A new study published in Brain Sciences shows that dance training with music can slow the progression of mild-to-moderate Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Participants who engaged in dance training for one-and-a-quarter hours per week over three years experienced reduced motor issues, such as those related to balance and speech.
Dance Training Helps Reduce Motor Impairment
The researchers from York University, Joseph DeSouza and Ph.D. candidate Karolina Bearss, found that people with Parkinson’s who participated in weekly dance training showed significant improvements in speech, tremors, balance, and rigidity.
Participants also saw improvements in daily life experiences, which include cognitive impairment, hallucinations, depression, and anxious mood such as sadness.
This study is the first of its kind to follow people with Parkinson’s over a three-year period during weekly dance participation with music.
This approach provides additional information regarding the progression of motor and non-motor PD symptoms.
Dance and Music as Neurorehabilitation Strategy
The goal of the study was to develop a long-term neurorehabilitation strategy using dance with music to combat PD symptoms.
The researchers believed that a multi-sensory activity like dance, incorporating various sensory modalities, could address the mood, cognitive, motor, and neural challenges faced by people with Parkinson’s.
The study involved 16 participants with mild-to-moderate PD who were matched for age and severity of disease.
They were compared to 16 non-dance PD participants from the Parkinson’s Progression Marker Initiative. Participants learned and performed choreography over a year that was adaptable to their disease stage and current symptoms.
The researchers plan to examine what occurs in the brain immediately before and after a dance class to determine what neurological changes take place.
They hope their findings will shed light on additional therapies for Parkinson’s and be used in the treatment process.
If you care about Parkinson’s disease, please read studies about a big cause of common Parkinson’s disease, and Vitamin D could benefit people with Parkinson’s disease.
For more information about brain health, please see recent studies about new ways to treat Parkinson’s disease, and results showing COVID-19 may be linked to Parkinson’s disease.
The study was published in Brain Sciences.
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