[Injury profile in competitive senior ballroom dancers]

The growing numbers of members aged over 35 years in the German Dancesport Association indicate that not only physical activity but also sporting success is gaining significance with increasing age. Investigations on health hazards are still lacking. Aim of this study is the analysis of dance sport-related health hazards in the classifications Seniors I-III.

A total of n = 124 (m: n = 67, f: n = 57) senior ballroom dancers participated in this retrospective cross-sectional investigation.

There were 0.9 (m)/1.0 (f) traumatic injuries/year (m: 0.03/1000 h, f: 0.04/1000 h). Gender specific differences as to localisation, type and factors could be observed. The most common injury localisations were the spine (22.2 %), followed by upper and lower leg (15.9 %) in males with foot (incl. ankle joint) (35.6 %), followed by spine (25.4 %), hip (15.3 %) and knee joint (23.8 %) in females. Chronic sports damages/complaints were more common in dancers (m: 1.6, f: 1.9) than traumatic injuries (m: 0.05/1000 h, w: 007/1000 h). The number of traumatic injuries and chronic sports damages rose according to the extent of training and age in males, with females only according to age. Knee problems (arthrosis/gonalgia/meniscal damage) were the most common sports damages (m: 30 %, f: 19.4 %), followed by degenerative spine diseases (m: 9.1 %, f: 9.7 %) and complaints not yet diagnosed (m: 14.6 %, f: 16 %). Intrinsic factors predominated (m: 64.7 %, f: 53.6 %).

The injury risk in competitive senior ballroom dancers is low. An increase of jeopardising with age and extent of training could only be observed in males. That raises the issue of an optimal and gender-specific amount of training and the preventive significance of dance sport in the elderly. Localisation and type of injury reflect the characteristic movement elements in dance sport. There is a need for additional qualitative and quantitative investigations in order to create differentiated suggestions as to the planning of training and injury prevention.