Movement-to-music Intervention Improves Lower Extremity Function In People With Mobility Disabilities: A Randomized Controlled Study

PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of a 12-week Movement-to-Music (M2M) intervention on improving lower extremity functioning in participants with mobility disabilities. METHODS: Two-arm randomized intervention efficacy trial. Assessments were conducted at baseline and 12-week post-intervention. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: M2M or Control. Participants in M2M attended three 60-minute sessions per week for 12 weeks, which were delivered synchronously with live instruction over Zoom. Control participants were instructed to maintain usual activities during the 12-week period and completed weekly surveys to track physical activities. Baseline and post-intervention (12 weeks) lower extremity function was assessed using the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), which consisted of a balance test, a gait speed test, and a chair stand test. Individual test scores and a sum of the balance, gait speed, and chair stand scores was calculated as the total score. Primary analyses were performed using an intent-to-treat linear mixed model ANCOVA. RESULTS: Participants (N = 97) with mobility disabilities between the ages of 18 and 70 years enrolled and randomized into M2M (n = 48) and Control (n = 49). Mixed models adjusted for the respective baseline values and physical function (ambulatory, hemiparesis, or wheelchair users) showed that M2M participants had statistically significant improvements in gait speed (F (1,75) = 6.68, p = 0.01; least square mean difference [LSM], 0.31; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.13 to 0.50) and total score on the SPPB (F (1,75) = 4.16, p = 0.04; LMS, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.11 to 0.81) compared to controls post-intervention. Moderate to strong effect sizes were observed for improving gait speed (d = 0.75) and the total score (d = 0.58). There was no group difference in the balance and the chair stand tests, with a small effect size observed for the chair stand test (d = 0.36). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that M2M improves gait speed and overall lower extremity function in people with mobility disabilities. Future studies should explore the effectiveness of asynchronous vs. synchronous delivery of M2M and potential scalability and translation in community-based fitness settings. The contents of this abstract were developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number 90DPGE0005).