This comprehensive management program effectively decreased the incidence of new cases and lost time. Both dancers and management strongly support its continuance.

Hip hop dance has rapidly become a popular international art form. There is limited information on injury patterns in this population. The purpose of this study was to determine injury incidence and patterns among three groups of hip hop dancers. Three hundred and twelve intermediate, advanced, and expert hip hop dancers were recruited at battles, dance conferences, clubs, and on dance related web sites within the United States and internationally. A Web-based survey was conducted over a 6-month period. Inclusion criteria included intermediate and advanced level dancers over the age of 13. Dancers were divided into three main categories: Breakers, Popper/Lockers, and New Schoolers. Separate analysis of variances were used to compare injury pattern differences between groups. Two hundred and thirty-two dancers reported a total of 738 injuries. Five hundred and six of these (sustained by 205 dancers) were time-loss (TL) injuries. Annual injury incidence was 237% (162% involving TL). Lower extremity injuries were 52% and upper extremity injuries 32% of total injuries. Breakers had a higher injury incidence compared with Popper/Lockers, and New Schoolers. Hip hop dancers report injury rates that are higher than other dance forms but similar to gymnastics. These dancers should be educated concerning injury prevention, biomechanics, and use of protective equipment.

INTRODUCTIONDancers represent a medically under-served occupational group at high risk for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD). They are highly trained individuals who perform repetitive, reproducible, and consistent movements. 1 The annual incidence of injury in professional dancers is 67-95%. [2][3][4][5][6] Traditionally, dancers are considered to be both artists and athletes. Accordingly, medical practitioners have adopted a sports medicine model in the care of dancers within their respective organisations. Activities such as annual screenings and performance coverage pattern themselves after pre-season team screenings and game coverage. This approach has been effective enough to produce a recent offspring, dance medicine, which has sought to describe patterns of, and risk factors for, dance-related injury. As dance medicine continues to grow, many of its specialists are also drawing from another model, occupational medicine, to develop injury prevention and management programmes tailored to the special needs of this population.In this article, we borrow from both the sports and occupational medicine models to review some of the issues in addressing WMSD in dancers. Consideration will be given to injury risk factors and options for organisational management of injury. To further our discussion, Figure 1 illustrates a dance medicine conceptual model demonstrating the interaction of intrinsic risk factors of the dancer/worker with extrinsic risk factors of dance/work that may result in musculoskeletal injury and the points at which prevention measures can be introduced. MULTIFACTORIAL RISK FACTORSWMSD incur enormous health and financial costs. They account for over 85% of workers' compensation (WC) claims in the US, with estimated annual costs ranging from $13-54 billion. 7,8 In order to design optimal prevention and intervention strategies for workers, it is important to ascertain the nature of risk for WMSD. Risk factors are attributes or elements ABSTRACT Professional dancers are a medically under-served occupational group at high risk for workrelated musculoskeletal disorders. Historically, a sports medicine approach has been used in the treatment of dancers and dance companies. Recently, health care providers have also applied occupational medicine concepts to the dance organisation. Consideration of risk factors and the application of organisational programmes to prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders in dancers are discussed. Deficiencies in our understanding of the contribution of risk factors towards injury are outlined for future consideration. The majority of dance organisations are non-profit and have no injury prevention strategies in place, viewing medical programmes as an unaffordable luxury. The application of a customised sportsoccupational medicine approach shows promise in reducing the human and financial costs of work-related musculoskeletal disorders.

While studies have investigated the physical demands of dance in terms of cardiorespiratory fitness, there are no recent comparisons of cardiorespiratory response to exercise among professional dancers of different genres. Our purpose was to: 1. develop a cardiorespiratory profile of professional dancers; 2. investigate differences in peak and recovery heart rate (HR) between professional modern and ballet dancers using an accelerated 3-minute step test; 3. demonstrate the relationship between cardiorespiratory variables; and 4. investigate the effects of company and work variables on the dancers' cardiorespiratory profiles. We hypothesized greater cardiorespiratory fitness in modern dancers than in ballet dancers, due to the nature of their repertory. Furthermore, we hypothesized that company profiles would reflect differences in work variables. Two hundred and eleven dancers (mean age 24.6 ± 4.7) from nine companies (two modern and seven ballet) performed a 3-minute step test. Demographics, height, mass, blood pressure (BP), smoking history, and resting peak and recovery HR were recorded. Body mass index (BMI) and fitness category were calculated. Independent t-tests were used to compare differences in demographics and cardiorespiratory variables due to genre, MANOVA were conducted to compare differences due to company, and correlations were calculated to determine the relationships between cardiorespiratory variables (p < 0.05). Modern dancers demonstrated higher mass and BMI, lower BP, lower resting HR and HR recovery, and a higher percentage were categorized as "fit" compared to ballet dancers (p < 0.03). There were differences between companies in age, experience, BMI, BP, resting, peak, and recovery HR, and fitness category (p < 0.001). The differences in cardiorespiratory fitness levels that may be related to rigor of repertory, rehearsal and performance seasons, or off-season exercise training are discussed. Results support the need for comprehensive physical fitness screening to identify dancers who could benefit from aerobic conditioning to enhance overall performance preparedness and to minimize fatigue effects.

This error may be acceptable for lower extremity studies with extreme movements when motion capture is unavailable.