Last Friday, my Dad was transferred to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) for rehab. His biggest issue right now is the neuropathy that has returned in his feet. The medication he was taking for the multiple myeloma prior to the transplant (call Velcade) has a known side effect of peripheral neuropathy. To deal with this, he took a medication called Lyrica. Lyrica helps relieve the pain from damaged nerves and while he was on this medication, he could barely tell he was having any neuropathy. However, when he was in the ICU, his Lyrica was stopped, so when he woke up, the neuropathy in his feet was back full force. Currently, he says it feels like his entire foot from the ankle down is constantly "asleep". Combine this with the fact that he was sedated in this ICU for 5 weeks and developed severe muscle weakness in his legs and foot drop, and you can see how this becomes a problem. Dad is determined to be able to walk again, and was very excited to report that he was able to take 12 steps on his own using the parallel bars yesterday! The therapists at RIC are in the process of making him braces that go from his knees to his ankles to help support his legs as well.
Where does music therapy fit into this puzzle? First, I have to say that I am still amazed that the #1 rehab hospital in the country does not employ a music therapist! I know there is a contracted music therapist that leads groups in some of the areas at RIC, but I still can't believe that do not have music therapy available for 1:1 sessions. My plan is to help my Dad with his gait training using some modified Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) techniques. This involves using rhythmic cues to help improve the coordination of his movements. While I personally have never used this method for gait training, I often use rhythmic cues to help coordinate speech patterns and thus improve intelligibility in my music therapy sessions with children with cochlear implants. I am hoping to be there during his therapy session to get an idea of the rate and rhythm of his gait and provide some rhythmic cues using the guitar. For the days I am not able to be there and he is practicing on his own, our plan is to review his iTunes list and find songs with a similar tempo and rhythm to his gait (the iTunes gift card Mike and I gave him for his birthday will help with this as well). This way he can listen to his preferred music, which will not only provide the rhythmic cues needed to help his gait but also provide music for motivation.
It has been a long time since I completed my Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) training, so any NMTs out there, feel free to comment with other suggestions!
