Dance exposure, wellbeing and injury in collegiate Irish and contemporary dancers: A prospective study

Objectives: Dance exposure and determinants of wellness in Irish dance (ID) and contemporary dance (CD) are under-investigated in pre-professional, collegiate cohorts. This study prospectively investigated these variables in ID and CD participants for one year.

Design: Prospective study. Setting: University-level institutes of dance, United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland. Participants: Fifty (ID = 21, CD = 29) full time students of dance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, (UK) and the University of Limerick, Ireland. Main Outcome Measures: Weekly hours of dance, general health, sleep quality, injury defined as “any pain or injury that impacted upon their ability to dance”.

Results: Dance exposure varied considerably for both genres across the year. CD participants danced for more hours weekly (p < 0.001). Overall injury incidence (time-loss and non-time-loss) was 10.6 and 8.4 injuries per 1000 h dancing for ID and CD groups respectively. 70.4% of injuries were non-time-loss. Better sleep (p = 0.007) and general health (p < 0.001) scores were negatively correlated with days lost/impacted by injury. CD participants reported a significantly higher dance exposure in the week prior to a time-loss injury than during the previous four weeks (p = 0.044).

Conclusions: Dance exposure is erratic in these cohorts with dancers frequently performing when injured. Poor sleep, general health, and increased dance exposure may be associated with injury.