Could daily tango classes help people with Parkinson’s Disease? A recent article, posted on BioRxiv, shows that in a small group of people, these daily lessons improved their motor symptoms. This paper is not yet peer-reviewed, but the positive effects of dancing for people with Parkinson’s Disease have been well-studied by many other researchers as well.
Heather MacTavish, left, with Parkinson's patient Margaret Moylan, 61, right, and volunteers Jocelyn Thomas, second right, and Charlie Kisch, leads a dance exercise at the World Parkinson's Conference, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2006, in Washington. Thomas' mother had Parkinson's disease. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Parkinson’s Disease affects between seven and ten million people worldwide. In this condition, a gradual breakdown of certain cells in the brain causes a lowering of the normal levels of dopamine. The characteristic tremors and slow movement seen in people with Parkinson’s Disease are a direct effect of these lower levels of dopamine, and one of the established and successful forms of treatment is the drug L-DOPA, which helps address the dopamine imbalance. But there are other forms of therapy available as well, and one of them is dance.
As a form of movement therapy, dance addresses several of the problems that come with Parkinson’s Disease. It provides regular social interaction for people who have this condition, has a positive effect on their mental well-being, and it improves their movement and balance.
“The biggest problem is falling,” says Dawn Rose, a Senior Research Associate at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences & Arts in Switzerland. Because their balance and movement are affected, people with Parkinson’s Disease are more likely to fall and hurt themselves, which in turn leads to higher cost of care. Dancing regularly gives people more control of their balance, and makes them less likely to fall. Rose has studied the effect of rhythm and dancing in people with Parkinson’s Disease for several years and is currently looking at rhythmically guided movement therapy, where people are learning drumming rhythms to help them move more regularly. “It starts off quite small, with some little hand drums,” says Rose. After learning the rhythms, people move on to bigger instruments and larger movements. “The bigger the movement, the more beneficial the therapy seems to be.”
Similar principles are at work in dancing, so it’s no surprise that dance classes for people with Parkinson’s Disease are offered around the world. Many follow the Dance for PD® model, which was started in 2001 in Brooklyn. They work with different dance organisations to provide classes. For example, since February, people in England can take monthly classes at London’s Royal Albert Hall with the English National Ballet.
But what is it about rhythm and dance that makes people with Parkinson’s Disease regain their balance and control their movements? It’s all in the music. “External auditory cueing provides a template of when to move,” says Rose. In movement therapy for Parkinson’s Disease, that auditory cueing seems to work better when it’s part of a rhythmical piece of music than simply the ticking of a metronome, and that’s another question that Rose has been trying to answer in her research. “What is it about the music? Is it beat clarity? Is it the complexity?” One thing she’s found is that familiarity of the music plays an important role, possibly because it’s more motivational to people with Parkinson’s Disease, whose condition often causes them to become emotionally disengaged.
That emotional connection is another aspect of dance classes as well. Simply being part of a regular social activity and staying active is helpful for people with Parkinson’s Disease. And when it comes to dancing together, the cues people receive are not just auditory, but also visual, and even based on touch if they are paired with another dancer. It’s difficult to tease apart all these different effects, but the bottom line is that dancing helps to reduce and control some of the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease.
Dancing is not a one-off solution, though. After not dancing for a few weeks or months, the beneficial effects will wear off, so regular movement is key. So far, most studies have looked at classes that take place once a week or so but the new preprint article seems to suggest that daily classes have a positive effect as well, at least in the short term for their small group of dancers.
There are still many things we don’t know about the way dance therapy works for Parkinson’s Disease: How do different dance styles affect the results? What music works best? How often do people need to dance? But even if we don’t yet know the full details of how the therapy works, dancing clearly benefits people who have Parkinson’s Disease, and who could say no to an evidence-based excuse for dancing?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/evaamsen/2019/04/30/dancing-helps-movement-for-people-with-parkinsons-disease/#37591c2b4798
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