The Effects of Music Therapy as a Complementary Intervention in the Treatment of Pediatric Asthma

The onset of asthma is particularly frightening for children. When the symptoms of asthma decrease, children and parents forget about the maintenance and control of breath and lung volume. Because adherence is so poor, asthma is known as the emergency room illness. The playing of a wind instrument is a unique way to provide a creative means for children and teens to understand both the impact of diaphramatic breathing and their ability to control it as well. This study builds upon the evidence, though sparse, that suggest that the blowing of a wind instrument with clinical music therapy intervention strengthens the muscles of breathing and fortifies the incentive toward attending to the daily symptoms and general management of asthma.