Parkinson’s patients who participated in dance training with music for 1.25 hours per week had improved Parkinson’s symptoms compared with those who did not do any dance exercise, a new study published in Brain Sciences found.
Researchers at York University in Toronto, Ontario, found that the participants had less motor impairment and revealed serious improvement in areas related to speech, tremors, balance and rigidity compared to non-Parkinson’s participants. They also had robust improvements in experiences of daily living, such as cognitive impairment, hallucinations, depression and anxious mood.
“The experience of performing and being in a studio environment with dance instructors appears to provide benefits for these individuals,” said Joseph DeSouza, senior author, principal investigator and associate professor in the Department of Psychology at York University. “Generally, what we know is that dance activates brain areas in those without PD. For those with Parkinson’s disease even when it’s mild motor impairment can impact their daily functioning — how they feel about themselves.
The study, which involved 16 participants with mild-to-moderate Parkinson’s, is the first of its kind to follow people with Parkinson’s over a three-year period during weekly dance participation with music, a release from York Media Relations said.
