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Published on: August 17, 2017
Epidemiology of dancers fracture
Karolien Schwagten1, James Gill2, Vigdis Thorisdottir3
1UZA, Belgium.
Background:
Dancer's fracture is a spiral, oblique fracture of the diaphysis of the fifth metatarsal. Although it is a well-known fracture in high performance athletes, it is less studied in a general population. The article investigates the epidemiology within an adult population consulting a regional trauma and orthopedic center in the United Kingdom.
Methods:
Study population included all patients older than 16 years presenting with a dancer's fracture. Recorded data were age, sex, side and energy of trauma mechanism, applied treatment and time of healing.
Results:
Of all fifth metatarsal fractures, 25% was found to have a dancer's fracture. About 80% were women, and about 80% was older than 40 years. In the +40 y age group, all patients had a low energy trauma mechanism, where in the -40y age group this was only 27%. All patients were treated conservatively and no correlation was found between type of treatment (walker boot, stiff soled shoe) and time of healing. The time of healing was similar in both age groups and in general 1 out of 3 patients needed longer than 6 weeks to heal.
Conclusion:
There is an increased incidence of dancer's fracture observed in the female general population +40y age. A strong correlation was found between the +40y age group and low-energy trauma mechanism. This shows the importance of treating dancer's fracture as a fragility fracture.
Level Of Evidence:
Retrospective cohort study: level 3.
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