Jane Hansen has spent the past ten years researching the “healing” effects of music all over the world. In her BBC radio programme, 'The Power of Music', she cited examples of the transforming effect of music on conditions ranging from asthma to stroke injury, including one extraordinary case of a wheelchair-bound stroke victim regaining the ability to walk and talk after music therapy.
Jane Hansen also visited Hellersen Hospital for Sports Injuries in Lüdenscheid, Germany, where music has reduced the dosage of pain-relieving drugs by up to 50 per cent: “It works by making the patient calm and focused, and by displacement, as when you distract a crying child to stop the tears.”
Jane's four part programme can be heard on the BBC World Service.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/144_powerofmusic/index.shtml
