Injury Rates in Youth Street Dancers.

Background: An increased concern for injury risk is associated with the rising popularity in street dance. Stunting movements in street dance are comparable to movements in aesthetic sports with documented high risks of concussions (e.g., cheerleading and gymnastics). Limited literature comments on street dance-related injuries and concussions in youth.

Purpose: To assess dance-related injury risk among youth street dancers aged 11-19 years across a 6-month term in Calgary, Canada.

Methods: This prospective cohort study is a substudy of the national Surveillance in High Schools to Reduce Concussions study (SHRed Concussions). Dancers aged 11-19 years and registered in at least one street dance class/week in the 2021-2022 season were recruited from private dance studios and high school dance teams in Calgary. Team designates completed weekly exposure forms detailing street dance style, participation (full, partial), and injury circumstance (dance/non-dance injury). Suspected self-reported physical complaint injuries/concussions were referred to sport medicine physicians/therapists for follow-up. Analysis included descriptive statistics (participant demographics, injury characteristics), injury incidence rate (no. of new injuries/1,000 dance-hours, 95%CI), and prevalence (%, 95%CI).

Results: Forty dancers (20 female) with a median age of 16.2 years (range 11.1-19.8) participated and reported 19 dance-related injuries. Proportion of dancers reporting at least 1 physical complaint was 37.5% and the estimated injury incidence rate was 4.5 injuries/1,000 dance-hours (95%CI: 4.4, 7.5). Injuries occurred most frequently in the knee (47.4%) and during breaking (44.4%). Most injuries were acute onset (57.9%) and classified as joint/ligament sprains (33.3%) and muscle strains (33.3%). One concussion was reported.

Conclusion: The prevalence and incidence of physical complaint injuries in youth street dancers is high with the majority categorized as acute and occurring in the knee. Further epidemiological research in youth street dance is needed to identify potential risk factors and inform risk reduction strategies in this unique dancer population.