Dance-based aerobic exercise may improve indices of falling risk in older women

OBJECTIVE: to determine the effect of dance-based aerobic exercise on indices of falling in older women. DESIGN: an exercise intervention trial with participants assigned either to an exercise group or to a control group. SETTING: an exercise hall at a community centre for senior citizens. PARTICIPANTS: thirty-eight healthy women aged 72-87 years, living independently in the community. INTERVENTION: twenty women performed dance-based aerobic exercise for 60 minutes, 3 days a week, for 12 weeks. The exercise included single-leg standing, squatting, marching, and heel touching; and targeted balance, strength, locomotion/agility, and motor processing. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: single-leg balance with eyes open/closed and functional reach as balance, hand-grip strength and keeping a half-squat position as strength, walking time around two cones and 3-minute walking distance as locomotion/agility, and hand-reaction time and foot tapping as motor processing. RESULTS: at the pre-test, both exercise and control groups performed similarly in all tests. At the end of the intervention, the exercise group showed significantly greater single-leg balance with eyes closed, functional reach, and walking time around two cones. In contrast, there were no significant improvements in any of the test measures in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: dance-based aerobic exercise specifically designed for older women may improve selected components of balance and locomotion/agility, thereby attenuating risks of falling.