Impact of touring, performance schedule, and definitions on 1-year injury rates in a modern dance company

ABSTRACT

There is ongoing debate about how to define injury in dance: the most encompassing one or a time-loss definition. We examined the relationship between touring, performance schedule and injury definition on injury rates in a professional modern dance company over one-year. In-house healthcare management tracked 35 dancers for work-related musculoskeletal injuries (WMSI), time-loss injuries (TLinj), complaints, and exposure. The year was divided into 6 segments to allow comparison of effects of performance, rehearsal, and touring. Injuries/segment were converted into injuries/1000-h dance exposure. We conducted negative binomial regression analysis to determine differences between segments, P ≤ 0.05. Twenty WMSI, 0.44 injuries/1000-h, were sustained over one-year. WMSI were 6 times more likely to occur in Segment-6, compared with other segments (incident rate ratio = 6.055, P = 0.031). The highest rate of TLinj and traumatic injuries also occurred in Segment-6, reflecting concentrated rehearsal, New York season and performances abroad. More overuse injuries occurred in Segment-2, an international tour, attributed to raked stages. Lack of methods to quantify performance other than injury may mask effects of touring on dancer’s well-being. Tracking complaints permits understanding of stressors to specific body regions and healthcare utilisation; however, TLinj remain the most important injuries to track because they impact other dancers and organisational costs.

KEYWORDS:

• Dance repertory
• medical attention injury
• physical complaint
• time-loss injury
• transient injury

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the dancers, artistic and administrative staff of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for their participation and support of the Comprehensive Wellness and Injury Management Program. We appreciate the key contributions of the physical therapists that travel with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater during their extensive touring. Analyses and writing were supported by the ADAM Center, New York, New York.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.