Exercise can help reduce the risk of falls — a major cause of injuries in older adults — but only four per cent of older Canadian women complete 30 minutes of daily physical activity. As a PhD candidate in health and exercise science at Concordia University, I am interested in developing fun and accessible balance-training programs using online dance classes.
Dance can act as a fun “exercise in disguise.” Studies have consistently shown that dance can inspire social connections, improve mood and aid cognition, while also leading to improvements in mobility, endurance and walking abilities.
It is also an ideal form of balance training because learning various dance steps requires high precision of movement, which can help increase our proprioception (our perception of our body movement and position in space). This can help improve or maintain our postural stability.
