22% Jump in Dance-related ER Visits

What is going? A new study from the recent virtual annual meeting of the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) found that dance related injuries requiring an emergency room visit have leaped (no pun intended) 22% between 2014 and 2018.

The study, “Epidemiology of Dance Related Injuries Presenting to Emergency Departments in the U.S. 2014-2018,” was presented at the 2020 National Athletic Trainers’ Association Virtual Clinical Symposia and AT Expo.

Almost half of the ER-presenting patients were there for a sprain or strain. Female dancers (83.3%) and those between the ages of 10 and 18 (76.2%) made up most of the injuries. The findings will be published in the Journal of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association later in the year.

“Before the pandemic hit, we saw a disturbing trend that the frequency of dance injuries requiring medical attention was increasing,” said Joshua Honrado, MS, ATC, CSCS, an athletic trainer at New York University’s Langone’s Harkness Center for Dance Injuries.

“The use of in-house medical professionals, such as athletic trainers, in performing arts studios and organizations are likely to positively impact the need to visit the emergency room, which can be costly to the family and can also down urgent response to other critical care in the emergency room.”

Using data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, the researchers found that 4,152 patients reported to emergency departments with a dance injury between 2014 and 2018.

The most common injuries were at the knee (22.5%), ankle (15.7%) and foot (10.27%). Slightly more than 42% were diagnosed as a sprain/strain, 10.3% as a fracture and 8.1% as a contusion.

Overall, the most common injuries were ankle sprain/strain (12.7%), knee sprain/strain (10.4%) and knee dislocation (4.3%). Only 1.6% of the patients were admitted to the hospital.

Only injuries that happened during a structural event like a dance class or dance competition were included in the study.

In a separate study, “Self-Reported Injury History and Health-Related Quality of Life in Competitive, Collegiate Baton Twirlers,” researchers found that injury prevalence in collegiate baton twirlers was comparable to self-reported dance injuries.

Of 142 collegiate baton twirlers, 90% experienced an injury that took them away from their sport. There were 295 twirling injuries reported in total.

The researchers wrote, “The burden that injuries place on aspects of this population’s quality of life (bodily pain, vitality and physical function) is important for clinicians who work with baton twirlers to note.”