Acute Recovery of Cardiorespiratory Outcomes After a Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Protocol with Dance Compared to a Conventional Protocol: A Non-Randomized Crossover Clinical Trial

Introduction: Lack of motivation and low adherence to treatment are barriers in cardiac rehabilitation programs (CRP). There is a need to explore alternative models, and dance may represent an attractive alternative to increase adherence, although acute effects deserve better investigation. Objective: This study aimed to compare acute cardiorespiratory recovery and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) of women with cardiovascular risk factors after a conventional CRP protocol compared to one with dance. Methods: This nonrandomized clinical trial included 20 women diagnosed with at least one cardiovascular risk factor, such as hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, obesity, or family history. They were submitted to the conventional protocol (treadmill) and dance protocol (choreographed sentences), both with four phases: rest (10'), warm-up (15'), resistance (30'), and recovery (30'). During the resting and recovery phases, the following were measured: blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), peripheral oxygen saturation, and RPE. Two-way analysis of variance was used to compare the outcomes between protocols, when significant effects were observed, post hoc tests were applied according to normality. To compare the RPE, the Mann-Whitney test was used. Results: There were no significant differences between the protocols and time × protocol interaction (P > .05). However, significant differences between the time points (ie, rest and recovery) were observed for systolic BP, HR, RR, and RPE (P < .001). No significant differences were observed in RPE between the protocols (P = .29). Conclusion: Dance appears to be as effective as conventional CRP in promoting acute physiological recovery, and therefore can be considered a promising and enjoyable alternative for inclusion in CRP.