Determining pointe readiness in young adolescent female dancers: A systematic review

Abstract

Dancing 'en pointe' is an integral aspect of ballet for female dancers who start pointe training in young adolescence. The primary objective of this review was to investigate the screening tests used to determine pointe readiness in young adolescent female dancers, and the secondary objective was to determine the injuries associated with pointe training. The search engines Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science were mined using Medical Subject Heading terms "pointe", "pointe readiness", "injury", "young", "adolescent", "female", "dancer" and a manual search of relevant articles was conducted. Inclusion criteria included: females; aged 8-20 years; pre-pointe, training en pointe; pointe-related injury. Search strategy followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The following data were extracted; first author, year of publication, study design, participant size, mean age, testing, outcome, and general notes of each study. Risk of bias was evaluated using the Research Triangle Institute Item Bank (RTI-IB). Eight cross-sectional studies met the inclusion criteria. Results suggested topple, airplane, sauté, and relevé tests are statistically better determinants of pointe readiness than chronological age alone. Utilising these methods alongside age, strength, body maturation, range of motion (ROM), and teacher evaluation could provide an all-round insight into a dancer's readiness for pointe. However, the included studies had contradictory outcomes with regards to pointe-related injury and the review's conclusions are limited by methodological design.