Etiology and body area of injuries in young female dancers presenting to sports medicine clinic: A comparison by age group

Abstract Introduction. Improving knowledge regarding injuries sustained by pediatric dancers is important in order to better understand injury risk. The aim of this study is to analyze dance injury etiology and body area by age in a cohort of young female dancers presenting to a pediatric sports/dance medicine clinic. Methods. The cross-sectional epidemiological study of a 5% probability sample of dancers evaluated between 1/1/2000 and 12/31/2009 with a musculoskeletal injury requiring physician evaluation. A total of 2,133 charts were reviewed from which 171 female dancers 8–17 years old (mean age 14.7 years) were identified. Data were stratified by age, <12 years and ≥12 years, and analyzed based on injury body area, type, and etiology. Fisher’s exact test was used to determine statistical significance. Results. Injuries sustained by dancers in the younger age category (<12 years) were largely to the foot-ankle/lower leg/knee (93.3%) versus thigh-hip/spine/upper extremity (6.7%). In comparison, dancers ...