Musculoskeletal injuries in break-dancers

Background Since noepidemiologic studies have been reported about musculoskeletal injuries in break-dancers,7 there are no data oil the rates and patterns of musculoskeletal in this population that clinicians Call use to find ways to decrease injury rate Hypothesis We believe that the incidence Of Injuries in break-dancers is higher than assumed and that injury rates and patterns differ between professional and amateur dancers Study design Descriptive epidemiologic study. Materials and methods Of a total of 42 study Subjects, 23 were professional dancers and 19 were amateur dancers Injury frequency, site and type. along with the presence Of Supervised training, the use of protective devices and warm-up exercises clone were recorded Results Of the 42 study subjects, excluding two amateur dancers, 40 (95 2%) had had musculoskeletal Injuries at more than one site. The mean number of sites per dancer A as 4 60 The frequency of injury depended oil the site and was as follows wrist (69 0%), finger (61.9%) knee (61 9%), shoulder (52 4%), lumbar spine (50.0%). elbow (42 9%). cervical spine (38 1%). ankle (38 1%), foot (28 6%) and hip ( 16 7%). Sprain, strain and tendinitis were the most common Injuries. accounting for the most cases Of the 42 dancers, 13 (31%) had had fractures or dislocations Eight (19 1%) learned break-dancing Under supervised instruction, 17 (40 5%) used protective devices and 28 (66.7%) performed warm-up exercises before dancing There were significant differences in age, dance career length, amount of dance training. mean number of injury sites and the presence of supervised training between professionals and amateurs (P < 0.05) Conclusion. Clinicians must inquire thoroughly into the nature of the activities that result in both unusual and common injuries in break-dancers and educate them about safety Careful screening. Instruction and supervised training of break-dancers will help to prevent injuries (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd