reposted from David

New research study

Dancing improves mobility and quality of life in people with Parkinson’s * Study based on original Brooklyn Dance for PD​® program * Participants experienced significant improvement in overall movement, particularly walking * Participants reported feeling better and empowered * Results published in Journal of Neural Transmission

Dancing may help people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) improve their ability to walk and may enhance their quality of life, according to research just published in the Journal of Neural Transmission. Researchers studied the benefits of Dance for PD® classes in patients with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease. “The combined physical and psychological benefits participants experienced,” said lead author Olie Westheimer, executive director of the Brooklyn Parkinson Group, “suggest that through exercise, camaraderie and the simple joy of movement, dance classes are an effective way of ending the isolation and inactivity that too often define living with PD.”

Lead author Olie Westheimer Based on a standardized measurement of overall mobility (the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale III), participants after 8 weeks and 16 sessions showed: • A 10.4 percent improvement from baseline in overall movement(statistically significant); • A 26.7 percent improvement from baseline in walking, or gait (statistically significant); and • An 18.5 percent improvement from baseline in tremor. Researchers noted, in particular, the importance of improved walking. Other studies have shown that patients with impaired gait are more prone to falls and consequently more anxious.

David Leventhal “We’ve known anecdotally and through observation that people in our dance classes move with more confidence, grace, and fluidity as a result of the dance-based activities we do in class,” said David Leventhal, Dance for PD® Program Director and one of the program’s founding teachers. “To see that improvement represented in this data is a very promising indication that the aesthetic and physical strategies dancers use to move are immensely beneficial—even essential—to those living with Parkinson’s.” Participants also reported improved quality of life in post-class interviews that asked such questions as: What did you get out of class? How has class impacted your quality of life? Has anything changed in you because of class? Participants reported “feeling better,” experiencing a “sense of companionship,” finding that “general health has improved,” and feeling “less helpless.” The quality of life changes were reported across the spectrum of disease, from barely noticeable to severely disabled (on Hoehn and Yahr 1-4 scale). Researchers also measured results with other standardized scales, including the Berg Balance Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory and the Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire-39 (PDQ-39), a widely used survey of quality of life. Changes measured by these tools were not statistically significant. However, some participants did report in the PDQ-39 that their ability to cut up food and speak had improved and that they were less likely to feel unpleasant hot or cold sensations.

Manny Torrijos (photo: Eddie Marritz) “Parkinson’s affects one’s movements, emotions, and cognition” says Manny Torrijos, who joined the study class soon after he was diagnosed. “Dance does wonders to promote controlled grace with one’s body, lift one’s spirits, and fire new neurons, thereby rendering it the next best thing to finding the cure.”

Dr. Un Jung Kang Westheimer and her colleagues believe larger studies in which participants are randomized into intervention and control groups are necessary to confirm these results. They would also like to compare Dance for PD® with a general fitness intervention for Parkinson’s patients, as would Dr. Un Jung Kang, MD, Chief of Movement Disorders in the Division of Neurology at Columbia University Medical Center. Kang commented: “Dance involves multiple facets such as physical training, emotional reward of participation, and social interactions, all of which should be beneficial in PD. Findings such as this study beg for randomized control study to demonstrate objective benefit of the intervention and to compare the effect of their unique program to other fitness programs not only in motor outcomes, but also patients’ ability to engage in the program consistently over long term and other non-motor features of PD.” Co-authors are Olie Westheimer, MA; Cynthia McRae, PhD; Claire Henchcliffe, MD, DPhil; Arman Fesharaki, MD; Sofya Glazman, MD; Heather Ene, MD; and Ivan Bodis-Wollner, MD, DSc. Click on the button below to access the full article, which is available free of charge from October 23rd through December 23rd, 2015. This study adds to the body of research being done around the world to investigate the effects of dance and dance classes on people with Parkinson's, with on-going projects at Roehampton University/English National Ballet (Sara Houston and Ashley McGill), York University/Dancing With Parkinson's/Canada's National Ballet School (Joseph DeSouza), McMaster University/Hamilton City Ballet (Matthew Woolhouse), and University of Florida (Jill Sonke and Michael Okun) among others. In an exciting related development, Sara Houston and Ashley McGill, with colleagues from English National Ballet (ENB), will hold a day-long symposium this Tuesday, October 27 to announce findings from the latest phase of their ground-breaking research, providing the first longitudinal piece of evidence on the impact of the ENB program over the past three years. Click here for details.

Dance for PD​® is a Registered Trademark of Mark Morris Dance Group and Brooklyn Parkinson Group.