Abstract
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that has a fast progression of motor dysfunction within the first 5 years of diagnosis, showing an annual motor rate of decline of the Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) between 5.2 and 8.9 points. We aimed to determine both motor and non-motor PD symptom progression while participating in dance classes once per week over a period of three years. Longitudinal data was assessed for a total of 32 people with PD using MDS-UPDRS scores. Daily motor rate of decline was zero (slope = 0.000146) in PD-Dancers, indicating no motor impairment, whereas the PD-Reference group showed the expected motor decline across three years (p < 0.01). Similarly, non-motor aspects of daily living, motor experiences of daily living, and motor complications showed no significant decline. A significant group (PD-Dancers and PD-Reference) by days interaction showed that PD who train once per week have less motor impairment (M = 18.75) than PD-References who do not train (M = 24.61) over time (p < 0.05). Training is effective at slowing both motor and non-motor PD symptoms over three years as shown in decreased scores of the MDS-UPDRS.
Highlights
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is referred to as a movement disorder because of the associated tremors, stiffening or rigidity of movements, slowing of movements and postural instability
This study demonstrated the positive influence dance has on social and emotional function in people with PD (PwPD), it lacked using a motor rating assessment that is most widely applied in PD such as the Movement Disorders Society—Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale
UPDRS videos were recorded for three years which were sorted to the 16 subjects who fit our longitudinal criteria of having two sessions
Summary
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is referred to as a movement disorder because of the associated tremors, stiffening or rigidity of movements, slowing of movements (bradykinesia) and postural instability (balance). PD affects many other body symptoms not associated to movement such as anxiety, depression, dementia and mild memory and thinking problems as well as executive dysfunction (ED). The progression of these PD motor [1,2] and non-motor [3,4] symptoms negatively impact function and quality of life (QoL). Studies have shown beneficial effects of gait speed, balance, locomotion and aspects of quality of life from various styles of dance classes: including dance that incorporates ballet, jazz, contemporary, theater and choreography, as well as a well-developed dance curriculum known as Dance for Parkinson’s Disease (DfPD) classes [5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. Dance enhances social connection, reduces stress and tension, and boosts confidence and self-esteem leading to an overall im-
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