Dancers exhibit decreases in postural control after fatigue

Dancers require exceptional postural control to combat mechanically unstable positions. Dancers are prone to developing fatigue, which may increase the risk of injury. We investigated the effects of a dance-specific fatigue protocol on static postural control in a passé stance in 15 healthy dancers. A 12-camera video motion analysis system and a force plate were used to collect kinematic and kinetic data. After fatigue, significant increases in centre of pressure displacement were observed in the anterior-posterior direction on both legs (4.13 ± 0.71 mm pre-fatigue, 5.57 ± 1.9 mm post-fatigue dominant; p = 0.005; 4.41 ± 1.19 mm pre-fatigue, 5.24 ± 1.16 mm post-fatigue non-dominant; p = 0.018) and the medio-lateral direction on the non-dominant leg (3.18 ± 0.49 mm pre-fatigue, 3.37 ± 0.57 mm post-fatigue; p = 0.033). Sway area was significantly increased in the non-dominant leg only (52.1 ± 19.6 mm² pre-fatigue, 64.1 ± 18.9 mm² post-fatigue; p = 0.006). Significant increases in joint excursion for both legs were observed at the hip in the sagittal and frontal planes and the knee in the sagittal plane. There were significant increases in excursion for the non-dominant ankle in the sagittal plane. Static postural control was significantly affected by the fatigue protocol; the dominant leg appears to be more resistant to fatigue than the non-dominant leg. Therefore, dancers should include stability training that induces fatigue to increase balance recovery.