Kenny Rogers Heals Stroke Victims

Researchers in Finland have found that playing music during therapy aids the recovery process for stroke victims. In a recent study published in the journal Brain, study co-author David Soto said that the findings appeared to support the theory that emotional stimulus helped improve patients' cognitive abilities.

Of the music played for the patients, songs by Frank Sinatra and the Flying Burrito Brothers were reportedly well-liked. But the patients really responded to the dulcet country ballads of Kenny Rogers.

"We were thinking of calling this the Kenny Rogers Effect," said Soto.

The 60 patients in the study suffered from a symptom called visual neglect, a spatial disorder that makes them unable to recognize half of their environment. Stroke victims with the condition sometimes eat only the food on one side of their plate, or shave only one side of their faces.

We're thinking it wasn't an old eight-track tape of Rogers' 'Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)' that helped the patients so much as the inspiring mental image of the man's glorious silver facial hair.