The Most Common Dance Injury

Dancers and artistic athletes are notorious for experiencing injuries throughout their season, but are also known to continue to push through the pain and just deal with it. Does this sound like something you have done in the past, or maybe you are pushing through things now? There can be a lot of pressure to perform and participate in your dance classes, competitions, and rehearsals. The mental load, stress, and anxiety dancers may experience when dealing with an injury may also make coping with an injury even more difficult. We will be going into more details about mental health and dancers in another post, so be sure to keep your eyes out for it. 

Research has shown the young recreational dancers’ injury rate to be around 40%, but in pre-professional dancers the injury rate jumps to greater than 80% (Critchely, 2022). This is a very high rate of injuries! So what can we do about it? Keep on reading!

So, what body part do you think is the most common to be injured among dancers? 

The knee? Nope. The hip? The back? No, think again.

The foot and ankle? Yes! This body region has been shown to be the most common area for injury in dancers, especially ballet. Many dancers may experience a traumatic injury such as an ankle sprain when their ankle rolls inward when attempting to land a jump or leap. Will the ankle start to feel a little better if you rest it for a few days, ice it, maybe wear an ankle brace? Sure. But will it be back to normal? Likely not. 

It is important to work with a healthcare professional, such as a dance medicine physical therapist who can evaluate your injury and make a referral to a physician if warranted for further examination and imaging. Having a dance medicine physical therapist who you can reach out to and call is crucial for ensuring that you can safely rehabilitate your ankle to return successfully to dance. 

If your ankle goes un-rehabilitated following an ankle sprain, you are likely to continue dealing with aches/pains/pinching especially at the end ranges of your motion, decreased flexibility, poor balance and stability, and impaired strength and motor control which may just place you at risk of injuring this same ankle again or even the other side! You could end up missing more time in dance if you continue to push through your pain and injuries ending up with a more significant injury or having pain on a regular basis, rather than just taking care of everything from the start. 

Originally posted October 26, 2022.

Critchley M, Kenny SJ, Ritchie A, McKay CD. Injury rates and characteristics associated with participation in organized dance education: a systematic review. J Dance Med Sci. 2022;26(2):87-105. 

Kadel, Nancy. Foot and Ankle Problems in Dancers. Phys Med Rehabil Clin N Am 25 (2014) 829–844.

Lai JHC, Fung NPY, Yeung STW, Siu RWH, Pak NK, Surgenor B, Yung PSH, Ling SKK. Comparison of dance-related foot and ankle injuries among pre-professional ballet, contemporary, and Chinese dancers. J Dance Med Sci. 2022;26(2):134-42.