Musculoskeletal Disorders among Greek Professional Ballet Dancers

Aim: To determine the incidence rate, type and anatomical distribution of musculoskeletal disorders and injuries of Greek professional Ballet Dancers.

Study Design: Cross-sectional study.

Place and Duration of the Study: Greek National Opera, Athens, Greece, 2 months.

Methods: A self-administered questionnaire, containing primarily items related to the presence of injury and the body regions involved was given to all elite ballet dancers working in the Greek National Opera.

Results: 31 ballet dancers (11 males, 20 females) participated in the study, providing a response rate of 59.61%. 62% of dancers (mean age 36 years) reported at least one musculoskeletal injury during the last year. In total, 98 injuries were registered.65% of all injuries were reported to be due to overuse and 35% were traumatic. The incidence of injury among professional dancers was 1.10 and 1,55 injuries per 1000 dance hours in males and females, respectively. The most frequent injury location was the neck and low back area (61.3%) in both sexes among the professional dancers followed by the shoulders (48.4%) and ankles (45.2%). Ninety four percent (94%) of the injured dancers needed physiotherapy and only 23% needed surgery. The majority of injured dancers (55%) were absent from dance training for more than a week after the injury. Dancers believed that several factors were associated with risk of injuries, including training (90%) and muscle weakness (74%).

Conclusions: Ballet dancers have high prevalence rates of musculoskeletal injuries and disorders. The findings of this study suggest that there is a need to apply primary injury prevention schemes in Greek ballet dancers.