Examining Standing Turnout with Two Measurement Methods During Dance Wellness Screening

: This study describes trends in mean standing functional turnout angles measured on a floor protractor (FP) and the Functional Footprint(®) rotational instrument (RI) during routine clinical screens. Twenty-three professional ballet dancers, 26 collegiate modern students, and 46 ballet academy dancers participated in the study. All dancers demonstrated greater total turnout on the FP compared to the RI (p < 0.001), and the collegiate dancers had significantly smaller total turnout angles compared to both of the other groups (p < 0.001). A significant interaction between measurement method and training group (p = 0.047) on lower extremity asymmetry indicated that only in professionals left turnout angle was greater than right turnout angle on the RI (4.30° ± 6.64°) but not on the FP (0.17° ± 4.57°). It is concluded that turnout can be measured using either the FP or the RI measurement method, with recognition that FP measurements will be an average of 10° greater than those on the RI. Lower extremity asymmetries in turnout angles may be better detected on the RI than the FP.