Abstract
Objectives: Although coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has transformed the training environment of dancers worldwide, little is known on how this has affected injury prevalence, causes, and risk factors.Methods: An online investigation involving Chinese full-time dance students was conducted (September–November 2020), which covered two 6-month periods just before and during the first COVID-19 lockdown.Results: 2086 students (19 ± 2.4 years) responded to the investigation. Injury prevalence dropped from 39.6% (before the lockdown) to 16.5% (during the lockdown) (p < 0.01). It was noted that a significant increase in injury severity during the lockdown was caused due to a 4.1% increase in moderate-to-severe injuries (p < 0.05). During the lockdown, the injuries on the lower back, feet, and shoulders decreased significantly (p < 0.01), but the knee, ankle, and groin/hip joint injuries remained the same. Fatigue and the recurrence of an old injury remained as the top two perceived causes of an injury between the two periods with the increase in an unsuitable floor (p < 0.01), a cold environment (p < 0.05), and set/props (p < 0.05). The fatigue degree of students decreased (p < 0.01) and their hours of sleep increased (p < 0.01) during the lockdown. Binary Logistic Regression analysis indicated that dance injury is associated with fatigue, the hours of sleep, and the actions taken if they suspect an injury during the lockdown (p < 0.05), but is only related to the time set aside for a cooldown and age before the lockdown period (p < 0.05).Conclusion: Although injury prevalence dropped significantly during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Chinese dance students, the main dance injury characteristics remained the same. Decreased fatigue and longer hours of sleep could explain the aforementioned drop in injury prevalence during the lockdown.
Highlights
The arrival of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) forced most pre-professional dancers to train and study from home due to the lockdown
The survey used the same questionnaire that was utilized in a previous survey on injury prevalence in Chinese dancers (Dang et al, 2020); this had previously been adapted from the “Fit to Dance” Dancer and Dance Students Questionnaire (Brinson and Dick, 1996; Laws, 2005)
The options in question 1 were changed as an affiliation middle school student and a university student; for question 7, Chinese Classic Dance, Chinese Folk Dance, Chinese Dance, Sports Dance, and Dancology were added; the options of body conditioning, strength training, and fitness training were synthesized as body conditioning; the questions of hours spent every week dancing and the hours of sleeping were asked for the two different time periods; and the option of the arms/hands was subdivided into hands, elbow, wrist, and upper arm, and/or forearm
Summary
The arrival of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) forced most pre-professional dancers to train and study from home due to the lockdown. Injuries were mainly in the muscles of the lower limb and chronic in nature (Allen et al, 2013; Dang et al, 2020). Perceived causes of these injuries were overwork, fatigue, and the recurrence of an old injury (Dang et al, 2020). Universities recruit dance students from pre-professional secondary schools with full-time training or high-school students with part-time training. Pre-professional secondary schools recruit students (11–12 years old) from primary schools or junior high schools (Academy TASSoBD, 2021). Pre-professional training usually starts around the age of 11–12 years with students training 11–17 h a week until they are 18 years old, and the same training at a university (18–22 years old), the hours increased to between 17 and 20 h a week
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