Musculoskeletal injuries on professional dancers in Portugal
Azevedo, A.P.; Oliveira, R.; Fonseca, J.P.
Comunicação oral apresentada 13º Annual Congress European College of Sports Science
Estoril - Julho/2008
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Dance is a predisposing profession to the occurrence of injury, being physically and psychologically demanding, with different risk factors.
General purpose: To determine the annual prevalence of injuries on professional dancers in Portugal and to characterise associated its risk factors.
Methods: In this epidemiologic retrospective study, each participant completed a self-completing questionnaire that collected information about the personal data, professional activity and occurrence of injuries. 193 questionnaires were distributed among 17 professional dance companies. We have used the Spearman correlation test and the Qui-square association test to treatment of the data. The significance level was decided from p≤0.05.
Results: From the 100 dancers (approbation 51.8%), the majority of the dancers were woman (65%). We found 68 suffered at least one musculoskeletal injury (annual prevalence 68%). At 44.5% of the injuries, dancers didn’t interrupt for any day their professional activity. The lower limb was the most injured anatomic region, with 56.9% of all injuries; 16.8% of which were to the knee. Most injuries occurred during rehearsals (46.3%). Injuries are caused by many factors and the main cause reported was weariness and general fatigue (53%). The most referred method of prevention were adequate stage and studio floors for dance practice (74.2%) and health professionals working for the company (71.2%).
Discussion: The professional dancers of a high level are the result of a demanding process of selection. We found 68% of the dancers with a self-reported musculoskeletal injury. This value is similar in other studies: 42% in the English study and Australian professional dancers reported 56%. It seems safe to conclude that most professional dancers will be injured at some point in their careers. Dancers are particularly vulnerable to injury during rehearsals, because they are asked to do new things for which their bodies are not properly prepared for.
Conclusion: This study confirms that dancing at professional level is a high risk activity, with an elevated number of injuries and a multifactorial aetiology. It is necessary for the dancer to be aware of this fact in order to better prevent and treat his injuries. One should invest in the prevention of injuries in dance to reduce the risk factors and to promote a long and healthy professional career for the dancer.
Keywords: Dance, Musculoskeletal injuries, Epidemiologic study, Dancers.
References
Bowling, A. (1989). Injuries to dancers: prevalence, treatment, and perception of causes. British Medical Journal, 298, 731-734.
Byhring, S. & Bo, K. - Musculoskeletal injuries in the Norwegian National Ballet: a prospective cohort study. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports (2002); 12 (6): 365-370.
Hamilton, WG, Hamilton, LH, Marshall, P. & Molnar, M. - A Profile of the musculoskeletal characteristics of elite Professional ballet dancers. The American Journal of Sports Medicine (1992); 20 (3): 267-273.
Introduction: Dance is a predisposing profession to the occurrence of injury, being physically and psychologically demanding, with different risk factors.
General purpose: To determine the annual prevalence of injuries on professional dancers in Portugal and to characterise associated its risk factors.
Methods: In this epidemiologic retrospective study, each participant completed a self-completing questionnaire that collected information about the personal data, professional activity and occurrence of injuries. 193 questionnaires were distributed among 17 professional dance companies. We have used the Spearman correlation test and the Qui-square association test to treatment of the data. The significance level was decided from p≤0.05.
Results: From the 100 dancers (approbation 51.8%), the majority of the dancers were woman (65%). We found 68 suffered at least one musculoskeletal injury (annual prevalence 68%). At 44.5% of the injuries, dancers didn’t interrupt for any day their professional activity. The lower limb was the most injured anatomic region, with 56.9% of all injuries; 16.8% of which were to the knee. Most injuries occurred during rehearsals (46.3%). Injuries are caused by many factors and the main cause reported was weariness and general fatigue (53%). The most referred method of prevention were adequate stage and studio floors for dance practice (74.2%) and health professionals working for the company (71.2%).
Discussion: The professional dancers of a high level are the result of a demanding process of selection. We found 68% of the dancers with a self-reported musculoskeletal injury. This value is similar in other studies: 42% in the English study and Australian professional dancers reported 56%. It seems safe to conclude that most professional dancers will be injured at some point in their careers. Dancers are particularly vulnerable to injury during rehearsals, because they are asked to do new things for which their bodies are not properly prepared for.
Conclusion: This study confirms that dancing at professional level is a high risk activity, with an elevated number of injuries and a multifactorial aetiology. It is necessary for the dancer to be aware of this fact in order to better prevent and treat his injuries. One should invest in the prevention of injuries in dance to reduce the risk factors and to promote a long and healthy professional career for the dancer.
Keywords: Dance, Musculoskeletal injuries, Epidemiologic study, Dancers.
References
Bowling, A. (1989). Injuries to dancers: prevalence, treatment, and perception of causes. British Medical Journal, 298, 731-734.
Byhring, S. & Bo, K. - Musculoskeletal injuries in the Norwegian National Ballet: a prospective cohort study. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports (2002); 12 (6): 365-370.
Hamilton, WG, Hamilton, LH, Marshall, P. & Molnar, M. - A Profile of the musculoskeletal characteristics of elite Professional ballet dancers. The American Journal of Sports Medicine (1992); 20 (3): 267-273.
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