Health Issues in Dancers
"Dance Injury" can be defined as any
dance-related pain or disorder that led to evaluation in the clinics.
Assessment for Dancers includes -
- Assessment for Biomechanical dysfunction (because of hyper or hypomobile joints or musculature, deformities or discrepancies)
- Assessment for Aerobic and Anaerobic Fitness
- Assessment of high risk movements involved in the dance form.
- Assessment of Vitals and each system analysis for D/D
- Assessment of Balance
- Assessment of Vision
Effective tools to measure the dancers aerobic fitness
& risk of injury
* Accelerated 3 Minute Step Test (112 step test)
This test provides an efficient, acceptable tool for
testing dance populations
* YMCA Step Test (96 step test)
* Incremental Treadmill Test
* Vertical jump (VJ) height, balance, and range of motion
(ROM)
* Combined triaxial accelerometry
* Heart rate telemetry
* Bone Mineral Density (A study done on ballet dancer
concludes that more than half of highly-trained young male ballet dancers
presented with low levels of vitamin D in winter)
* Star Excursion Balance Test
(SEBT) - The SEBT requires the subject to reach in the anterior,
posterior-medial, and posteriorlateral directions with the free-limb foot while
standing on the reference limb. A composite reach score is determined by
calculating the sum of distance reached in the three directions and normalizing
to leg length.
* Functional turnout angle (FTA) - The FTA is assessed in
first position by measuring the angle of bisection between the second and third
metatarsals and the midpoint of the calcaneus.
These are two important screening tool for identifying
dancers at risk for lower extremity injury.
Brief Symptom Inventory® (BSI) for assessment of
psychological distress
For Proprioceptive Testing
1. A joint-position matching task to assess static
proprioceptive joint awareness, and
2. An eyes-closed, quiet standing task to assess both
static and dynamic proprioceptive awareness through measures of center of
pressure (COP) variability.
Patient specific functional scale (PSFS)
For Pain - Numerical Pain Rating System (NPRS), Visual
Analogue Scale, other tools
For core strength and endurance - Timed plank, side-plank, and bridge positions
Prevention –
Warm up and Cool down with cross training,
Proper Nutritional Diet,
Sunlight (For Vit D)
Dance injury Treatment –
Pilates (Core Muscle Stabilizers Training),
Stretching & Strengthening (customized for each individual),
Flexibility Training,
Strength Training,
Aerobic Training,
Proprioceptive Exercises,
Orthotics,
Dance Modification,
Attention Training,
Vestibular
Therapy,
Balance Training, etc.
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In the next post - Part III - Marketing your services to Dance Institutes and Academies
For References Click Here