Dance Injuries

During my research regarding to dance injuries, I have found many organizations around the world that provide support and safety precaution to dancers. With this paper my aim is to bring information about common dance injuries, how to prevent them, endangered ages and the balance of training.

Dance is an activity which puts the performer in constant various motions, with up to 90% of dancers experiencing some form of injury. As an activity in demand, it was worked hard on preventing injury in dance. Based on coaches, the best way of preventing injury is to put a balance of training and dancing. Most of dancers fail in this case, some trainers as well. Dancers try to speed up this process which causes damages in muscles and bones. Dance injuries include all ages. At high risk from those injuries are girls between 8-12 and boys 10-14. During this period, a child’s bones are the weakest, which puts the dancer in a high risk of broken bones. Most common dance injuries are: foot and ankle injuries, knee injuries, shoulder and back injuries. Foot and ankle injuries are caused by extensive movements which can lead to inflammation of foot and ankle joints. Knee injuries are caused when some specific techniques are required by dancers. Those unique movements places repetitive stress on the knee and can lead to damage. Comparing to other kind of injuries, dancers have reported a less often shoulder injuries. Falling is the most common way of shoulder injury. In order to prevent this form of injury, dancers must maintain excellent strength and stability of shoulder and back muscles.

The back is made up of 24 moveable segments. According to this information, back injuries can be caused easily. The most common of back injuries is the low back pain, which is named Spondylolysis. This situation is caused by the stress fracture in the vertebrae, one of the bones that make up the spinal column. In this case, the bone becomes weak and unable to maintain its position.

Dancing is one of hobbies people are proud of it. It is meant to be for fun and show. Unfortunately it has caused serious injuries to dancers. Parents of dancers, especially for those in young age (8-14), are advised to monitor activity of their children in order to avoid a bad situation during their wonderful activity.