When exposed to music and its vibrations transmitted directly to the skin and bones, via the Musica Medica method, the listener receives an acoustic and somatosensory transmission of the fundamental human rhythms as the body is acting as a music instrument and a resonance box. Through this acoustic and somatosensory stimulation the brain reacts with reinforced activation (multi-sensory cells), so that motor reactions are also reinforced. The motor and sensory areas of the brain become activated through vibrations and react to them as if the body was doing the movement (important in paresis). Stimulation via Musica Medica® produces via the innervations of the muscle structure an action potential that is specific to the type of music played.

        

Music selection is crucial in different therapy cases and trained therapists along with their patients will chose the appropriate music.

Sensory Synergy:
The scientific explanation of the effect of music and music vibrations is that at the level of the brain and the nervous system we dispose of multi-sensory cells (e.g. in the superior colliculus). These neuronal cells react to acoustic, somatosensory and optical stimuli.

Sensory homunculus is also commonly used to describe the distorted human figure drawn to reflect the relative space our body parts occupy on the somatosensory cortex	Motory Homunculus - A figurative representation of the body map encoded in primary motor cortex. Body parts with complex repertories of fine movement, like the hand, require more cortical space in M1, while body parts with relatively simpler movements, like the hip, require less cortical space.

Brain's reactions to music

PET - Positron Emission Tomography (a radioactive method of measuring the consumption of sugar / energy by specific parts of the brain that are active at a given time) and MRI - Magnetic Resonance Imaging (measuring oxygen consumption by structures active at a given moment) allow us to take a glimpse of the brain function at a given point in time.

The pictures above display the brains reactions to music. It is apparent that the same brain structures that react to speech react to music as well. These include Broca's centre, hearing centre and Wernicke's centre. This is anatomical and physiological evidence of the existence of the strong relations between the expression of speech and music. This may well explain why Musica Medica® can, for instance, improve both speech and hearing.