If You Can’t Move, Dance
In 2001 Olie Westheimer had a crazy idea.
What if they learned to dance?
Ms. Westheimer’s husband who was the director of the Parkinsons Disease and Related Disorders Center at a major New York City Medical Center had asked her to start a support group for Parkinson’s patients and their caregivers.
Ms. Westheimer recognized that people with Parkinson’s disease aren’t living with the disease, they’re defined by it-they needed more than a support group.
Having studied dance when she was younger she recognized that some patients were using techniques similar to dancers’ in mastering and memorizing movement and this was the catalyst for the crazy idea (Sulcas, 2007).
Mark Morris Dance Group to the Rescue
Ms. Westheimer went to the Mark Morris Dance Group and proposed they teach Parkinson’s patients to dance.
And it worked!
Remarkably well.
One of the Dance for PD participants puts it this way: “The focus is not illness; it is living. It is self-expression, human connection, beauty, love. It’s magic.”
The program has grown to 300 communities and 28 countries around the world with online classes as well (Dance for PD website).
Since then there has been considerable research into dance as treatment for Parkinson’s, including tango, waltz, foxtrot and Irish step dancing.
It has been known for some time that physical therapy, aerobic training, balance training, functional mobility and other forms of movement and exercise are beneficial in Parkinson’s disease, but few suspected it might even be superior.
A 2023 meta analysis by Zhang et al. comparing 109 studies and 14 types of exercise identified dancing as the most effective exercise showing the “strongest overall improvement in motor function” (Meulenberg et al. 2023).
Enter Three Point Balance
How did we get involved at Three Point Balance? We’re certainly not teaching dance nor are we rehabilitating Parkinson's patients…
Laura, Kim and I were asked to give a talk on Nutrition in Parkinson’s Disease to Parkinson's Pointe.
Since Laura and Kim are the Nutrition experts, I was given the job of talking a bit about movement.
Talking about movement to a group of people whose movements are slowly being stolen from them by a disease that impairs balance, causes tremors, rigidity, slowness even causing them to “freeze” in place sometimes, felt a bit awkward until I stumbled across the story of Dance for PD.
It was then that I started trying to understand the mechanisms.
I looked at Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor and dopamine and Human Growth Factor and Neuroplasticity and on and on.
There’s a mountain of information to try and synthesize and I only had 7 minutes to give my section of the presentation.
I complained to my wife about the impossibility.
She, being a lot more practical than I, quickly saw the solution, “show them” she said.
So I did.
For 3 minutes and 37 seconds Kim, Laura and I couldn’t sit still right there on our Zoom call grooving to Sister Sledge, We Are Family.
I wish I could say that there were folks with Parkinson’s standing up and boogying in their living rooms along with us, but alas, nobody showed up.
Nevertheless we had a great time and as a result, I’m sharing with you a bit of what I learned on the journey.
Why Does Dance Work Better
All forms of movement are beneficial so why does dance apparently work better than other forms of exercise in improving motor function in Parkinson’s patients?
A recent study on rhythm and groove as cognitive mechanisms of dance intervention in Parkinson's disease points out that “dance experience may well serve as an experiential factor that builds cognitive reserve, as dance is a cognitively demanding
experience that is also a relatively common leisure activity among older adults….the therapeutic outcome of dance classes may also be associated with socialization and sense of community. Incorporating movement, relaxation, and social interaction with music could further decrease stress and anxiety and, consequently, neuroinflammation and oxidative stress.” (Krotinger & Loui 2021)
Here we see involvement of the mind-“builds cognitive reserve”, the heart-“associated with socialization and sense of community…decrease stress and anxiety…neuroinflammation, oxidative stress” and of course the body-dance is movement after all.
In “Unleashing the potential of dance: a neuroplasticity-based approach bridging from older adults to Parkinson’s disease patients.” Meulenberg and colleagues list a number of of the demands of dancing:
Demands of Dancing Center of Being*
Attention_______________Mind
Musical Cueing_________ Mind, Heart/Emotion
Variability of Steps & Sequences___Mind, Body
Emotions_______________________Heart/Emotion
Social Interaction________________Heart/Emotion, Mind
Sensorimotor Stimulation_________Body
Cognition_______________________Mind
Cardio-Vascular Exercise__________Body
Motor-Coordination______________Body
Brain Activity____________________Mind
Motor Learning Skills_____________Mind/Body
*”Center of Being” added by Three Point Balance
(Meulenberg et al.,2021)
Engaging the Centers of Being
This is what I suspect is responsible for the apparent superiority of dance to other forms of exercise for Parkinson’s patients-the engagement of all three centers of being-Body, Mind and Heart.
In dancing the mind must pay attention to the music and to the rhythm and create ways to move to the music.
Musical cueing also requires the heart.
Music involves emotions, feelings, the heart.
The complexity of steps and movements in dancing requires memory and concentration, motor coordination.
Dancing also involves social interaction, the feeling of closeness with a group of people, the engagement of the heart while moving in rhythm to music with another human being.
The pulse quickens, the breathing deepens and quickens while exercising the body stimulating the cardiovascular system.
The senses of hearing and balance and position in space are all engaged.
Ultimately the dancer sneaks up on moving from several different directions and so those parts of the nervous system that have forgotten how to move are surprised into moving in ways not thought possible.
As one Dance for PD participant noted: “I don’t know if it happens to everyone, but I lose my symptoms while I’m there.” (Sulcas, 2007)
Balance of Body, Mind and Heart
This is a perfect example of the magic of engaging your whole self in changing your life for the better.
It is when you give your mind and your body and your heart over to the process of transformation that real lasting change takes place.
At Three Point Balance we don’t presume to be transforming the lives of Parkinson’s patients like Ms. Westheimer.
But, we are busy helping our clients on their journey to wholeness-Balance of Body, Mind and Heart.
If you’re interested check out our website, www.threepointbalance.com.
AUTHOR
Michael Simmons MD
Fitness Coach,
Founding Owner, Three Point Balance
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