Limited Coping Skills, Young Age, and High BMI Are Risk Factors for Injuries in Contemporary Dance: A 1-Year Prospective Study

Abstract

This study investigated potential risk factors (coping, perfectionism, and self-regulation) for substantial injuries in contemporary dance students using a prospective cohort design, as high-quality studies focusing on mental risk factors for dance injuries are lacking. Student characteristics (age, sex, BMI, educational program, and history of injury) and psychological constructs (coping, perfectionism, and self-regulation) were assessed using the Performing artist and Athlete Health Monitor (PAHM), a webbased system. Substantial injuries were measured with the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center (OSTRC) Questionnaire on Health Problems and recorded on a monthly basis as part of the PAHM system. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to test the associations between potential risk factors (i.e., student characteristics and psychological constructs) and substantial injuries. Ninetynine students were included in the analyses. During the academic year 2016/2017, 48 students (48.5%) reported at least one substantial injury. Of all factors included, coping skills (OR: 0.91; 95% CI: 0.84-0.98), age (OR: 0.67; 95% CI: 0.46-0.98), and BMI (OR: 1.38; 95% CI: 1.05-1.80) were identified as significant risk factors in the multivariate analysis. The model explained 24% of the variance in the substantial injury group. Further prospective research into mental risk factors for dance injuries with larger sample sizes is needed to develop preventive strategies. Yet, dance schools could consider including coping skills training as part of injury prevention programs and, perhaps, providing special attention to younger dancers and those with a higher BMI through transitional programs to assist them in managing the stress they experience throughout their (academic) career.

Generalized Joint Hypermobility and Injuries: A Prospective Cohort Study of 185 Pre-Professional Contemporary Dancers

“…During the first month of the academic year, baseline characteristics were recorded including age (years), sex (male/female), educational program (Bachelor Dance or Dance teacher), and injury history (yes/no). Injury history was defined as “any physical complaint resulting in a fulltime loss of dance activities (participation in class, rehearsal, performance practice, and so on) for at least one week beyond the day of onset in the past year” [ 18 , 19 ]. During the academic year, all pre-professional dancers were asked to complete monthly questionnaires about their physical and mental health by using the performing artist and athlete health monitor (PAHM).…”

Adiposity as a Risk Factor for Sport Injury in Youth: A Systematic Review

“…Studies ranged in duration from an 11-week season to 4 years and comprised a combined 73 318 participants (median 288; range 45-19 903; 27% female), ranging between 7 and 20 years of age and representing 13 different countries. Two studies 19,20 included participants up to age 24 years; however, 85% of participants were aged 20 years and younger. Publication year ranged from 1998 to 2020.…”

The Association Between Stress and Injury: A Prospective Cohort Study Among 186 First-Year Contemporary Dance Students

“…Questions 1 and 4 were scored on a four-point scale (0, 8, 17, and 25), while questions 2 and 3 were scored on a five-point scale (0, 6, 13, 19, and 25). The OSTRC Questionnaire has a high internal consistency, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.96, good face validity (Clarsen et al, 2013(Clarsen et al, , 2014, and has previously been used within the performing arts (van Seters et al, 2020;Kenny et al, 2018;Stubbe et al, 2018Stubbe et al, , 2021van Winden et al, 2019van Winden et al, , 2020a.…”

“…These stressors can arise from both the dancer themselves and the dance environment, such as: high expectations from others, competitive auditions, and a demanding training schedule (Krasnow et al, 1999;Adam et al, 2004). In line with these perceived stressors, the most reported types of mental health issues among contemporary dance students were general anxiety, stress due to external factors and constant tiredness (van Winden et al, 2020a).…”

“…Moreover, prolonged stress can cause changes in brain functions that increase the risk of poor decision-making (Ivarsson et al, 2017), which has also been related to increased injury risk (Gabbett et al, 2012). The model can be applied to dance-specific examples according to a literature review of Pollitt and Hutt (2021), as for instance done by van Winden et al (2020b). In line with the stress-and-injury model, the results of the systematic review of Mainwaring and Finney (2017) also showed that stress, psychological distress, coping and personality were associated with risk of dance injury.…”