Survey of Musculoskeletal Disorders Among Indian Dancers in Mumbai and Mangalore

Classical Indian dance has earned recognition across the globe; however, the health of dancers who are carrying forth this heritage has not received due attention. Therefore, this study aimed to explore musculoskeletal pain and injury prevailing among Indian dancers in Mumbai and Mangalore. A secondary aim was to compare pain tolerance levels between dancers and non-dancers. Fifty-one dancers trained in different traditional Indian and Western dance forms and 164 recreational dancers were recruited as participants. An indigenous questionnaire was designed and validated by physical therapists across various levels of experience and dancers across various training levels. The questionnaire recorded dance, pain, and injury profiles. Additionally, pain tolerance was evaluated using the Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire among dancers and healthy age- and gender-matched controls (N = 200). Descriptive statistical analysis was performed to present results of the site of current pain, site of past injury, perceived causes of injury, and exercise routine. The Student's t-test was used to compare Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire scores between dancers and non-dancers, and independent one-way ANOVA was used to compare scores among dancers practicing different dance forms. For both current pain and past injury, dancers reported the back (42.5%) followed by the knee (28.3%) and ankle (18.6%) as the most common sites. Stress was the most commonly perceived cause of injury (34.4%), followed by over work (24.7%), tiredness (17.2%), and falls (13.5%). Warm-up exercises were always performed by 43.30% of dancers, whereas only 20% performed stretching after dance. Almost 60% of dancers participated in forms of exercise other than dance, e.g., swimming, yoga, and aerobics. Pain sensitivity was not significantly different between dancers and non-dancers (p = 0.159). Level of training and gender did not influence pain.