Abstract
Understanding the human aging of postural control and how physical or motor activity improves balance and gait is challenging for both clinicians and researchers. Previous studies have evidenced that physical and sporting activity focusing on cardiovascular and strength conditioning help older adults develop their balance and gait and/or decrease their frequency of falls. Motor activity based on motor-skill learning has also been put forward as an alternative to develop balance and/or prevent falls in aging. Specifically dance has been advocated as a promising program to boost motor control. In this study, we examined the effects of contemporary dance (CD) on postural control of older adults. Upright stance posturography was performed in 38 participants aged 54–89 years before and after the intervention period, during which one half of the randomly assigned participants was trained to CD and the other half was not trained at all (no dance, ND). CD training lasted 4 weeks, 3 times a week. We performed classical statistic scores of postural signal and dynamic analyses, namely signal diffusion analysis (SDA), recurrence quantification analysis (RQA), and detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). CD modulated postural control in older trainees, as revealed in the eyes closed condition by a decrease in fractal dimension and an increase in DFA alpha component in the mediolateral plane. The ND group showed an increase in length and mean velocity of postural signal, and the eyes open a decrease in RQA maximal diagonal line in the anteroposterior plane and an increase in DFA alpha component in the mediolateral plane. No change was found in SDA in either group. We suggest that such a massed practice of CD reduced the quantity of exchange between the subject and the environment by increasing their postural confidence. Since CD has low-physical but high-motor impact, we conclude that it may be recommended as a useful program to rehabilitate posture in aging.
Highlights
As the frequency of falls increases with age, developing strategies to reduce the risk of falls in aging is a major issue in public health (Judge, 2003)
The interaction was due to a decrease between the two periods in the contemporary dance (CD) group (1.67 > 1.65), whereas a reverse tendency was observed in the not trained at all (ND) group (1.68 < 1.70), though post-hoc failed to reach significance
Three-Way ANOVAs with Group, Period and Eye as factors only showed a main effect of Period for %DET-2% [F(1, 36) = 6.72, P < 0.05], %DET-3% [F(1, 36) = 6.54, P < 0.05], maximal line diagonal (MAXL)-2% [F(1, 36) = 8.19, P < 0.01], and MAXL-3% [F(1, 36) = 4.83, P < 0.05], with higher values in the post- than in the pre-test period: 76.5 > 74.3%, 81.5 > 79.7%, 25.2 > 17.8, and 55.0 > 46.6, respectively
Summary
As the frequency of falls increases with age, developing strategies to reduce the risk of falls in aging is a major issue in public health (Judge, 2003). As regards the various types of exercise, some studies have pointed out the need to distinguish between physical- vs motor-dominant activities (e.g., Voelcker-Rehage et al, 2010). Motor-dominant fitness stands for the motor learning of new skills such as balance, fine motor coordination, motor flexibility, and motor speed in activities as dance, gymnastics, or martial arts (Voelcker-Rehage et al, 2010). Dance has been put forward as a promising program to develop balance and prevent falls in older adults (American Geriatrics Society, 2001; Judge, 2003)
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