Affiliations: Dance Medicine Department, Institute of Occupational Medicine, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany | Institute of Occupational Medicine, Social Medicine and Environmental Medicine, Goethe-University, Frankfurt, Germany | Department Prevention, Unfallkasse Berlin, Berlin, Germany | Department Nursing and Management, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences,Hamburg, Germany
Note: [] Corresponding author: Eileen M. Wanke, Dance Medicine Department, Institute of Occupational Medicine, Charité-Medical University Berlin, Thielallee 69, 14195 Berlin, Germany. E-mail: Eileen.wanke@charite.de
Abstract: BACKGROUND: The term "professional dance" comprises various dance
styles. There are no studies which investigated work related traumatic injuries
with regard to five different dance styles. OBJECTIVE: To define dance-style related differences of traumatic
injuries. METHODS: The basis for the evaluation were the occupational injuries
of professional dancers of six theaters (n=1339; f: n=658, m: n=681) and one
State Ballet School (n=612; f:n=421, m: n=191). RESULTS: Independent of the dance style, the lower extremity (leg
and hip) is the most frequently injured anatomical region (p< 0.001). The
more dancers move away from the classical dance technique, the more traumatic
head/neck injuries increase (p<0.001). Injury patterns and injured
structures also show differences subject to dance styles (p< 0.001). In
classical dance the most commonly sustained injuries are due to intrinsic
factors with the significance of extrinsic factors increasing the more dancers
diverge from defined classical dance techniques. CONCLUSION: The results shown in the study clarify the enormous
dance-style related differences in traumatic injuries sustained by dancers.
These differences support the development of dance-style related injury
prevention measures and suggest further investigations with the focus being
placed on the influence of organizational structures (e.g. number of
performances) as well as on the working environments.
Keywords: Traumatic injuries, professional dance, extrinsic/intrinsic factors
