Aerobic Dance Injuries Among Instructors and Students

In brief: Aerobic dancing is a popular fitness activity in Japan, primarily among young women. To identify and characterize the injuries associated with aerobic dance, 161 instructors and 800 students from 13 Japanese fitness facilities were surveyed. Results showed an injury rate of 72.4% for instructors and 22.8% for students. The lower leg and foot were the most common injury sites for instructors and students, respectively. Though these results seem to indicate that aerobic dance is hazardous, the number of injuries per 100 hours of participation was only 0.17 for instructors and 0.15 for students. Most aerobic dance injuries seem to be caused by overuse; thus, moderating the frequency and duration of participation and individualizing programs could reduce the number of injuries that occur.