A Uniquely Detailed Foot and Ankle Chart for Accurate Recording of Injuries in Dancers

Foot and ankle injuries are common in dance and well documented in ballet. Commonly used injury surveillance tools do not depict the foot and ankle in much detail and are often considered as a single anatomical structure. The foot and ankle houses some of the body's most complex anatomy, and because of the incidence of injuries to these areas in dancers, and different management, a more detailed approach should be taken to reflect the complexity of the area for more accurate research and clinical application. This article proposes and demonstrates that the foot and ankle be broken down into more in detail when selected on a body chart.

There is a conventional whole-body chart available in the Research Electronic Data Capture (RedCap) program that allows a selection of the foot and ankle. As part of a study of injuries in dancers, a custom chart was developed within this platform to expand on that selection by including smaller parts from the dorsal, medial, and plantar aspects.

All dance research needs to be more detailed regarding injuries to the foot and ankle for better clinical applications. Notable structures of clinical importance for ballroom and Latin American dancers are the first metatarsophalangeal joint, plantar fascia, and Achilles tendon. Such detail was determined using the newly developed chart and would not have been possible using conventional notations. Further, this chart provides a much clearer injury and clinical picture, which may differ in female ballet dancers who are dancing en pointe and other dance styles.

Gathering detailed information using this chart will allow for the development of existing injury surveillance platforms and the advancement of foot and ankle injury research in dancers and may be transferable to other sports.