Thigh Peak Torques and Lower-Body Injuries in Dancers

The purpose of this study was to identify possible relationships between the sum of knee flexion and extension peak torques and the severity of lower-body injuries in professional dancers. Twenty male (age 26.6 (+/- 6.0) years) and 22 female (age 27.1 (+/- 5.4) years) ballet and contemporary dancers reported one or more low-back, pelvis, leg, knee and foot injuries. The severity of injuries was established by recording the days off dance activities. Subjects were then monitored on a Cybex II or a KIN-CON isokinetic dynamometer. Knee flexion and extension peak torques were obtained bilaterally during three normal contractions at the velocities of 1.04 and 4.19 rad/sec. No musculoskeletal injuries were reported at the time of data collection. At 1.04 rad/sec, results revealed significant correlation coefficients between relative thigh peak torques - expressed in Nm/kg fat free mass (FFM) - and prevalence of low extremity injuries. These findings suggest that the lower thethigh-power output, the greater the degree of injury. Female dancers demonstrated higher correlation coefficients (r = -0.70; p < 0.005) than their male counterparts (r = -0.61; p < 0.01). However, no such correlations were found at the angular velocity of 4.19 rad/sec, nor when low-back injuries and thigh-power outputs were considered at both velocities. The main conclusions are: a ) low thigh power outputs are likely to be associated with the severity of low extremity injuries, and b) such relationships are better identified at lower compared to higher isokinetic velocities

Citation

Journal of Dance Medicine & Science, 1(1): 12-15

Type

Journal article

Language

en

ISSN

1089-313X

Collections

Faculty of Education, Health and Wellbeing