Original ResearchTo dance or not to dance? A comparison of balance, physical fitness and quality of life in older Irish set dancers and age-matched controls
Introduction
Epidemiological studies suggest the global population is ageing.1, 2 Consequently, healthcare costs, social burden and the prevalence of chronic disease are expected to increase.2, 3 Strategies to promote health and well-being are paramount to optimize independence,4, 5 functional performance6, 7 and quality of life in older adults.8
Regular participation in exercise is one approach that may delay age-related decline and promote neuroplastic preservation of physical and cognitive function.9, 10, 11 Exercise programmes designed to prevent falls have been shown to improve balance,12, 13 mobility13 and reduce the number12 and rate of falls in older adults.14 Other exercise types including Tai Chi and dance may also afford beneficial effects on balance,15, 16 physical performance and quality of life.15 Research has found that older adults with multiyear dance participation have superior physical performance,17 balance,17, 18, 19 cognitive performance18 and motor function18 compared to age-matched controls.
Irish set dancing is one form of dance which may have positive health effects for older adults. Irish set dancing is a social cultural dance genre, originating in Ireland. This dance genre incorporates socialization,20 aerobic exercise,21 repetitive multidirectional movement in group formation22 and musical accompaniment.23 This complex integration of stimulatory input creates an enjoyable and energetic setting20, 24 and may stimulate neuroplastic preservation of balance and physical fitness.25 Set dancing may also preserve and/or enhance quality of life as the enriched social, musical and cultural context foster community networks, social identity and cohesion.26, 27 Since the 1970s, the popularity of set dancing has grown exponentially. Today, set dancing is practiced by older adults both nationally in Ireland and internationally.20 This has led to the development of trans-continental social networks and friendships.
Despite the national and worldwide practice of Irish set dancing in this population and potential health implications aforementioned, no study has established if older adults who regularly participate in Irish set dancing have better balance, physical fitness and quality of life compared to those who do not engage in Irish set dancing. Given that effective health promotion strategies need to target multiple health-related issues associated with ageing, investigations into the potential multidimensional health benefits associated with Irish set dancing are warranted. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine if older adults who regularly participate in Irish set dancing perform better in measures of balance, physical fitness and quality of life compared to age-matched controls. This study will provide important preliminary data to inform future large observational and experimental studies.
Section snippets
Methods
An observational cross-sectional design, with two groups was used for this study. The strobe guidelines were used to develop and report this study.28 Ethical approval was obtained from the Education and Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee (2014-04-13). Recruitment and data collection and analysis took place in 2014 and 2015. Procedures similar to optimal matching were used to match both groups,29 using frequency scores for age.
Set dancers and age-matched controls were recruited from
Results
A total of 39 set dancers and 34 age-matched controls volunteered to participate. One volunteer was not eligible due to a musculoskeletal condition. The final sample recruited consisted of 39 set dancers and 33 age-matched controls.
The demographic profile of participants is presented in Table 1. There were no significant differences between the groups' age, weight, height or body mass index (BMI). More females participated in the study, indicating results maybe more representative of this
Discussion
Physical activity is recommended to maintain balance, independence and cognition and may reduce the risk of mortality in older people.44, 45 To the authors' knowledge, this is the first published study to examine if older adults who regularly participate in set dancing have better balance, functional fitness and quality of life compared to controls. The positive findings of this study may inform exercise initiatives for older adults.
Set dancing involves continues forward and backward movements
Ethical approval
Ethical approval was obtained from the Education and Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee (2014-04-13).
Funding
No financial disclosures were reported by the authors of this paper.
Competing interests
All the authors named above declare that they do not have any direct interests related to this research.
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2019, Complementary Therapies in Clinical PracticeCitation Excerpt :Social dance includes a range of dance tempi and is not restricted to one genre (i.e. waltzes, hornpipes, quicksteps and marches). Research has found that older social dancers have better balance, gait, cognition and physical functioning compared to aged matched controls [9–11]. The prevalence rates for loneliness in Europe range from 10-20% and social isolation and loneliness are linked with physical and mental health problems [12].
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2018, Experimental GerontologyCitation Excerpt :Other transversal study found similar findings for 6-min-walk test in older Irish set dancers when compared to age-matched controls. The dance practitioners obtained an improvement of 12% in the test performance (Shanahan et al., 2016). Moreover, studies noticed improvements in the functional capacity of individuals practicing dance interventions (Hwang et al., 2015; Keogh et al., 2009), which may explain the increases observed in the present study for CG.
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