Modified traditional dance therapy: An applicative balance therapy for Hargo Dedali’s Elderly

Abstract

One of the problems in the elderly is the high prevalence of falls. Prevalence rate falls around 28-35% in the 65-69 years old elderly and increases to 32-42% in the aged over 70 years. Dance is a promising intervention to improve balance and brain structure for the elderly. Dance is a multimodal intervention with multiple components. Dance combines aerobic fitness, sensorimotor skills and cognitive demands with a low risk of injury. One of the dances that have a combination of various movements is the Javanese dance. Javanese dance is a fun physical activity/exercise and can be a therapeutic option to improve muscle strength, flexibility, functional capacity and postural stability. Therefore, the study purpose was to determine modified traditonal javanese dance effect on balance function through one-leg stance test and timed up-and-go test examination on female elderly at the Hargo Dedali Nursing Home. The improvement of static balance function in elderly female subjects after being given modified Javanese dance 3x/week with a duration of 35 minutes for 12 weeks. There was also an increase in dynamic balance function in elderly female subjects after being given modified Javanese dance 3x/week with a duration of 35 minutes for 12 weeks.