The Effects of Dance on the Physical Health of Elderly People

Abstract

Several studies have been conducted in the international literature that glorify the significance of the physical exercise in the elderly. Older people are in favor of enjoyable and fun types of exercise which contribute to motivating participation and adherence. One of these types of exercise is dance. The purpose of this study was to review the relevant studies, which examined the effect of various dance genres on selected indices of health, functional capacity and physical fitness in healthy older people. In the literature, there were 24 studies that used dance as an intervention, with most of these results being in agreement. However, there is a small set of contradictory studies. The genre of dance, the loading parameters and the sample characteristics are factors that may be responsible for the conflicting results among studies.