Prevalence and Risk Factors of Dance Injury During COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study From University Students in China

Objectives: Although coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has transformed the training environment of dancers worldwide, little is known on how this has affected injury prevalence, causes, and risk factors.Methods: An online investigation involving Chinese full-time dance students was conducted (September–November 2020), which covered two 6-month periods just before and during the first COVID-19 lockdown.Results: 2086 students (19 ± 2.4 years) responded to the investigation. Injury prevalence dropped from 39.6% (before the lockdown) to 16.5% (during the lockdown) (p < 0.01). It was noted that a significant increase in injury severity during the lockdown was caused due to a 4.1% increase in moderate-to-severe injuries (p < 0.05). During the lockdown, the injuries on the lower back, feet, and shoulders decreased significantly (p < 0.01), but the knee, ankle, and groin/hip joint injuries remained the same. Fatigue and the recurrence of an old injury remained as the top two perceived causes of an injury between the two periods with the increase in an unsuitable floor (p < 0.01), a cold environment (p < 0.05), and set/props (p < 0.05). The fatigue degree of students decreased (p < 0.01) and their hours of sleep increased (p < 0.01) during the lockdown. Binary Logistic Regression analysis indicated that dance injury is associated with fatigue, the hours of sleep, and the actions taken if they suspect an injury during the lockdown (p < 0.05), but is only related to the time set aside for a cooldown and age before the lockdown period (p < 0.05).Conclusion: Although injury prevalence dropped significantly during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Chinese dance students, the main dance injury characteristics remained the same. Decreased fatigue and longer hours of sleep could explain the aforementioned drop in injury prevalence during the lockdown.

Injury Incidence and Severity in Musical Theatre Dance Students: 5-year Prospective Study

Dance injury research has mainly focused on ballet and modern dance with little data on musical theatre dancers. The purpose was to assess the incidence and severity of injuries in a musical theatre dance college over a 5-year period; 198 pre-professional musical theatre dancers (3 cohorts on a 3-year training course) volunteered for the study; 21 students left the course over the study period. Injury aetiology data were collected by an in-house physiotherapy team. Differences between academic year and sex were analysed using a Poisson distribution model; significant difference was set at p≤0.05. In total, 913 injuries were recorded, and more injuries occurred in academic year 1 than year 2 and 3. Overall injury incidence was 1.46 injuries per 1000 hours (95% CI 1.34, 1.56); incidence significantly decreased between year 1, 2 and 3 (p<0.05). There was no significant sex difference for incidence or severity. Most injuries were classified as overuse (71% female, 67% male). Pre-professional musical theatre dancers report a high proportion of lower limb and overuse injuries comparable to other dance genres. Unlike other studies on pre-professional dancers, injury incidence and severity decreased with academic year, even though workload increased across the course.

Is Scoliosis Associated with Dance Injury in Young Recreational Dancers? A Large-Scale Cross‑Sectional Epidemiological Study

Some studies suggested that adolescent scoliotic dancers were more likely to sustain dance injuries than non-scoliotic dancers. This study aimed to investigate the association between scoliosis and dance injury among children and adolescent recreational dancers. Identical web-based and paper-based questionnaires were distributed to children and adolescent recreational dancers to collect demographic information, dance experiences, history and location of dance injuries, as well as the frequency of dance injury in the last 12 months. The prevalence rates of the top three dance injury sites (lower back, knee, and ankles) were estimated. Associations between the presence of scoliosis and various dance injuries in the last 12 months were evaluated by multivariate logistic regression. Data from 704 respondents (644 females, 13.3 ± 2.4 years) was analyzed. Ninety-one respondents (12.9%) reported scoliosis and 11 respondents (1.6%) were wearing scoliosis braces. The 12-month prevalence rates of lumbar, knee, and ankle injuries in scoliotic dancers (24.2%, 22.2%, and 28.5%, respectively) were significantly higher than those of non-scoliotic dancers (10.4%, 14.9%, and 14.8%, respectively). Scoliosis was an independent risk factor for lumbar spine injury (Odds ratio, OR = 2.7), knee injury (OR = 2.6), and multi-site dance-related injury (OR = 1.9). Given the observed strong associations between scoliosis and lumbar or knee dance injuries in the current study, future studies are warranted to investigate the underlying causes.

Injuries in Estonian professional ballet dancers in the 2019/2020 season

The aim of the study was to find the occurrence of musculoskeletal injuries in Estonia professional ballet dancers in the 2019/2020 season. A total of 62 dancers participated in the study, 25 were male and 37 female dancers. This study was a questionnaire-based, which was compiled on similar studies to collect the data among ballet dancers working in Estonia. The study showed that 58% of dancers were injured in the last 12 months. The most common type of dance injury during this period was muscle or tendon strain (33%), followed chronic inflammation (21%) and ankle sprain (20%). The most common injured body site was foot (20%), ankle (18%) and knee joint (10%). The highest number of injuries occurred during rehearsals (44%), classical class (27%), and during performances (16%). More than half of Estonian ballet dancers sustained at least one injury during the last twelve months. The most common types of injury were muscle or tendon strain, chronic inflammation and ankle sprain. The highest number of injuries occurred in the foot, whereas the highest number of injuries occurred during rehearsals.

The Beighton Score and Injury in Dancers: A Prospective Cohort Study

Context: Joint hypermobility has a high prevalence in dancers and may be associated with injury and performance. Objectives: To investigate whether total Beighton score can predict injury and to determine the relationship between joint hypermobility and injury, and to report injury demographics. Design: A prospective cohort injury study. Setting: Edge Hill University dance injury clinic. Participants: Eighty-two dancers (62 females, 20 males). Main Outcome Measures: Joint hypermobility via the Beighton score ≥4 with lumbar flexion included and removed. Results: A total of 61 dancers were classified as hypermobile, which was reduced to 50 dancers with lumbar flexion removed. A significant difference existed between pooled total days injured in hypermobile dancers and nonhypermobile dancers with lumbar flexion included (P = .02) and removed (P = .03). No significant differences existed for total Beighton score between injured and noninjured groups with lumbar flexion included (P = .11) and removed (P = .13). Total Beighton score was a weak predictor of total days injured (r2 = .06, P = .51). In total, 47 injuries occurred in 34 dancers, and pooled injury rate was 1.03 injuries/1000 hours. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis demonstrated an area under the curve of 0.83 for male dancers with lumbar flexion removed, which was considered diagnostic for injury. Conclusions: The Beighton score can be utilized to identify dancers who may develop injury. Clinicians should consider the role of lumbar flexion in total Beighton score when identifying those dancers at risk of injury. Different injury thresholds in female and male dancers may aid injury management.

COMPORTAMENTOS E ATITUDES DOS ESTUDANTES DO ENSINO SUPERIOR EM RELAÇÃO À SEXUALIDADE

BEHAVIORS AND ATTITUDES OF HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS IN RELATION TO SEXUALITYSexuality and the way it should be addressed still has no solutions and the young people continue to have the attitudes/ behaviours they deem appropriate and the results that follow aren’t always the best. The objective is to study the sexuality in young students who attend the first year of higher education (area of health), considering that most of them are for the first time out of their family, with typical experiences of students entering higher education, and also because it is at this stage of life that sexual maturation begins, very close to adulthood. The study is of a quantitative nature, putting in evidence the attitudes and sexual behaviours of young people who have already begun their sexual activity (64.6%). The scale used has four dimensions that are subdivided into: Behavioural Intent: Practice “safe sex”, which is understood as the use of condom. Reactions: positive and negative feelings of the subject towards the use of condom and beliefs about the positive or negative consequences associated with this behaviour. Subjective norm: subjective judgment about the degree of approval-disapproval of certain significant persons to the subject (parents, friends, partner) about the use of condom. Control perception: expectations of self-efficacy, subjective judgment about the degree of conviction in the difficulty or ease of using (or making use) the condom at the next sexual encounter. We have concluded that there is a large percentage who use the condom (36%), followed by a double protection, condom and contraceptional pill (26.1%). Most of those who already had sex, (65%) had sex again with the same partner. Health professionals should understand the complexity of the problem of sexuality and be aware of the reality of the lifestyles adopted by young people, so that they can define strategies for health promotion and intervene in the causes. Keywords: sexuality; young people; behaviours; attitudes; contraceptionpanish and English were: “baile”, “lesión”, “prevención”, “prevalencia”, “flamenco”, “danza”, “dance”, “injury”, “prevention”, “prevalence”, “common”, “frequent”, “lession”, “flamenco” and “ballet”. The majority of injuries occur in the lower extremities and are often related to muscular overload or weakness, rather than traumatisms. These injuries are commonly produced by a lack of technique or a wrong application of it, or even sometimes by the bad fitting-out of the room where the activity is being practised.Keywords: dance, injuries, physiotherapy, prevention, exercises, psychologyResumo.A sexualidade e a forma como deve ser abordada ainda não tem soluções e os jovens continuam a ter as atitudes/comportamentos que entendem e nem sempre os resultados que daí advêm são os melhores. O objetivo é estudar a sexualidade nos jovens estudantes que frequentam o 1º ano do ensino superior (área da saúde), considerando que na sua maioria se encontram pela primeira vez fora do seu agregado familiar, com vivências próprias dos estudantes que ingressam no ensino superior e também porque é nesta fase da vida que se inicia uma maturação sexual, muito perto da idade adulta. O estudo é de natureza quantitativa onde são evidenciadas as atitudes e os comportamentos sexuais dos jovens, que já iniciaram a sua atividade sexual (64,6%). A escala utilizada apresenta quatros dimensões que se subdividem em: Intenção comportamental: praticar “sexo seguro”, que é entendido como uso de preservativo. Reações: sentimentos positivos e negativos do sujeito face à utilização do preservativo e crenças sobre as consequências positivas ou negativas associadas ao desempenho desse comportamento. Norma subjetiva: julgamento subjetivo sobre o grau de aprovação-desaprovação de certas pessoas significativas para o sujeito (pais, amigos, companheiro) sobre o uso de preservativo. Percepção de controlo: expectativas de auto-eficácia, julgamento subjetivo sobre o grau de convicção na dificuldade ou facilidade de usar (ou fazer usar) o preservativo no próximo encontro sexual. Concluímos que existe uma grande percentagem que utiliza preservativo (36%), seguindo-se uma dupla proteção, preservativo e pilula (26,1%). A maioria dos que tiveram relações sexuais, (65%) voltaram a ter relações sexuais com o mesmo parceiro. Os profissionais de saúde devem compreender a complexidade do problema da sexualidade e ter conhecimento da realidade dos estilos de vida adotados pelos jovens, para poderem definir estratégias para a promoção da saúde e intervir nas causas.Palavras chave: sexualidade; jovens; comportamentos; atitudes; contracepção

PREVENCIÓN DE LAS PRINCIPALES LESIONES EN LA DANZA Y MECANISMOS DE PRODUCCIÓN

COMMON DANCING INJURIES PREVENTION AND PRODUCTION MECHANISMSDance is a form of art that requires of a big effort from those who practise it, as it makes use of very extreme body movements. The aim of this work is to get to know, through a bibliographic revision of the existing literature in this field, the different techniques and approaches that can be applied to prevent the most frequent mechanic injuries in dance, such as sprains, muscular breaks, fractures and sinew injuries mainly produced in ankles, knees, feet and back. The information was collected from scientific databases, such as PubMed, PeDro, Elsevier and other secondary sources. The keywords both in Spanish and English were: “baile”, “lesión”, “prevención”, “prevalencia”, “flamenco”, “danza”, “dance”, “injury”, “prevention”, “prevalence”, “common”, “frequent”, “lession”, “flamenco” and “ballet”. The majority of injuries occur in the lower extremities and are often related to muscular overload or weakness, rather than traumatisms. These injuries are commonly produced by a lack of technique or a wrong application of it, or even sometimes by the bad fitting-out of the room where the activity is being practised.Keywords: dance, injuries, physiotherapy, prevention, exercises, psychologyResumen.La danza clásica y la española es una forma de arte que requiere de un gran esfuerzo por parte de quienes lo practican, ya que utiliza movimientos muy extremos del cuerpo. El objetivo de este trabajo ha sido conocer a través de una revisión bibliográfica de la literatura existente, las distintas técnicas y abordajes que se pueden aplicar para prevenir las lesiones de tipo mecánico que aparecen con más frecuencia en este arte, como son los esguinces, roturas musculares, fracturas y lesiones tendinosas producidas sobre todo en tobillos, rodillas, pies y espalda. La información fue obtenida de bases de datos científicas, como PubMed, PeDro o Elsevier y otras fuentes secundarias. Las palabras claves tanto en español como en inglés han sido: “baile”, “lesión”, “prevención”, “prevalencia”, “flamenco”, “danza”, “dance”, “injury”, “prevention”, “prevalence”, “common”, “frequent”, “lession”, “flamenco” y “ballet”. La mayor parte de las lesiones se producen en los miembros inferiores y están relacionadas con la sobrecarga o debilidad muscular, más que a traumatismos. Estas lesiones también suelen estar provocadas por una falta de técnica o la aplicación errónea de la misma, o en ocasiones por mal acondicionamiento de la sala donde se practica.Palabras clave: Fisioterapia, Psicología, Danza, Lesiones, Prevención.