Comprehensive Surveillance of Dance Injuries a Proposal for Uniform Reporting Guidelines for Professional Companies

Abstract

Varying methods of injury definition, data collection and interpretation of findings complicate analysis of results from epidemiological studies of sport and dance injuries. Comparison between studies is therefore difficult. Researchers have suggested adoption of uniform methodology for injury definition and reporting. This paper outlines a suggested comprehensive injury reporting system for professional dance companies. Components of a comprehensive injury surveillance system include: 1. pre-season screening of intrinsic risk factors, 2. extrinsic risk factor tracking, and 3. injury occurrence reporting system. Dance screens provide healthy baseline data, uncover existing pathology, and help define population characteristics. Extrinsic risk factor tracking includes quantification of exposure to specific environment, equipment, and technique demands. Exposure may be delineated as activity (number of performance, class, and rehearsal events) or time (hours of participation in dance activities) based. These exposure measures are then incorporated into incidence calculations, enabling injury rate comparison between populations. Standardized injury definitions are proposed to facilitate the comparison of injury rates. We propose defining “injury” as any physical complaint sustained by a dancer resulting from performance, rehearsal, or technique class. Injury is further delineated in the following ways: 1. physical complaint injury, 2. medical injury, 3. time-loss injury, and 4. financial injury. Coding by severity, injury type, location, tissue, activity, and style of dance and choreography is also included. We hope this may ultimately result in uniform injury registration for dancers of all ages and levels. Adoption of a common system should result in improved understanding of injury incidence and risk factors with potential to increase the effectiveness of injury prevention interventions and rehabilitation.