Can Emotional or Physical Abuse Be a Risk Factor of Chronic Musculoskeletal Conditions in Professional Dance?

Objective: In professional dance, the injury rate is extremely high and dancers have a great chance to experience at least one injury during their careers. Since the #metoo campaign, many abuse cases showed up in the dance industry, resulting in media coverage. Results indicate that dancers had a significantly higher distribution of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared to the broad population. In this study, we investigate pathological dissociation, quantify chronic musculoskeletal conditions and evaluate abusive experiences.

Methods: Questionnaire-based dataset filled out online by Hungarian professional dancers (n = 168). The statistical analysis contains descriptive results, risk assessment, Kaplan Meier curve, and hazard ratios.

Result: Dancers scored in the pathological dissociation values, reported several cases of emotional and physical abuse, and were represented by elevated chronic musculoskeletal conditions. We found a statistically significant relationship between abusive experiences and musculoskeletal conditions, so as with dissociation.

Conclusion: We conclude that emotional abuse might be one of the factors in a multifactorial model that plays a role in the pathomechanism of chronic pain, inflammation, and tendinopathy. It is important to raise awareness about the importance of emotional factors of pedagogy and the working atmosphere among professional dancers since it might have a role in higher injury rates.