Wearable Biosensors to Monitor Workload in Dancers: A Systematic Review

Introduction: Dancers are aesthetic athletes with high workloads similar to sport athletes. Wearable biosensors are used in athletics to assess workload and inform training decisions to optimize performance and reduce fatigue and injury risk. While workload monitoring methods in dancers have been systematically reviewed, limited research specifically examines using wearable biosensors for this purpose. Thus, this study aims to systematically review how wearable biosensors are used to monitor workload in dancers. Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, 8 databases were searched by 2 authors. Articles were included if participants were current dancers, workload was assessed during dance activity by wearable biosensors, and published in English in a peer-reviewed journal. Dancer characteristics (age, sex, anthropometrics, years dancing, training level, dance style) and methods (sessions, variables, setting, biosensor) were extracted and synthesized in an Excel synthesis matrix. The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Checklists were used to assess the risk of bias. Results: 35 of 119 potentially relevant studies were included. Heart rate (HR) monitors (25 studies) and accelerometers (12 studies) were primarily used. 24 studies (69%) examined only objective workload and 23 studies (66%) examined internal workload. The most common dependent variable was HR (25 studies). The duration of data collection ranged between 1 and 49 days, with 26% of studies (n = 9) using a single day. High-level (14 studies) female (74.7%; n = 1342) ballet dancers (45.7%; n = 16 studies) were most assessed. Risk of bias was fair-to-moderate across studies. Conclusions: This systematic review highlights 4 primary trends across previous literature assessing workload in dancers using wearable biosensors to inform future research. First, HR monitors, followed by accelerometers, are the most common wearable biosensors used to quantify workload in dancers. Second, most studies only evaluated objective physiological (internal) workload, primarily using HR variables. Third, data were primarily collected within a timeframe of 1 to 3 days. Finally, high-level female ballet dancers were predominantly assessed.