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I was reading through hive a few days ago when I came across @mipiano ‘s post about cymatics which was a wonder the things she showed, and while we discussed, it was as though she had cast a spell on me when she invited me to participate in the challenge.
So I was filled up with this idea to write about music and medicine and how music could be used as a therapy mostly in psychiatry.
Then I went onto research on the thought, How to begin this writing was the next challenge, often times its hard for me to write it out things that are so wonderful, even though @edje and @mipiano seem to do it so easily.
I am a doctor, I ve been one for only 2 years so far, and within both my short time practicing and my long years of study I have come across two most beautiful things in my life, they are Music and Medicine.
Music is that sensation of harmony that the ear helps us interprete as sound that is soothing,even though can be perceived by other senses with the right means. You may not agree with my definition but, its my writing.
As a child I have been exposed to it, (my Dad owned a guitar which was out of bound to me then), to singing songs in church, to me owning my guitar (2 Now), about 10 years now been learning (still learning) and teaching the guitar. I could say that I know a bit of music.
Medicine on the other may not have wanted me, like music did, but I wanted it, and I paid my dues, learning and studying and practicing has been nothing short of a miracle. How our body systems and organs can suddenly change and then be corrected by a medical (or surgical) intervention.
The beauty to see people transfigure from sickness to health makes my day every day and makes me realize that my choice was right.
Now here we have them music and medicine, where is the vibe to spread?
Well, Yes there is a vibe to spread, and this vibe spreads across both parties, music vibes into medicine, medicine vibes into music.
The aim of this piece is to make a childish attempt at finding Music in the practice of Medicine and Medicine in the beauty of music (sights and sounds).
Music in Medicine
We have gone far in medicine, and I must say a lot more newer interventions are in the space, @aysax a colleague of mine posted about AI replacing Doctors, and there are more inventions Like this all aimed at better healthcare service.
We made strides in solving mystery in the health world, and the recent COVID vaccination proves more of that, more lives are being saved everyday by research proving theories being applied to treat and manage various diseases, a recent news has hit the waves about a vaccine for malaria and a drug for sickle cell anemia, however here is not the place for all of that to be discussed, the vibes to be spread here lies is the very fact that this medical interventions and remedies can in fact not become reality if at some point in time a rhythm and a beat was not followed.
Ok you got in now, .. all over medical texts, the terms rhythms and beats are used severally and there are time when these words resound to not just my head but also my ears.
There are a few ways this rhythms that can be heard, using the stethoscope, fetoscope (used for listening for fetal heart rate) and even the Ultrasound machine. Sound is sound.
A fetoscope
If music is a sweet tune with a rhythhm passing a message across, then listening to a patient's music from the heart, lungs or abdomen definitely passes across a message to be interpreted by a trained listener (The Physician).
A major part of our medical training was to learn how the normal heart sounds, the abnormal and to distinguish between them, when an abnormal is detected then you can save the life or improve their quality of living at least. Not knowing that music will lead to not know how to save the life, I wont go on to mention the cardiac diseases that knowing the heart sounds can give a major clue to diagnose, not to bore the unscientific readers, but they are numerous.
The lungs are not left out, if the heart is a percussive musical instrument, I see the lungs as a wide instrument, making various sounds as the breath passes through the tiny pipes of varying calibers. These sounds help to tell the state of the lungs from outside, is it coarse, vesicular, crepitations, aegophonic? All these are sounds component of the lungs in health and in disease state. A healthy lungs makes a vesicular breath sound, with no added or transmitted sounds.
The bowel sounds the thyroid bruit and the liver bruit, these are also sounds heard over the body to detect suspected pathologies and also assess recovery especially after abdominal surgeries.
The Stethoscope
The stethoscope may not be a musical tool, but most time for me, what ever it is used for must be a rythm and in tune.
This instrument has experience a lot of transformation over the ages and has been very instrumental in hearing all these music I early spoke of.
Take to be your headset, or monitor speakers.
Here a is short video by Elion Voris which totally depicts how I really feel in some part of my mind when I use the stethoscope.
The Medicine in Music
I had shared with @mipiano how I used to take the guitar to the children ward whenever it was easter or Christmas or any major celebrations Children are delighted to have. I always see that joy in their faces and at that point, all was at ease, no dis-ease, because music was in the air, right next to their beds and from a familiar face, of cos they would mostly reach out to grab the strings of my guitar after dancing a while, and that gave me a sign that they were getting better.
When you hear of music therapy, what comes to mind? It is basically the use of music to reach health related goals. Thanks to music therapists like Rachael Finnerty who was interviewed in this video below.
Music has been known as a huge source of support and therapy for stress and depression.
This video if you care to watch was a TED talk I saw on YouTube of a girl who music helped to recreate her life after suffering as a child.
This shows how a girls situation changed from being a dysfunctional adult to using the same music therapy to save more lives and improve there wellbeing.
Don't miss the hallelujah chords either.
By now you must have seen that it goes beyond just listen but also writing and playing.
Playing the musical instruments has been shown to improve quality of life in patients with dementia, autism spectrum disease and Parkinson's disease, this has been of great help too in patients who are musicians as it will also help with memory. Post-stroke patients also benefit a lot from music as there has been proven studies showing this.
Amazingly, I m sure you re wondering how powerful music can actually be. Seeing that has a lot of beneficial effect.
I m glad to feature something beautiful a this point. For a while now I have suspected that the afro music has some immune boosting potency and this has not been proven just a suspicion I have.
Below I ll share a video of The Spectacular band, a Nigerian band doing their thing. Of strong note is something beautiful, notice the guy playing the bass guitar, he has no finger , yet he is doing it so well, I ll advice good ear phones too.
This made me think of ## The ability to make Music despite physical disabilities.
Defying Disability
Cobhams Asuquo is a Nigerian music producer and singer, well known amongst the high ranks of Music Producers in Nigeria. He is a blind, but despite that, he makes one of the best music I have ever seen.
This was the song he made for COVID-19 awareness. Super creative and talented.
On this note I would love to allow this vibes to keep reverberating and spreading.
I d love to see @starstrings01 and @edprivat join this challenge not challenge and spread the vibes.
Thanks @mipiano for this awesome invite, sorry it took a while.
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