Measurement of turnout in dance research: a critical review

Turnout measurement procedures, results, and reporting formats vary in dance medicine and science research, making comparisons difficult. It is agreed that turnout results from summative contributions of the hip, knee, lower-leg, and the foot-ankle complex. However, the most frequently reported measurement is hip external rotation, and even this is measured in incompatible ways. No normative data exist for component and summative measures or for different categories of dancers, making screening, clinical assessment, and research problematic. Thus, there is a need to standardize component measurements, develop an inclusive measurement procedure for total turnout, and establish normative data for each measurement and for different categories of dancers. This review evaluates the 24 published articles that have reported original data for turnout assessment in dancers. Results are summarized and displayed for each article. In conclusion, recommendations are made for: use of selected hip external range of motion and tibial version measurements as the most important components of turnout; a procedure for assessing total turnout; adoption of conventions for reporting data in compatible forms; and the development of normative data sets for different categories of dancers.