Dance Could Be The Key To Cutting Down On Chemotherapy's Collateral Damage

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- These days more and more people are winning the battle against cancer, but that battle can come with collateral damage to a patient's balance and walking.

As CBS2's Dr. Max Gomez explained, dancing -- specifically the tango -- can help.

Specifically the Argentine tango which is more varied in its music and styles than ballroom tango.

It seems that Argentine tango lends itself to improving the gait and balance that can be impaired when chemotherapy damages nerves in the legs and feet.

Tim Hickey never considered himself much of a dancer, but after spending a few weeks in a program for cancer patients, he's surprised even himself.

On Friday, Tim was doing the tango. Not long ago, he could barely walk.

"The only thing I could feel in my feet was the balls. I couldn't feel the toes, couldn't feel the heels," Hickey said.

That's not uncommon. Tim had Hodgkins Lymphoma and the chemotherapy used to wipe out his cancer also damaged nerves in his legs and feet.

"When you lose sensation or activity in those nerves it can affect the feedback that your system get, so that your system isn't able to control its balance quite as well," Lisa Worthen-Chaudhari, MFA, MS, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, explained.

Computer analysis found the loss of feeling in legs and feet can impact a patient's ability to stand and walk, so researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Care Center teamed up with Mimi Lamantia.

As a pre-med student she saw how patients struggled with things like balance and sway, as a dance major she came up with a way to help -- by teaching them to tango.

"Even just 5 weeks of Argentine tango we were able to decrease that medial and lateral sway b 56 percent," she said.

When it comes to nerve damage in the hands and feet, or neuropathy from chemo, nearly 70 percent of patients are affected one month after treatment. Nearly 1 in 3 still have it after 6 months, leading many patients to undergo physical therapy -- something Tim dreaded until therapy turned into dancing.

Then he began to look forward to each and every step he took toward recovery.

"The improvement was remarkable, and I don't think we could have improved nearly that quickly without it," Hickey said.

Doing the tango also rebuilds leg muscles and increases stamina, which also helps to improve balance.

The research was funded by Pelotonia, a bike ride that has raised over $100-million for cancer research.