Musculoskeletal Pain, Disability and Quality of Life among Retired Dancers

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the long-term effects of professional dancing by comparing the prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints between retired dancers and the general population. A structured questionnaire on the history of regional pains, disability, and overall health was mailed to all available retired members of the Finnish National Ballet (n = 37) and to all retired members of the Union of Finnish Dance Artists (n = 32). An age-matched pool of non-dancer controls (n = 631) was chosen from the Health 2000-Survey to represent the general Finnish population. Disability, overall health and quality of life were assessed using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Differences in the occurrence of musculoskeletal complaints between dancers and controls were analyzed with a logistic regression model. The relative risks were evaluated as odds radios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals. Adjusted mean values of VAS scores were estimated using a generated linear model. The mean age of the ballet dancers was 59 years (range: 49 to 71 years) and that of the modern dancers 50 years (range: 42 to 62 years). Adjusted for age and sex, the risk, OR (95% CI in brackets), of walking difficulty or limping because of hip pain during the past month was 2.9 (1.3-6.3) in the retired dancers (ballet and modern combined) compared with the general population. With similar adjustments, the OR for a knee complaint was 3.7 (1.8-7.5) in the former dancer group in comparison to the controls. The risk of suffering from walking difficulty or limping because of hip or knee pain is significantly increased in dancers as compared to non-dancing controls. The walking difficulty and limping because of hip and knee pain are noteworthy symptoms when assessing a former dancers musculoskeletal health.