The methods of my therapy came from ongoing research that is current and has been being conducted since 2017. The scope of my research is growing and evolving as more participants join. This research is based on the fact that existing therapy for conditions –such as vertigo, prevention of dementia, post stroke recovery, post-concussion syndrome, anxiety, and depression are not always effective because they are not performed in a way that engages the total brain system –that is all parts of the brain simultaneously.
If you are one of the people that are suffering with continuous vertigo and balance or feel like you’re starting to forget words and nothing that you have done so far worked for you, you are not alone.
I am also a patient that has been struggling with vertigo since childhood, this would cause vomiting whenever I would ride in a moving vehicle or fly in a plane and could never even dream about going to a boat. I went through the different movement therapies that existed and nothing ever worked.
The medications for vertigo only worked for a couple of hours and then it would get worse. As a physician I started to have a hard time performing my job. The medication‘s for vertigo made me feel groggy and even affected my ability to drive.
I had constant headaches from vertigo and my eyes became very sensitive to sunlight.
Another problem is that has been discovered is the therapies that do exist are not covered by insurance and can become very costly. This becomes prohibitive for many, and the treatment is put aside and often ignored. As a physician this became frustrating and other avenues were researched,
Inspiration came from Harvard University in 2015- that proved that with the use of the functional MRI, that activities like ballroom dancing – utilizes all of the brain with high processing speed and therefore improve balance, regrow nerves, clear some calcification preventing dementia, increase oxygen flow to the brain, and decrease inflammation of the brain which in response decreases anxiety and dementia.
This led to create a hypothesis on how to show the insurance companies the need to cover such therapies for patients with above conditions – while also making it affordable for people struggling with these conditions. For 2 years 2017,and 2018- I looked for ways to conduct the study inh a most effective way, to reach the widest target.
After calculating the possible cost of the research taking in consideration similar ones to prepare for the grant would have been nearly 600,000 to 800,000 dollars. There were many trials and failures that have preceded this unique design for sometime before it was finalized ,
1- first ads on social media were utilized and subjects were interviewed and lessons to teach choreography were scheduled. This avenue was unsuccessful and resulted in 9 out of 10 individuals not following through with the complete term of the study and dropping out after just a few weeks.
2-Then advertising at events in the dance community was approached, this avenue did find some individuals but was limited to the amount of foot traffic that would stop by a booth and request information or discuss enrollment in the research therapy.
Research is unique - why utilize dance competitions?
So I decided to try to bring this research by traveling to a combined competition for elder adults in the movement and dance arts. Because it,
1-brings many participants in one spot - and measure the progress by utilizing independent judgement of highly trained professional judges at the fraction of the cost that it would be if not utilizing the competition time,
2- Have access to goal-oriented patients , because they are more committed to their health and don’t quit.
3- specific diagnosis
While bringing the subjects to a central location. As a physician gaining entry to such events has allowed me to be able to -monitor vital signs and document levels of movement before, during, and following the event with scores added and reviewed individually, and discussing the training regiments and time spent on the choreographies to ascertain the level of improvement over the previous months. This saved both time and money having to train and pay personnel to travel and monitor at various sites and decreases the chance of faulty information being entered into the study. While starting to interview dancers and families at competitions – we found a way to help our participants compete and be assessed by judges by covering their partial entries fees while being with them side by side as a physician to insure that their health is not in danger . This has worked much faster and efficiently than paying for setting a table to advertise for an event at the outside of the ballroom, which already saved us in time, rental fees and and thus we were able to pass the savings on to our competitors partially covering their minimal entries while charting results, this expedited the process by.
1-interviewing many potential candidates.
2-enabling the info to be passed out to everyone that attended the event and maximize the exposure to intended individuals.
While bringing the subjects to a central location, monitoring of vital signs and levels of movement could be monitored before, during, and following the event with scores added and reviewed individually, and discussion of the training regiments and time spent on the choreographies to ascertain the level of improvement over the previous months. This saved having to train and pay personnel to travel and monitor at various sites and decreases the chance of faulty information being entered into the study.
In order for insurance companies to approve any form of treatment there needs to be a combination study of clinical research and significant outcome with the large number of population that is funded by privately owned by grants.
To present any research for these grants, there would be a need to have a unique design, implementation process, and an adoptive study that shows significant results.
How is this research conducive to solving this problem?
It allows in the in a short period of time to obtain a visible result such as changes in MRI of the brain showing visible plasticity of amygdala for further research with larger population.
Why is this research unique?
This research takes a participant with a problem such a vertigo that is not able to be cured otherwise and through working with teachers learning multiple choreographies and memorizing steps to the music.
The unique part of this research is that by utilizing the dance studios that are readily available in most cities and are available to every person affordably. This will show that learning choreography and committing to memorization
and through the performance of them to the music that the research will be able to obtain a visible and trackable result through scoring of the judges and through time show the increase in scoring that will be the result of increased memory, post stroke symptoms, flexibility, and balance. These are all areas that the judges are trained and look for by participants that compete.
Another area that was discovered while researching the issues is that through this treatment other areas are affected such as coordination and balance. This will reduce the number of fall related injuries and improve the quality of life of the subjects in the target population that is being studied. Using movement and memorization of steps to a timed beat of music the mental aspects are clear. The increased utilization of the brain and central nervous system
will reduce many illnesses that plague the population today,
but with the increased mental activity there is also a need to address the physical aspects that pertain to balance and coordination.
This research could also be applied to the more elderly population that are institutionalized or placed in different care facilities, the dance movement therapy while helping to battle diseases like dementia would also benefit this group by helping them to remain active in a setting where a sedentary lifestyle is often found.
Factors in this setting that are currently in place to measure the health and welfare of the patient are often misleading and detrimental to the health and welfare of these individuals.
Often things that are measured other than basic vital signs are BMI, while this is a good indicator to begin diagnosis this measurement was not intended to be used to calculate the health of an individual. With a sedentary lifestyle many times the BMI of a patient may be well within the normal range, but in truth the weight is also affected by loss of muscle. This keeps the body weight low, but this loss of muscle will result in less natural body strength and can cause issues with balance and ability to ambulate correctly. This will lead to increased fall risk and the injuries that are associated with such falls.
This is not just bad for the patient but also will increase insurance costs.
With dance movement therapy the results for an elderly population would be less falls due to loss of muscle mass and balance while keeping the brain and nervous system of the patients healthy and functioning at a higher level of those who would remain sedentary.
If you or someone you know struggling with above mentioned problems, and serious to participate till the end please send them the link to our website.
My own professional promise is I will go alongside with you and continue to reassess your improvement while helping with my medical knowledge and partial fees for your check up dates (exams) at competitions.
Sincerely
Dr. Zavodchikov