Journal of Dance Medicine & Science最新文献

Introduction: Understanding the physical and mental health of collegiate dancers is important for developing appropriate screening protocols and treatment interventions. This study aims to provide descriptive data on the overall health, injury burden, and well-being of a group of collegiate dancers, including the interactions between injury, nutrition, and mental health, to provide insight for wellness screening and interventions in collegiate dance programs.

Methods: Members of the School of Dance at the University of Utah were sent an electronic general health survey. The survey included questions regarding medical history, family history, injuries, diet, sleep quality, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and history of eating disorders.

Results: Of the 231 dancers who received the survey, 198 responded (response rate = 85.7%). Fifty 2% of respondents had an active injury. Symptoms of depression and anxiety were common (35.4%), and 37.4% of the dancers were interested in receiving mental health support. Symptoms of depression and anxiety had a significant association with both a history of injury and active injuries (P = .033 and .039, respectively). History of eating disorder was also significantly associated with active injuries (P = .005). The most commonly injured body area was ankle or foot (n = 144, 72.7%), followed by lower leg or shin (n = 76, 38.4%), and knee (n = 61, 30.8%). Over a quarter of the dancers (n = 54, 27.3%) reported having trouble sleeping, and 9.1% reported having a history of eating disorder.

Conclusions: This study highlights the important interplay between mental health, sleep, nutrition, and injury. These results show that in a group of collegiate dancers, active injuries and mental health concerns are common, and that there are statistically significant associations between injury, nutrition, and mental health. These data provide insight into factors that affect dancer wellness and help inform future screening and intervention protocols for dance programs.

Introduction: Iron plays a significant role in energy production. However, it is not uncommon for athletes to be diagnosed with iron deficiency (ID), suggesting a correlation between performance and iron regulation. As a result, the International Olympic Committee has recommended iron screenings during health evaluations for elite athletes. Furthermore, athletes participating in esthetic sports are at increased risk for suboptimal iron intake due to disordered eating. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the distribution of serum ferritin (SF) in a cohort of elite ballet dancers and determine associations between vitamin D, anthropometric measures, stress injury, and dietary preferences.

Methods: Electronic health records of 40 elite ballet dancers (22 female, 18 male), age 19 to 38 years old, from the 2020 to 2021 pre-participation physical screening were examined. Chi squared comparisons were calculated to evaluate the association between SF and additional variables (ie, gender, age, height, weight, body mass index, vitamin D, stress injury history, and dietary preferences). SF values were compared to published normal and athletic population data.

Results: 58.97% of participants displayed normal or above SF values (>50 ng/ml), while 41.02% displayed minimal (<50 ng/ml) to depleted (<0.12/ng/ml) SF values. Approximately, 68% of the female dancers were ID and did not meet the minimal value needed for athletes. Females were more likely to have lower SF distributions (x² [4] = 15.6377, P = .004) compared to male dancers. Additionally, dancers who reported dietary preferences (ie, vegetarian) were more likely to display lower SF distributions (x²[4] = 13.3366, P = .010).

Conclusion: Over half of the female elite ballet dancers were ID which is consistent with current research. Females were at a significant higher risk compared to male dancers who reported dietary preferences. These findings suggest iron screenings should be considered in elite dancer populations.

Introduction: Research in court sports shows that factors which aid in extrinsic shock absorption, that is, flooring and footwear, can help reduce lower extremity injuries. However, since students and performers of ballet or most styles of contemporary dance cannot depend upon footwear, the only extrinsic factor to help them with shock absorption is flooring.

Methods: We investigated whether doing sauté on a low stiffness dance floor produced a difference in EMG output of the vastus lateralis, gastrocnemius, of soleus compared to a high stiffness floor. Average and average peak amplitude EMG output from 18 dance students or active dancers performing 8 repetitions of sauté on a low stiffness floor (Harlequin® Woodspring) was compared to a maple hardwood floor on concreted subflooring.

Results: The data showed a significant increase in average peak EMG muscle amplitude during jumping on the low stiffness floor compared to a high stiffness floor for the soleus muscle (P = .033) and a trend for increase average peak output for the medial gastrocnemius (P = .088).

Conclusion: The difference in average peak amplitude of EMG output is explained through the difference in force absorption between floors. With the high stiffness floor, more force of the landing was returned to the dancers' legs, but the low stiffness floor absorbed some of the force of landing the jump, and therefore muscles needed to contribute more to maintain the same jump height. The force absorption characteristic of the low stiffness floor may decrease injury rates in dance through causing an adjustment in muscle velocity. Rapid eccentric muscle activity carries the greatest possibility of musculotendinous injury and is experienced in lower body muscles controlling all joints during impact absorption, which includes landing of jumps in dance. If a surface can decelerate the landing of a high velocity dance movement, it also decreases the musculotendinous demand for high velocity tension generation.

Introduction: Ballet landings produce accelerations that are transmitted proximally up the kinetic chain. If overly excessive/repetitive, these "shocks" to the lower body may contribute to overuse injury. The shocks imposed by different ballet maneuvers are largely unknown at this time, making it difficult to appreciate the physical stresses associated with different maneuvers. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the impact accelerations associated with different common ballet maneuvers.

Methods: As part of this study, 11 adolescent ballet dancers performed 9 different common ballet maneuvers: (1) glissade, (2) pas de chat, (3) petit jeté, (4) petit assemblé, (5) grand assemblé, (6) grand jeté, (7) saut de chat, (8) changement, and (9) entrechat quatre. An inertial sensor secured to the pelvis was used to record the peak resultant acceleration during landings ("impact acceleration"). A Friedman test was conducted to compare impact accelerations across the maneuvers and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were conducted as pairwise comparisons.

Results: The omnibus test indicated that there were differences in impact accelerations among the maneuvers (P < .001). In general, the glissade (2.08 ± 0.47g), pes de chat (2.33 ± 0.23g), petit jeté (2.42 ± 0.29g), and petite assemblé (2.54 ± 0.47g) tended to be the lower impact maneuvers; the grand assemblé (2.90 ± 0.41g), grand jeté (2.99 ± 0.33g), and saut de chat (3.13 ± 0.54g) tended to be the more moderate impact maneuvers; and the changement (4.10 ± 0.48g) and entrechat quatre (4.32 ± 0.52g) tended to be higher impact maneuvers.

Conclusion: These findings may provide clinicians and dance instructors with greater insight regarding the physical stresses imposed by different ballet maneuvers.

Introduction: Strenuous preprofessional ballet training places young students at an increased risk of injury. This represents a major concern for aspiring dancers since a link has been described between injury and dropping out. It is therefore important to identify physical and psychological factors related to injuries in dance for prevention purposes.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we explored the frequency and characteristics of injuries, as well as their physical and psychological determinants in preprofessional ballet dancers. Seventy-three participants (women = 75.6%; mean age = 13.7; SD = 1.8) were evaluated with the Beighton criteria for joint hypermobility and self-questionnaires assessing injuries in the last 18 months, fatigue, fear of injury, and motivation.

Results: Most of participants (61.6%) experienced injuries in the last 18 months, mainly in the lower limbs, and due to overuse. Multivariate analyses showed that joint hypermobility and fatigue predict injury status in this sample.

Conclusion: These results confirm previous reports suggesting that physical factors such as fatigue and joint hypermobility, that are frequent in ballet dancers, should be taken into account in order to prevent injuries.

Introduction: The growing field of dance medicine and science provides dance educators the opportunity to incorporate evidence-based approaches into teaching practices. Incorporating knowledge produced by dance science research into evidence-based practice can improve learning and health outcomes for dance students. Guided by the Knowledge to Action (KTA) Framework, the purpose of this study was to examine the preferences and research priorities of dance educators for receiving, accessing, and implementing dance science knowledge.

Methods: Ninety-seven dance educators representing a range of styles, experience, and educational settings completed an online survey. Dance educators responded to questions about the dance science topics they felt were important to their teaching practices, their preferences for receiving dance science information, and areas of dance science that need more research.

Results:Responses indicated that dance science was important to participants' teaching practices although there was variability in which dance science topics were seen as "Absolutely Essential." Participants reported a preference for receiving dance science information through in-person methods and observations. Variability was also shown in participant responses to statements about the accessibility, format, and applicability of dance science information to teaching practices. Dance educators indicated that the easiest dance science topics to find information about were anatomy, flexibility, biomechanics, and injury prevention; dance educators also identified that more research was needed in mental health and psychology.

Conclusion: The findings of this survey provide key considerations for factors such as accessibility, specificity, and resources that are user-friendly to inform future knowledge translation efforts tailored to dance educators.

Introduction: Sleep is essential for athletes and dancers to optimize recovery. Poor sleep negatively affects cognitive function and injury risk in athletes. Increased athletic participation (hours) is associated with decreased total sleep and quality in athletes. Still, information about how sleep is related with exposure hours and injury in collegiate dancers remains unclear. We examined the relationships among the Athlete Sleep Behavior Questionnaire (ASBQ), dance exposure hours (DEHr), and injuries in collegiate dancers over a 7 -month period (August 2019-February 2020).

Methods: Seventy-two dancers (58 female, 14 male; 19.7 ± 1.4 years) completed the 18 question ASBQ at the start of each month (Scale:1 = Never, 5 = Always; Global Scores ≤36 = "good sleep behavior" and ≥42 = "poor sleep behavior"). A DEHr was recorded as 1 hour of dance participation in class, rehearsal, or performance. Injuries were defined as any condition where the dancer sought medical attention, and we calculated an injury rate for total injuries (IR/1000 DEHr). Pearson correlations examined relationships among ASBQ, DEHr, and injuries (P ≤ .05).

Results: Dancers participated in 467.8 ± 45.7 DEHr over 7 months, with 14 dancers suffering 18 injuries (IR = 0.5/1000-DEHr; 95% CI:0.3-0.8). Overall, dancers reported poor sleep behaviors (42.6 ± 6.4). ASBQ scores, DEHr, and injuries in August-October, and December-February were not related, except for a weak positive relationship between ASBQ scores and DEHr in November (r = .28, P = .04).

Conclusions: Sleep, DEHr, and injuries were inconsistently related in collegiate dancers. Sleep and DEHr were only correlated during the month where dancers had 2 performance weeks. While we did not observe this relationship every month, performance weeks may have negatively affected sleep in November. Despite consistent poor sleep, sleep did not seem to negatively affect injury risk during the 7 -month study period. Future researchers should validate the ASBQ in dancers.

Background: While the content of health-related dance interventions is still relatively undocumented in the literature, the processes of adapting dance to specific situations are even less so, and rarely seem to be based on theoretical or practical guidelines. Yet the description of these processes could guide the adaptation of other interventions.

Purpose: This study aimed to document the process of adapting a dance intervention in a complex clinical setting, in order to propose a methodology that could inspire the development of other interventions in specific clinical contexts.

Methods: The adaptation methodology described in this article is part of an embedded single-case study, where the case unit was the adaptation process of a dance group intervention and the subunits of analysis were the intervention's clinical and theoretical premises, content, and pedagogy. Participants were rehabilitation therapists (n=21), patients (n=6), relatives (n=4), and rehabilitation assistants (n=4). Data were collected through various techniques (focus groups, situational observation, pilot dance sessions, interviews, critical incidents, research journals, template for intervention description and replication/TIDieR checklist, and video recordings) to allow an iterative adaptation process. Data were analyzed using inductive qualitative analysis.

Results: Adaptations were made prior to and throughout the intervention, taking into account relevant scientific and disciplinary knowledge, as well as the different actors' implicit and explicit experiences. The intervention pedagogy focused on adapting the dance content to meet the participants' needs while inviting them to self-adapt this content. The resulting methodology model includes four stages: preliminary design, validation with rehabilitation therapists, specific tailoring, and ongoing tailoring. Conclusion: Optimizing the adaptation of dance and ensuring its complementarity within a complex clinical context requires collaboration with the different disciplinary clinicians in order to offer synergistic coherence and ensure dance's contribution to therapeutic objectives.

Background: Previous injury survey recall methods often use one-off questionnaires with varying periods of recall. These methods have proven to show injury incidence inaccuracies and limited information on injury etiology.

Purpose: The present study aimed to examine the efficacy of a remote weekly self-report injury incidence and etiology tool.

Methods: Two online questionnaires were developed based on the "Fit to Dance 2" survey and sent to volunteers. The first questionnaire was sent once and asked for complete injury history information. The second questionnaire was sent to each respondent on a weekly basis and it focused on new injuries and their causes and whether injuries that occurred in previous weeks were still affecting their dancing. The online survey was opened for full-time dance students from September 2020 to July 2021. All weekly data for each respondent were combined with a unique reference code using their account names, students' numbers, and schools' names. The proportion of participants who drop out is defined as the measurement of outcome.

Results: A total of 756 respondents engaged in the survey from 16 different Chinese dance schools; the drop-out rate was 70.1%, with student respondents under 18 years old having a slightly lower drop-out rate than adult respondents (69%vs 71%). 33 respondents (4.4%) who completed all 30 weeks survey. These data allow other researchers to examine respondent compliance rates from a weekly survey.

Conclusion: A reminder system and teacher engagement could potentially increase the response rate. For frequent completion questionnaires the design needs to be streamlined to increase compliance. It is concluded that the researchers would need to weigh reduced completion rates (<100%) against data efficacy to achieve generalizability.