finalize plans before they finish evaluating this study.