# Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and Music Therapy for Concussion: A Case Report

## TL;DR

A case report shows that music therapy may help reduce symptoms and improve brain function in patients with mild traumatic brain injury.

## Contribution

This study presents a novel application of music therapy for mTBI and uses fMRI to explore its effects.

## Key findings

- Music therapy reduced symptoms in an mTBI patient with visual issues.
- fMRI showed increased visual cortex activation after music therapy.
- Other mTBI patients also reported similar symptom relief from music therapy.

## Abstract

Effective treatments for mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) are limited and are insufficient to address patient symptoms and recovery. We report a case of an mTBI patient with debilitating visual symptoms who experienced profound symptom relief and increased functional capacity after music therapy (MT) (passive listening to specific music pieces). After other mTBI patients reported similar benefits, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging study using visual paradigms to quantitatively measure the effects of this MT. MT reduced symptoms and increased visual cortex activation in the mTBI case. Our findings suggest that MT could have potential clinical effects for mTBI patients. More research is needed to establish the efficacy of this MT and identify the mechanisms by which this specific type of passive MT could be particularly therapeutic for mTBI patients.