Early Identification of Musculoskeletal Complaints and Injuries among Female Ballet Students

Abstract

Easy access of medical attention was provided to advanced students in a pre-professional ballet school. During a 20-month period 38 of 54 students between the ages of 12 and 19 reported 194 musculoskeletal complaints. The type and location of these complaints were compared to 1,353 injuries, in a comparable age group evaluated in a sports/ dance medicine clinic. The incidence rates of musculoskeletal complaints among the students and the injuries found in the clinic population were similar. The similar injury rates suggest that the students’ complaints were early manifestations of the injuries that required formal medical care, thus indicating that information on the management of these injuries when provided to dancers may constitute a preventative measure and result in a decrease in the number of these injuries that advance to the stage where formal medical care is necessary.