Motor Control and Low Back Pain in Dancers

Abstract

Professional dancers suffer a high incidence of injuries, especially to the spine and lower extremities. There is a lack of experimental research addressing low back pain (LBP) in dancers. The aim of this study is to compare lumbopelvic motor control, muscle extensibility and sacroiliac joint pain between dancers with and without a history of LBP. 40 pre-professional dancers (mean age of 20.3 years) underwent a clinical test battery, consisting of an evaluation of lumbopelvic motor control, muscle extensibility, generalized joint hypermobility, and sacroiliac joint pain provocation tests. Also self-reported measurements and standardized questionnaires were used. 41% of the dancers suffered from LBP during at least 2 consecutive days in the previous year. Only one dancer suffered from sacroiliac joint pain. Compared to dancers without a history of LBP, dancers with a history of LBP showed poorer lumbopelvic motor control (p<0.05). No differences in muscle extensibility or joint hypermobility were observed between dancers (p>0.05). Despite their young age, pre-professional dancers suffer from LBP frequently. Sacroiliac joint pain, generalized joint hypermobility or muscle extensibility appears unrelated to LBP in dancers. Motor control is decreased in those with a history of LBP. Further research should examine whether motor control is etiologically involved in LBP in dancers.

Altered Motor Control in Athletes with Low Back Pain: a Literature Review

“…Four studies among dancers were eligible, one of them investigated trunk mechanical properties of stiffness and damping (28), two of them measured muscle thickness of abdominal muscles by means of MRI (11,29) and the other examined the lumbopelvic motor control by means of PBU (16). demonstrated that professional dancers with a HLBP had significantly lower trunk damping during trunk movement in response to perturbations, but observed no significant differences in trunk stiffness between dancers with and without LBP (28).…”

“…In another paper by the same research group, they found significantly smaller multifidus muscles size at the lower lumbar levels (11). Roussel et al (2013) demonstrated that 30% (7/23) of dancers without a HLBP were unable to contract their TrA muscle correctly in comparison to 63% (10/16) of dancers with a HLBP (16).…”

“…Therefore, understanding the MCIs associated with LBP can assist in planning of more effective management of athletes who suffering from LBP. Although different studies have been conducted on MCI in athletes with LBP (13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21) it is necessary to investigate the MCIs in various sports in sports-specific functions separately.…”

Új low back pain prevenciós mozgásprogram, amely javítja a törzsizmok állapotát és a lumbalis motoros kontrollt

“…Az izomnyújthatóság és a hipermobilitás tekintetében nem tapasztaltak össze-függést a táncosok között. A vizsgálat során megállapí-tották, hogy fiatal korukhoz képest igen gyakori a derék-fájás előfordulása, amelynek oka a csökkent lumbalis motoros kontroll képesség, ezért fejlesztésére nagy hangsúlyt kellene fektetni a táncosok körében [28].…”

The Examination of Muscle Balance in Dancers

“…Some of them submit, that hyperextension, intensified lordotic posture, lack of lumbar motor control capability or intensified rotational motions cause it, however any of them lead to law back pain, or other lesions. [19,20] Gottschlich et al searched the frequency of injuries among dancers, which showed, that the second most common injured area is the trunk among professional dancers. It enumerated among the main complaints the hyperlordosis, spondylosis, lumbar facet sprain, discognetic back pain, muscle spasm and piriformis syndrome.…”