{"entity":{"id":"dance-movement-therapy","kind":"technology","name":"Dance and movement therapy","aka":[],"tldr":"Dance and movement therapy is enjoyable and a form of exercise, and small trials hint at better quality of life and mood in women with breast cancer, but a Cochrane review found too little evidence to judge whether it helps beyond that.","summary":"Dance and movement therapy uses guided movement with a trained therapist to express emotion and improve body awareness. A 2015 Cochrane review identified only three small randomised trials, all in women with breast cancer, and found insufficient evidence for effects on depression, stress, anxiety, fatigue or body image, with a possible improvement in quality of life of uncertain size. As physical activity, dance shares the general benefits of exercise on fitness and fatigue, which are well established; as a specific therapy its added value is untested. It carries little risk in people cleared for moderate exercise.","status":"phase-2","asOf":"2026-09-10","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_therapy","links":[{"label":"Cochrane: dance/movement therapy for improving psychological and physical outcomes in cancer patients (2015)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD007103.pub3"}],"tags":["complementary","supportive-care","evidence:insufficient"],"related":[],"cancers":["breast-hr-positive"],"sections":["supportive-care"],"technologies":["exercise-oncology","integrative-oncology"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-toxicity-qol"],"keyPapers":["paper-bradt-cochrane-database-syst-rev"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"principle":"Movement to music combines aerobic activity, social contact and creative expression, each of which has its own evidence for wellbeing.","strengths":["Enjoyable, promotes adherence to activity","No safety concerns beyond those of exercise"],"limitations":["Three small trials only","No robust outcome data","Not covered in oncology guidelines"]},"route":"/technologies/dance-movement-therapy/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"breast-hr-positive","kind":"cancer","name":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","route":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/"}],"section":[{"id":"supportive-care","kind":"section","name":"Supportive Care & Survivorship","route":"/fronts/supportive-care/"}],"technology":[{"id":"integrative-oncology","kind":"technology","name":"Evidence-based integrative oncology","route":"/technologies/integrative-oncology/"},{"id":"exercise-oncology","kind":"technology","name":"Exercise & lifestyle oncology","route":"/technologies/exercise-oncology/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-toxicity-qol","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued","route":"/bottlenecks/b-toxicity-qol/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-bradt-cochrane-database-syst-rev","kind":"paper","name":"Dance/movement therapy for improving psychological and physical outcomes in cancer patients","route":"/key-papers/paper-bradt-cochrane-database-syst-rev/"}]}}