Musical-Activity Therapy as a Supplemental Method of Rehabilitating Children with Bronchial Asthma

Abstract

This article presents the methodological principles of active (musical-activity) therapy and presents the argument for the mechanisms by which directed musical-plastic and singing techniques affect the key abnormalities in the set of symptoms of children with a diagnosis of bronchial asthma. It describes a study, based on the outlined hypotheses, that was conducted at a Moscow children’s clinic and presents the results of a comparison of the efficacy of rehabilitation programs in three groups of patients: two groups with music therapy of different durations and drug therapy and one group without music therapy, with drug therapy alone. In addition, cases are shown in which musical-activity therapy is effective when drugs have been eliminated in conditions when observation is conducted at the clinic. The study entitles the authors to say that the therapeutic efficacy among children with asthmatic syndrome of the musical-activity therapy devised by the authors has been proven.