Injury patterns in female Irish dancers.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the type of Irish dance injuries requiring evaluation and treatment by a sports medicine physician.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional retrospective chart review.

SETTING

Academic sports medicine center in the Midwest.

PARTICIPANTS

Female Irish dancers who presented at an academic sports medicine center from June 2002 to September 2009.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: This was a retrospective chart review identifying injuries sustained to female Irish dancers in a single Irish dance company in a major metropolitan area. Dancers were evaluated and injuries were diagnosed by one sports medicine physician at an academic sports medicine center.

RESULTS

Sixty-nine female Irish dancers, ages 8 to 23 years, sustained 217 recorded injuries. The top injuries included stress fractures (29.9%), patellofemoral pain syndrome (11.1%), Sever condition (6.0%), ankle sprains (5.1%), posterior tibialis tendonitis (4.6%), and plantar fasciitis (4.6%). The most common site for stress fractures were the sesamoids, comprising 27.7% of all stress fractures and 8.3% of total injuries. The majority of injuries were in the lower extremities (94.9%), remaining injuries involved the lumbosacral spine and pelvis (5.1%). Most dancers (79.7%) had multiple injuries. The number of injuries per dancer increased as the dancer's level increased. There was a trend for the average age of the dancers to decrease as the level of skill increased.

CONCLUSION

Lower extremity injuries comprised the majority of Irish dance injuries. Stress fractures (29.9%), patellofemoral pain syndrome (11.1%), and Sever condition (6.0%) were the most common injuries.