Thai dance exercises benefited functional mobility and fall rates among community-dwelling older individuals.
Chonticha Kaewjoho, Lugkana Mato, Thiwabhorn Thaweewannakij and 4 others
PMID 32489237WHAT IT FOUND
Community-dwelling older adults who performed Thai dance exercises for six weeks showed improved functional mobility and fewer falls.
Participants walked faster, stood up from a chair more quickly, and the number of fallers dropped from 21 to 5. Benefits appeared within three weeks.
Key findings
01Participants showed significant improvements in all functional mobility outcomes (TUG, FTSST, 10 MWT, 6 MinWT) after 3 and 6 weeks of training.
02The number of participants who experienced falls during the 6-month follow-up was significantly reduced compared to the period prior to training.
03Improvements in the Five Times Sit-to-Stand Test were particularly notable, with week 6 scores differing significantly from both pre-test and intermediate-test scores.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study used a quasi-experimental design with no control group, making it impossible to rule out that improvements were due to time, practice effects, or other daily activities rather than the dance intervention itself. Fall data relied on retrospective recall for the pre-intervention period and prospective diaries for the post-intervention period, introducing potential recall bias and Hawthorne effects. The assessors were aware of the training program, which could introduce bias in functional mobility measurements despite efforts to ensure rater reliability. The findings apply only to participants who attended at least 80% of the sessions, so it is unclear if the benefits hold for those with lower adherence.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The study was funded by the National Research Council Thailand and the Improvement of Physical Performance and Quality of Life Research Group at Khon Kaen University.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that Thai dance exercises are superior to other forms of exercise or that they alone caused the reduction in falls. Without a control group, the observed improvements cannot be definitively separated from the natural effects of participating in any structured group activity or the passage of time.