Music-Based Exercise Reduces Fall Risks

Among aging men and women, falls represent a major adverse event that can lead to significant disability, or death. Andrea Trombetti, from the University Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine of Geneva (Switzerland), and colleagues studied a group of 134 community-dwelling seniors, average age 75.5 years. who were randomized to six months of one-hour weekly sessions of a music-based exercise program, or to a six-month delay (after which they could participate in the program). The music-based exercise program significantly reduced gait variability — stride-to-stride fluctuations in walking associated with an increased risk of falls.  The improvement in stride length variability was seen even when participants did dual-task exercises, such as walking and counting backwards, to the accompaniment of piano music. The team also observed marked improvements on single-task exercises, such as the one-legged stance task. During the intervention period, participants in the music-based exercise program fell less frequently than controls, and the number of participants who experienced one or more falls also was significantly lower as well.  After one year, the researchers found that the participants who took part in the music-based exercise program maintained many of their improvements.  Positing that the benefits may have resulted from increased skills coordination or improvements in attention and executive functioning, the researchers conclude that: “In community-dwelling older people at increased risk of falling, a 6-month music-based multitask exercise program improved gait under dual-task condition, improved balance, and reduced both the rate of falls and the risk of falling.”