Occupational accidents in professional dancers with regard to different professional dance styles

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.

To define dance-style related differences of traumatic injuries.

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).

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.

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.