Injury Prevention Strategies in Dance: A Systematic Review.

Background: Dance is a popular activity worldwide that comes with inherently high injury rates. Despite the call for implementation and evaluation of injury prevention strategies, the utility and efficacy of injury prevention practices in dance are unknown. Objective: The primary objective of this s...

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Published in:Journal of Dance Medicine & Science Vol. 30; no. 1; pp. 65 - 74
Main Authors: Critchley, Meghan L., Rio, Ebonie, Friesen, Kenzie B., Räisänen, Anu M., Kenny, Sarah J., Emery, Carolyn A.
Format: research systematic review tables/charts Journal Article
Published: Sage Publications Inc. Mar2026
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: Mar2026
      vid: 30
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      pub: Sage Publications Inc.
      place: Thousand Oaks, California
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        atl: Injury Prevention Strategies in Dance: A Systematic Review.
      aug:
        au:
          Critchley, Meghan L.
          Rio, Ebonie
          Friesen, Kenzie B.
          Räisänen, Anu M.
          Kenny, Sarah J.
          Emery, Carolyn A.
        affil: Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport Injury Prevention Research Center, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
      sug:
        subj:
          Dancing
          Athletic Injuries Epidemiology
          Athletic Injuries Prevention and Control
          Athletic Training Programs
          Program Evaluation
          Human
          Systematic Review
          Medline
          Embase
          CINAHL Database
          Cochrane Library
          Descriptive Statistics
          Coping
          Physical Fitness
          Exercise
      ab: Background: Dance is a popular activity worldwide that comes with inherently high injury rates. Despite the call for implementation and evaluation of injury prevention strategies, the utility and efficacy of injury prevention practices in dance are unknown. Objective: The primary objective of this systematic review was to describe dance-specific injury prevention strategies in any dance population. The secondary objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies in the reduction of injury prevalence or incidence rates. Methods: Six electronic databases were searched to March 2024 (Medline, EMBASE, SportDiscus, CINAHL, SCOPUS, Cochrane). Selected studies met a priori inclusion criteria that required original data describing an injury prevention strategy for any genre of dance. Studies were excluded if; no injury outcomes were reported, no injury prevention strategy was utilized, or if dance was used as a therapeutic intervention/fitness. Two reviewers independently assessed abstracts and full texts for inclusion. Study quality was evaluated using the Joanna Briggs Institute Level of Evidence tool. Results: From 2209 potentially relevant records, 8 studies met criteria for inclusion. Injury prevention strategies were diverse across conditioning and exercise programs, neuromuscular training warm-up, psychological coping skills training, and educational programs, with a range of duration and adherence measures. Due to inconsistent injury surveillance methodology, efficacy of these programs could not be determined. Quality of included studies was moderate to high, with moderate to low risk of bias. Conclusions: Efficacy and adherence to dance-specific injury prevention strategies are understudied in the dance science literature. Conditioning and exercise programs are currently the most common injury prevention strategies, with initial evidence suggesting they may be efficacious in reducing injury rates. Further research using valid injury surveillance methodologies and standardized injury definitions to examine the efficacy of these strategies in reducing dance-related injury is needed. Level of evidence: I.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        systematic review
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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