Injury epidemiology in professional ballet: a five-season prospective study of 1596 medical attention injuries and 543 time-loss injuries. Issue 15 (9th April 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mattiussi, Adam M; Shaw, Joseph W; Williams, Sean; Price, Phil DB; Brown, Derrick D; Cohen, Daniel D; Clark, Richard; Kelly, Shane; Retter, Greg; Pedlar, Charles; Tallent, Jamie
• Is Part Of: British journal of sports medicine. Volume 55:Issue 15(2021)
• Page Start: 843
• Page End: 850
• Publication Date: 2021-04-09
• Subjects: dance -- injury prevention -- sports and exercise medicine -- surveillance; Sports medicine -- Periodicals; 617.1027
• DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2020-103817
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0306-3674

Abstract

Abstract : Objectives: To describe the incidence rate, severity, burden and aetiology of medical attention and time-loss injuries across five consecutive seasons at a professional ballet company. Methods: Medical attention injuries, time-loss injuries and dance exposure hours of 123 professional ballet dancers (women: n=66, age: 28.0±8.3 years; men: n=57, age: 27.9±8.5 years) were prospectively recorded between the 2015/2016 and 2019/2020 seasons. Results: The incidence rate (per 1000 hours) of medical attention injury was 3.9 (95% CI 3.3 to 4.4) for women and 3.1 (95% CI 2.6 to 3.5) for men. The incidence rate (per 1000 hours) of time-loss injury was 1.2 (95% CI 1.0 to 1.5) for women and 1.1 (95% CI 0.9 to 1.3) for men. First Soloists and Principals experienced between 2.0–2.2 additional medical attention injuries per 1000 hours and 0.9–1.1 additional time-loss injuries per 1000 hours compared with Apprentices (p≤0.025). Further, intraseason differences were observed in medical attention, but not time-loss, injury incidence rates with the highest incidence rates in early (August and September) and late (June) season months. Thirty-five per cent of time-loss injuries resulted in over 28 days of modified dance training. A greater percentage of time-loss injuries were classified as overuse (women: 50%; men: 51%) compared with traumatic (women: 40%; men: 41%). Conclusion: This is the first study to report the incidence rate of medical attention and time-loss injuries in professional ballet dancers. Incidence rates differed across company ranks and months, which may inform targeted injury prevention strategies.