Relationship between Ballet Dancer Turnout and Self Reported Lower Limb Injuries

Epidemiological studies of ballet dancer's show that 90% of professional dancers and 63% of student dancers have had a dance-related injury at some point in their ballet career. Screening of young and inexperienced dancers is necessary to identify musculoskeletal limitations and potential to injury, especially for those who wish to continue dancing as adults either for leisure or career. The purpose of this current study was to examine the possible association between the amount of compensated turnout and self reported lower limb injuries in ballet dancers.

To find out the difference between compensated turnouts of injured and noninjured group of ballet dancers and to find out the type of lower limb injuries in ballet dancers.

It was a Descriptive co-relational study conducted on 22 Nonprofessional ballet dancers at Dance schools in Nashik and Mumbai. Each dancer was assessed for Functional turnout, Compensated turnout and Total passive hip external rotation.

By using unpaired t test we have found significant association between increased compensated turnout and self-reported lower limb injuries. (P=0.0002).

The results of this study suggest that the dancers who force their turnout beyond their available hip range of motion have an increased risk of injury in lower extremities.