A Retrospective Investigation on Age and Gender Differences of Injuries in DanceSport

Abstract

In spite of the extensive research on incidence site and type of injury in ballet and modern dancers, limited studies on injury in DanceSport have been reported. Therefore, this study determined retrospectively (within last 12 months) incidence, severity, site and type of injury, between gender and age-class in DanceSport. Participants were 97 international sport-dancers (female, 41; male, 56). Sixty-six (69%) dancers reported 96 injuries (1.00 (range = 4)) injuries per dancer) and an injury incidence of 1.7 (range = 14) per 1000 h. Females revealed significantly higher median injury incidence (females, 2.6 (range = 14); males, 1.9 (range = 9), p < 0.05) than males. A total of 61.5% of all injuries recorded were traumatic with a significant gender difference (Wald chi-square = 11.616, df = 1, p < 0.01). Injury severity was 3 (range 240) days with an interaction effect between gender and age-class (Wald chi-square = 251.374, df = 3, p < 0.001). Meanwhile, 72.3% of the dancers reported not including sport specific exercises besides dancing. These findings show gender and age-class differences in injury incidence, type and severity. Therefore, to reduce the likelihood of injuries, the implementation of supplemental DanceSport specific exercises that also considers the gender and age-class anatomical, functional, and choreographic demand differences in the training program should be recognized.

Predicting Injury Status in Adolescent Dancers Involved in Different Dance Styles: A Prospective Study

“…However, to the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first studies which examined gender as a possible factor of injury exclusively in adolescent dancers. This probably explains the discrepancy between our findings and those of previous studies where female dancers were reported to have a greater injury risk than their male peers [ 26 , 27 ]. We must highlight the fact that those studies involved older adolescents and adult dancers.…”

“…This is in certain disagreement with previous reports that mostly identified a higher risk for injury among female dancers. For example, an international study revealed that females had a significantly higher median injury incidence than males and confirmed that there were gender differences regarding reported traumatic injuries, with a higher incidence of traumatic injuries occurring in females (74.6%) than males (46.7%) [ 27 ]. Supportively, another study showed that female dancers have a higher injury risk than their male counterparts [ 26 ].…”

“…Further, due to characteristics of the dance activity and specifics of artistic expression, anthropometric/body build indices are known to be associated with injury risk, with a higher risk of injury in dancers with longer body segments and more body fat [ 25 ]. Studies have also confirmed that a there is a higher risk for injury occurrence in female dancers than in their male peers, which is connected to the most commonly injured body location in dancers (the knee), whereby the larger Q-angle in females potentially translates into greater forces of the quadriceps being applied to the patella and encourages mal-tracking [ 26 , 27 ]. Finally, a recent study provided evidence of a possible influence of dynamic balance as a protective factor against injury occurrence in dance, which was explained by the connection between dynamic balance and a dancer’s ability to sustain equilibrium by keeping their body over its base of support [ 17 , 28 ].…”

Prevalence of ankle instability in performers of Chinese classical dance: a cross-sectional study of 105 Chinese dancers

“…On the other hand, risk and incidence of overuse injuries in dancers were previously found to be positively associated with years of dance training and increased training time 25–27. However, our findings and two other studies found insignificant relationships between age and CAI 28 29. The inconsistent findings may be due to differences in injury history, activity or training load between studies, and varying study methodologies.…”

Relationship of Extrinsic Risk Factors to Lower Extremity Injury in Collegiate Ballet Dancers

“…This finding was partially supported by Koutedakis and colleagues ( Koutedakis and Sharp, 2004 ) who reported that hamstring and quadriceps muscle strengthening is beneficial to professional ballerinas because of the increased thigh muscle torque and also the prevention of muscle torque decrements after dance routines. This suggested an important message for dance educators and dancers that muscle strengthening is an essential component for prevention of injury, and they should know how to implement it into their training routine effectively ( Premelč et al, 2019 ). Unfortunately, the self-report design of this study did not allow us to define what kinds of strengthening exercises were, or should be, performed by ballet dancers.…”