Musculoskeletal injury profile of ballet dancers

Abstract

Objective: The aim of our study is to examine the injury profiles of ballet dancers. Materials and Methods: Dancers of The State Opera and Ballet Directorate who volunteered for the study applied to Ege University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Sports Medicine. Age, gender, height, body weight, education level and physical activities other than dance were recorded. Body fat ratio analysis was performed with the with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) (iDXA, GE Lunar, Madison, Wisconsin, USA). All the training program of the dancers was questioned in detail. The number of dance injuries diagnosed in the last year was recorded. The relationship between injury incidence and other physical parameters was examined. Results: Forty-four dancers who met the inclusion criteria were evaluated. Thirty-five participants reported being injured at least once in the past 12 months. The most injured areas were reported as lumbar, ankle, neck, shoulder and knee. Nearly 60% of the participants reported that they train more than two hours a day. There was a statistically significant relationship between pain, fatigue, and previous injury with injury profile (p<0.05). No statistically significant relationship was found between the incidence of injury and running training, interest in other sports, and doing strengthening exercises (p>0.05). Conclusion: While pain, fatigue, and incomplete healing of the previous injury are related with the injury profile, strengthening exercise, running and participating other sports activities do not have any impact.