Successful management of classical ballet dancers with overuse injuries requires an understanding of the art form, precise knowledge of anatomy and awareness of certain conditions. Turnout is the single most fundamental physical attribute in classical ballet and 'forcing turnout' frequently contributes to overuse injuries. Common presenting conditions arising from the foot and ankle include problems at the first metatarsophalangeal joint, second metatarsal stress fractures, flexor hallucis longus tendinitis and anterior and posterior ankle impingement syndromes. Persistent shin pain in dancers is often due to chronic compartment syndrome, stress fracture of the posteromedial or anterior tibia. Knee pain can arise from patellofemoral syndrome, patellar tendon insertional pathologies, or a combination of both. Hip and back problems are also prevalent in dancers. To speed injury recovery of dancers, it is important for the sports medicine team to cooperate fully. This permits the dancer to benefit from accurate diagnosis, technique correction where necessary, the full range of manual therapies to joint and soft tissue, appropriate strengthening programmes and maintenance of dance fitness during any time out of class with Pilates-based exercises and nutrition advice. Most overuse ballet conditions respond well to a combination of conservative therapies. Those dancers that do require surgical management still depend heavily on ballet-specific rehabilitation for a complete recovery.

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Our NAR of 32.8% is higher than expected but comparable to those previously published. Although this did not have a significant impact on patient morbidity as shown by our re-admission rates, revision of our current policy to remove the appendix should no other pathology be identifiable may improve outcomes.

Objectives: To compare the short-term and medium-term effect of Functional Fascial Taping to placebo taping on pain and function in people with non-specific low back pain. Design: A pilot randomized controlled trial with a 2-week intervention, and 2-, 6- and 12-week follow-up. Setting: Individuals with non-specific low back pain recruited from local communities. Participants: Forty-three participants with non-specific low back pain for more than 6 weeks were randomized into either Functional Fascial Taping group (n = 21) or placebo group (n = 22). Interventions: The intervention group was treated with Functional Fascial Taping while the control group was treated with placebo taping. Both groups received four treatments over 2 weeks. Main outcome measures: Worst and average pain and function were assessed at baseline, after the 2-week intervention, and at 6 and 12 weeks follow-up. Results: The Functional Fascial Taping group demonstrated significantly greater reduction in worst pain compared to placebo group after the 2-week intervention (P = 0.02, effect size = 0.74; 95% confidence interval 0.11–1.34). A higher proportion of participants in Functional Fascial Taping group attained the minimal clinically important difference in worst pain (P = 0.007) and function (P = 0.007) than those in placebo group after the 2-week intervention. There were no significant differences in either group’s disability rating or clinically important difference in average pain at any time. Conclusions: Functional Fascial Taping reduced worst pain in patients with non-acute non-specific low back pain during the treatment phase. No medium-term differences in pain or function were observed.

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