According to an old saying, music heals everything. That is why that, at the San Carlos Hospital, a group of 20 patients suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS) are treated to violin music and imaginative stories. This therapy helps them to appease their pains, as well as become a balm for their soul.
Based on the information provided by the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS), they receive techniques from the violinist Andrey Pérez Blanco to relax and alleviate the pain caused by their illness. Through a 1-hour performance, which includes stories and live music with violin, both the artist and the Neurology service opt for a healthier and painless medication.
“The objective is to maintain a continuous education around their illness, keep them informed of the therapeutic advances and encourage adherence to treatment. And as is customary in the workshops, we offer special activities that, through art and its mystique, invite you to free yourself mentally and emotionally, and thus achieve a balance between body, mind, and soul”, said Dr. Virginia Rodríguez Moreno, a neurologist at the San Carlos hospital.
Patients are from the entire Huetar Norte region, including people from Pital, Florencia, Fortuna, Ciudad Quesada, and Venecia, among other places. “Music, in general, is a set of vibrations that stimulate the brain and come to give physical and emotional stability. Within the performance, I offer a musicalized story where they will put images of what I am telling”, explained the musician Andrey Pérez Blanco, a native from San Carlos.
The regional prevalence of people with MS is similar to the national rate, which indicates that for every 100 thousand inhabitants, 8 people suffer from this disease.
MS -or sclerosis in plaques- is a progressive disease of the central nervous system that causes multiple lesions in the myelin that lines the axons of the neurons, and constitutes a white substance in the form of disseminated plaques. It manifests with various symptoms such as paralysis of the lower extremities, tingling, loss of sensation, among some others.
