Anatomical zone where more injuries occur in four different dance styles: Hip-Hop, Classical Ballet, Contemporary dance and Irish dancing: a systematic review

Introduction: To this date there is no systematic study that reviews which anatomical zone has a higher incidence of injuries in four different dance styles: hip-hop, classical ballet, contemporary dance, and Irish dancing. Objective: Summarize and determine the incidence of injuries by anatomical zones in elite, pre-professional and professional dancers who practice one of the following dance styles: ballet, contemporary dance, hip-hop and Irish dancing. Methods: Articles were searched according to the following criteria: year of publication (between 2016 and 2022), observational and cohort studies published in English, full text available, and analysis of the incidence of injuries in the dance styles of hip-hop, classical ballet, contemporary dance, and Irish dancing. MESH terms and Boolean operators used for the search were “injury AND dancers AND incidence”. Data sources: Databases used were ProQuest, Pubmed, Google Scholar, Elsevier, Clinical Key and ScienceDirect. Results: A total of 511 records were identified, and only 19 were included for the analysis. The results of the reviewed literature revealed that the ankle was the anatomical zone with the highest incidence to suffer an injury (62.9%), overuse injuries had a higher incidence rate (63%), and the joint/ligament was the most common musculoskeletal type of injury (36.84%). Conclusion: Overall, the lower extremity had the highest injury incidence rate; even though the four different dance styles have different techniques and biomechanics, the most reported anatomical zone to suffer an injury was the ankle.