EFFECT OF DANCING ON PARKINSON’S DISEASE PATIENTS

Abstract

Background. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurological chronic disorder that impacts motor and non-motor functions. It has been shown that rhythmic movements reduce PD symptoms. Thus, the aim in this study was to investigate the effect of dancing on PD patients as a non-pharmacological treatment. Material and methods. A quasi-experimental, interventional, follow-up study involved 23 PD patients (average age 62.6±8.8 years): 8 patients in the intervention group (IG) and 15 in the control group (CG). SF-36 and PDQ-39 validated questionnaires were used to collect health status and quality of life (QoL) data. BBT and FSST tests were applied to measure balance and speed. Data was collected from February 2021 to January 2022. Statistical analysis was conducted by IBM SPSS. The significance level was p<0.05. Results. In SF-36, only 13.3% of the patients from the CG and 37.5% from the IG reported very good or good health. However, the difference was not significant (p=0.681). Regarding QoL, the IG had higher mobility (p=0.873), daily activities (p=0.083), well-being (p=0.082), cognition (p=0.335) and communication (p=0.811) than the CG but the results were not significant. Concerning FSST, significant balance differences were found in all trials (FSST trials) (p≤0.001, p=0.035, p≤0.001). BBT improved but not significantly. Conclusions. Dance intervention could improve PD patients’ balance according to the BBT and FSST results. Further studies are needed to prove the dance effect on health status and QoL.