Turning on the tunes while you exercise could help you avoid falls, a recent study suggests. A small study from the University Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine of Geneva, detailed in a HealthDay News article, shows that moving to music might actually help older adults with balance and lower their risk of falling down.
The study looked at 134 adults with an average age of 75.5 years. Researchers divided the adults into two groups. One group followed an exercise program focused on multi-tasking with music. The control group did normal exercises.
At the end of a year, people in the music-based program fell fewer times than those who did normal exercises. Researchers found that moving to music did more to improve participants’ gait and balance.
“Our findings suggest that this program may be useful for fall prevention and rehabilitation in community-based settings such as senior centers,” wrote Dr. Andrea Trombetti and her colleagues in a report on the study in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
