Abstract des Autors

This study examined self-reported injury rates in 350 dancers from several populations, including young student, pre-professional, college, and professional ballet dancers. Because of the purported relationship of poor alignment to injury, knee-foot alignment was also assessed and correlated to injury. All groups showed a relatively high injury rate for the lower extremity, ranging from 80% of professional dancers reporting ankle injuries to 22% of pre-professional dancers reporting knee injuries. The frequency of injury increased with length of training. Most of the knee injuries were due to overuse, whereas ankle and foot injuries could be attributed both to overuse and trauma. Many dancers reported not losing time due to injury; that is, they "danced through the injury". This is probably the reason that so many dancers (about 50%) reported pain in joints during or after class. The most surprising finding in this study is the lack of a relationship between alignment and injury or pain. Because of the difficulties in using cross-sectional data to study what may be a problem over time, we strongly recommend longitudinal studies of the relationship of poor alignment to injury. Verf.-Referat