Dancers: Age, Coping Skills May Help Predict Injury Risk

A relationship between age and psychological coping skills with injury risk prediction for dancers was recently found in a study, “Association Between Previous Injury and Risk Factors for Future Injury in Preprofessional Ballet and Contemporary Dancers,” published in the May 2019 issue of the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine.

For this cross-sectional study, the researchers collected data on self-reported 1-year injury history among 155 preprofessional ballet (n = 90, median age 15) and contemporary dancers (n = 63, median age 20) from preprofessional ballet schools and university contemporary programs to determine if it was helpful in predicting future injury.

Self-reported 1-year injury history was recorded by the study investigators as part of the dancers’ preparticipation evaluation which included the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28, body mass index, total bone mineral density, ankle range of motion, active standing turnout, lumbopelvic control, unipedal dynamic balance, and Y-Balance test.

After reviewing the data, the researchers found that 46% (95% confidence interval (CI), 38.4-54.6) of the dancers self-reported a 1-year injury history. The researchers found however that is was not associated with any preparticipation evaluation components aimed at predicting future injury risk (PPE-IP). Despite this though, age and psychological coping skills did seem to have an effect on the relationship between 1-year injury history and PPE-IP.

The researchers wrote, “The prevalence of self-reported 1-year injury history among preprofessional ballet and contemporary dancers is high. Although measures of PPE-IP did not differ based on injury history, it is important that age and psychological coping skills are considered in future dance injury prevention and prediction research.”