Traumatic knee injury patterns in Anatolian folk dancers: a case series and literature review

Abstract

Lower extremities, especially the knee region, are susceptible to traumatic injuries because of long-lasting hard landings and impacts. Most of the injuries described in the literature are associated with ballet. In this review study, the authors tried to present the traumatic knee injury patterns of the Anatolian folk dance. The Fire of Anatolia dance group consists of 82 dancers (37 males [45.1%] and 45 females [54.9%]) with the mean age of 27.96 (SD = 5.05) years (range: 18-38 years). The major folk dances of the region are Zeybek, Halay, Horon, Teke, Roman, Karsilama, Bar and Lezginka ("the Caucasian"). The dancers suffered from 9 orthopedic injuries requiring surgical treatment (3 meniscus tears, 4 anterior cruciate ligament tears, 1 posterior cruciate ligament tear, 1 patellar dislocation) during a 10-year period. The authors investigated solely the traumatic injuries of these folk dance styles and aimed at revealing the traumatic knee injury patterns in this case series and literature review. On the one hand, the Anatolian folk dancers experienced meniscus tears following frequent squats and twists on single leg stances, typical of Horon and Zeybek. On the other hand, anterior cruciate tears happened after jumps and landings in the Caucasian (Lezginka jump) dance. A posterior cruciate ligament tear was also seen after the Caucasian dance landing. The split figure in the Karsilama dance ended up with patellar dislocation. Certain dance figures seem to be related to specific types of injuries.

Return To Dance Following Arthroscopic Knee Surgeries: What Are The Differences Between Return To Sport and Return To Dance.

“…In contrast to athletes, dancers may expose their menisci to rerupture by repetitive fast full squat and stand up, turnout figures. These are risky moves in the formation of a meniscus tear 9,10 . Therefore, we added the prerequisites of performing maximum 3 repetitive painless turnouts, maximum 3 repetitive full squats, and squats in maximum 3 repetitive full turnouts to the criteria of returning to dance.…”

“…Scissoria wrote that a forceful flexion causes pain in the posterior horn rupture; similarly, a forceful extension causes pain in the anterior horn rupture. Meniscal tears occur from percussive squats or from "screwing the knee" to increase turnout in ballet trainees 9,10 .…”

“…In Anatolian folk dances, the dancers frequently perform repeated turnout, fast squat standup, and turning around on single foot stance, which are risk factors for meniscus injuries 9,10 . We therefore believe that completion of 6 months should be added to the RTD after surgery criteria.…”

“…Due to aesthetic performance requirements, most of these are single leg landings 18 . The Lezginka ballet jumps which are part of Anatolian folk dances, are faster and more fierce compared to ballet jumps, therefore constitute risks for ACL and PCL injuries 9,10 . In our study, 4 patients with ACL reconstruction (follow up 59.2±35.9 months) and 1 patient with PCL reconstruction (follow up 55.5 months) were Lezginka dancers, and none of them sustained a reinjury.…”

“…Similar to athletes, most of the injuries requiring surgery in dancers occur around the knee area 9,10 . However, there are no published studies on the criteria for return to dance (RTD) after knee surgery in dancers.…”