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Tango May Help Patients With Parkinson's
(Buenos Aires, Argentina) - Jun 18 2010
Tango lessons may be a novel rehabilitation strategy for patients with Parkinson's disease, according to a study presented here at the Movement Disorder Society 14th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders.
"One of the critical stages of Parkinson's disease is the flexion of the trunk, which is frequently associated with starting of loss of postural reflexes," neurologist Giovanni Albani, MD, from the Department of Neurosciences and Neurorehabilitation at the University of Turin and Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Istituto Di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, Piancavallo (Verbania), Italy, noted in an email to Medscape Neurology.
After this point, he added, patients begin to fall down, exposing them to risks for bone fractures and hospitalization, with long recovery times.
Reduction in Flexed Posture
An improvement in posture was one of the benefits of 5 weeks of Argentine tango lessons Dr. Albani's team noted in a study of 10 patients with middle-stage Parkinson's disease. The lessons included 2 hour-long group classes per week with 2 tango instructors and home practice using a tango DVD.
"The DVD includes a series of tango dancing movements believed useful for patients, selected by a scientific committee of neurologists, teachers of tango, patients, bioengineers, physiotherapists, and psychologists after a 1-year study," Dr. Albani noted.
After 1 month of this protocol, in addition to improvements in self-esteem and mood, there was an amelioration of motor scores on the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, "especially for those items less responsive to dopaminergic therapy or neurosurgery: speech, posture, and gait," Dr. Albani said.
"In many of these patients," he noted, "during the 3-dimensional kinematic gait analysis in our lab, we registered significant improvement of cadence of step cycle and a reduction of hip and pelvis flexed posture" (for all, P < .05 pre- vs postintervention).
Rhythmic and Unpredictable
Christopher G. Goetz, MD, director of the Movement Disorders Program at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, and member of the Movement Disorder Society, who was not involved in the study, said these findings support "several observations on the benefits of dance therapy in Parkinson's disease. In Chicago, Illinois, the Hubbard Street Dance Company has a fully developed dance program for Parkinson's disease patients and caregivers.
"The value of physical therapy that has both rhythmic and unpredictable moves embedded in the therapy," Dr. Goetz added, "suggests that benefits seen are not specific to one dance form or another but, rather, to the composite neurological, muscle, joint and emotional activation of various modalities of intervention that can be adapted to a given environment or culture."
Dr. Albani and Dr. Goetz have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Movement Disorder Society (MDS) 14th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders: Abstract LB-20. Presented June 16, 2010.
Source Publication: Medscape Today
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