Effects of Movement Music Therapy with the Naruko Clapper on Psychological, Physical and Physiological Indices among Elderly Females: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Background: Recent interventional studies have indicated that some exercise programs have beneficial physical and immunological effects for older people. Some evidence suggests that exercise programs involving music and/or a rhythmic movement component may be particularly beneficial. Objective: To assess the effects of a new type of movement music therapy (MMT) on physical, immunological, hormonal and psychosocial health parameters among older adults. Methods: 112 elderly female subjects (average age 73.62 ± 5.50 years) who performed little habitual exercise participated in this randomized, controlled, single-blinded intervention trial. The subjects were divided into two groups which participated in different exercise programs (experimental group: MMT; control group: simple exercise program). We assessed a comprehensive range of indices before and after the interventions, which lasted a total of 8 weeks. These indices included (1) the Philadelphia Geriatric Center morale scale, (2) self-rated health status, (3) physical function tests (e.g. blood pressure, pulmonary function, body balance, gait ability, muscle endurance, muscle-strength, and functional mobility), and (4) saliva analysis for physiological function indices (e.g. secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA), chromogranin A, cortisol, and total protein). Results: In comparisons between the MMT and control interventions in younger elderly subjects (≤74 years old), systolic blood pressure decreased (p = 0.02), pulmonary function improved (p = 0.05) and body balance improved (p = 0.04) in the MMT group, but not in the control group. The SIgA secretion rate of the experimental group remained significantly elevated (p = 0.02) 15 min after exercise compared with before exercise. There were no significant differences between interventions in psychosocial indices. In contrast, no significant differences were detected between interventions in any measures in the older elderly group(≥75 years old). Conclusion: These results indicate that the MMT, even with a short (8-week) intervention period, improves physical and physiological functions to a significantly greater extent in younger elderly individuals compared with a control intervention without music.

Effects of movement music therapy with a percussion instrument on physical and frontal lobe function in older adults with mild cognitive impairment: a randomized controlled trial

“…MMT constitutes a multitask exercise program; subjects were required to shake the Naruko clapper instrument and singing a song at the time with the music, and simultaneously follow the body movement of a trainer. As subjects in the MMT group were required to pay attention to the timing of the Naruko throughout the exercise, MMT may have involved a higher level of cognitive performance than the control intervention involving a single physical task (Shimizu et al, 2013). Thus, the combination of rhythmic movement with cognitive functioning in our specific MMT intervention may have been necessary to activate the prefrontal area to the extent observed in the present study.…”

“…Subjects were required to shake the Naruko clapper instrument and singing a song at the time with the music, and simultaneously follow the body movement of a trainer. This low-impact exercise simultaneously requires high levels of cognitive and motor function (Shimizu et al, 2013).…”

Is Salivary Chromogranin A a Valid Psychological Stress Biomarker During Sensory Stimulation in People with Advanced Dementia?

“…Toda and Ichikawa [32] evaluated the consequence of watching a comedy video after performing a stress task (an arithmetic test), and found significantly higher salivary flow rates after watching the video but no influence on sCgA. Shimizu et al [45] did not observe significant variations in sCgA when assessing the effects of movement music intervention in female older adults. And, similarly, no effect of hand massage prompted relaxation was obtained in sCgA from female geriatric facility residents [46].…”

Beneficial Effects of Ginsenosides-Rb1 on Immune Function of Rats During Strenuous Physical Exercise

“…These isotypes -IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG and IgM -all have different heavy chains and thus exert different effect or functions (13). Exercise can cause a change in the consistency of serum Ig levels, among these changes are significant variations are in IgA, IgG and IgM (14). Numerous studies have shown that strenuous physical exercise leads to reduced serum IgA, IgG and IgM levels and as a result weakens the immune system.…”