Narrative review on effects of dance therapy in Parkinson’s disease patients

Abstract

Background: Parkinson's disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disease, with slow insidious onset, characterized by the presence of predominantly motor symptoms such as rest tremor, bradykinesia, and postural instability. Dance therapy has been used for many years for various conditions, especially for patients with Parkinson's disease. Methods: The PubMed, Elsevier, Wiley, and Springer databases were searched using the solitary or combination keywords "dance therapy", "Parkinson's disease", and "dance therapy in neurodegenerative disorders". Finally, the time period covered by the inclusion criteria for the papers chosen for evaluation was 2000–2022. Results: In comparison to other forms of exercise, dance resulted in substantial gains on the UPDRSIII and various other scales. Dance practice similarly resulted in substantial gains in motor scores when compared to the control group. Dance has been shown to enhance disease-related motor parameters and functional mobility in patients. Conclusion: Over time, dance therapy has been shown to help improve balance disorders, coordination of movement and mood. In summary, dance therapy is a novel and engaging kind of physical therapy for individuals with Parkinson's disease that could have a significant effect on motor and non-motor abilities.