Study: Teaching Cancer Patients To Tango Proves Health Benefits

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) – In an effort to help some patients regain their balance after cancer treatment, researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center are teaching them to dance. The Argentine tango, to be exact. And a new study shows the approach not only gets patients back on their feet sooner, it dramatically reduces their risk of injury due to falls.

“Chemotherapy is able to kill the cancer in many of these patients,” said Lise Worthen-Chaudhari, Associate Director of the Motion Analysis and Recovery Laboratory at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. “Unfortunately, chemo can also damage healthy tissue, like nerves in a patient’s legs and feet, which causes balance issues and increases their risk of falling.”

It’s a condition known as chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. Studies show it affects nearly 70 percent of patients one month after chemo, and after 6 months, nearly 1 in 3 still struggle with the condition.

To help those patients recover, recent Ohio State University graduate Mimi Lamantia came up with an idea. “As a pre-med student, I was well aware of the balance issues these patients face,” she said. “And as a dance major, I knew there was something I could do to help. So, we started teaching patients the tango.”

After just 5 weeks of dance classes, patients improved their balance by an average of 56 percent. Patients also had measurable changes to their core strength – which is often depleted due to muscle loss associated with cancer – and most were more likely to complete physical therapy.