“Tango therapy”, used in the treatment of a serious neurological disease. “The dance matters and no one can take this”
When the tango sound begins to ring in the room, Lidia Beltran exorcals Parkinson's disease that numbs her, hugs her therapist and dances with fluidity and grace with other patients, in an innovative treatment launched by an Buenos Aires hospital, writes AFP.
For 15 years, about 200 patients have participated in Tango workshops organized by Ramos Mejia Hospital in order to study their impact on the evolution of the symptoms of this incurable neurodegenerative disease and to provide tools to live better in everyday life, explained the team of neurologists responsible for this “tango therapy”.
“One of the main problems of the disease is the disorder of walking, and the tango, as a dance based on walking, works on stopping and starting the steps, as well as on the strategies on the dance floor,” explains neurologist Nelida Garretto, one of the project promoters.
The results are encouraging. Many patients find ways to alleviate the symptoms, such as the motor blocking of the legs, which “freeze” their walk, stresses the specialist in neurology Tomoko Arakaki. “A patient told us that when 'freezes' on the spot, he tries to make 'opt'-one of the classic tango figures-with his feet, and this allows him to get out of that deadlock,” she added.
The tango favors the construction of a “sensory track” that helps patients go. We know that Parkinson needs pharmacological treatments. The tango is used to rehabilitate the motor part. With the help of music, we can get out of complex situations, Tomoko Arakaki said.
“I have to dance with life”
Until the age of 66, Lidia Beltran, diagnosed two years ago, had never danced. He started doing this in the aforementioned workshops and at the doctors' recommendation. “If it is about braking the progression of the disease, then I have to do this, I have to dance with my life,” she added.
In addition to trembling, lack of balance, rigidity and stumblingships, Parkinson's disease often leads to social isolation and depression. The workshop thus acts as an incentive to avoid these situations. Mrs. Beltran tells that this helped her improve her stability, as well as mood. “Tomorrow I am sure I will feel better because today I danced tango,” she added.
Each patient dances with a healthy person, guided by “dance therapists”, such as Manuco Firmani, a renowned tango dancer, whose activity alternates, starting in 2011, between stage shows and this project.
Emilia, 86 years old, prefers not to reveal her last name, because she participates in these sessions against the will of her son, who does not agree with the two hours traveled by bus to reach the dance hall, located in the center of Buenos Aires. “For me, it is a joy every Tuesday,” said in a very low voice this pensioner, with the fragile and bent body, to which the tango wakes her memories from youth.
Why is the tango effective
According to neurologist Sergio Rodriguez, every year “we observe improvements at the cognitive, engine, walking and balance”.
For experts in this typical Rio dance from Payment, the secret of the tango is walking. But not only does this make an effective tool in treating Parkinson's disease. Its added value is that it requires the pursuit of a rhythm, to dance in a certain direction and to interpret what the partner proposes to achieve.
“There are numerous simultaneous messages that need to be solved, which is positive in this disease, in which the difficulty often consists in solving several things simultaneously,” said Dr. Nelida Garretto.
At the end of the session, everyone is applauding with enthusiasm. “It reigns an atmosphere of satisfaction”, a therapist dancer Laura Segade. “After all, the dance is the one who matters and no one can take this,” she added.
