Injury incidence in hip hop dance

Abstract

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.

Preventing dance injuries: current perspectives

“…This is followed in level of attention in the literature, perhaps surprisingly, by break dance1–21 (usually referred to as breaking by its participants, who are called “b-boys” and “b-girls”), and modern/contemporary dance 22–40. Other dance genres that have received research consideration, though comparatively not as much, include hip-hop,41 flamenco,42–44 ballroom,45–51 Highland,52,53 and Irish 54–60. Investigation of some of these is becoming more frequent.…”

“…While ideal data may not be available, dance is undoubtedly associated with numerous injuries 23,24,39,41,60,62–84. In research reporting the percentage of dancers injured out of a studied sample, the range was 42%–97% across a variety of genres and skill proficiencies 63,64,66,68,69,71,73,85–88.…”

“…Toledo et al99 suggest several contributors to dance injuries (Table 1). These should serve only as a general baseline, however, as research into dance injuries becomes more sophisticated with concomitant access to an ever wider cross-section of dancers, including increasingly popular genres like hip-hop41 and breaking,2,4 as well as young dancers 82,89,100. Note that most of the factors in Table 1 are modifiable or treatable, thus making prevention more realistic.…”

Musculoskeletal Injuries in Dance: A Systematic Review

“…Applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria (Figure 1), two authors appraised the relevance of each identified study in order to agree the final list of included studies [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44].…”

Dance as a Risk Factor for Injuries and Development of Occupational Diseases

“…Istraživanjem učestalosti ozljeda u skupini od 312 plesača srednjeg, naprednog i ekspertnog stupnja, čak 232 plesača prijavila su ukupno 738 ozljeda, od čega je 52 % bilo ozljeda donjih i 32 % gornjih ekstremiteta. Hip hop plesači prijavljuju stope ozljeda koje su više od ozljeda u ostalim plesnim stilovima, a usporedive su s ozljedama u gimnastici, što upućuje na važnost njihove edukacije o prevenciji ozljeda, biomehanici plesnih pokreta i potrebi korištenja zaštitne opreme (20).…”