Viewing Injury in Dancers from a Psychological Perspective - A Literature Review

Abstract

It has been reported that injury among dancers has a lifetime incidence of 90%, and recent research suggests that up to 60% of those dancers injured will meet the requirements for clinical referral to a psychologist. This study aims to review the existing literature in the field of dance psychology that focuses on psychological antecedents and responses to injury. Several relevant theories in dance psychology are reviewed. From this literature, it is suggested that psychological techniques can be taught in educational settings to equip dance students with the necessary tools to look after their bodies and minds, reduce the risk of injury, and aid in healing existing injuries. Greater emphasis should also be placed on combining physical and psychological support to improve holistic care and treatment of dancers’ injuries.

The Association Between Stress and Injury: A Prospective Cohort Study Among 186 First-Year Contemporary Dance Students

“…Although the literature of dance medicine and science has traditionally focused on physical risk factors of injuries, our results indicate that psychological variables in general may be associated with the occurrence of dance injuries, in agreement with recent reviews within dance (Mainwaring and Finney, 2017;Pollitt and Hutt, 2021). Psychological training programs aimed at reducing stress levels might have the potential to reduce the burden of dance injuries and may have positive outcomes for dancers and those in their environment (e.g., dance schools, teachers, directors, and health professionals), as recommended by Ivarsson et al (2017) in the context of sports.…”

“…Sustaining an injury in the beginning of their academic career could result in higher stress, since students are still adjusting to their new environment (e.g., the intensity of classes, social aspects, teachers' reactions toward injuries et cetera). These stressors arise on top of the stressors all new (i.e., first-year) dance students experience (e.g., moving, managing finances, and homesickness) (Pollitt and Hutt, 2021). In addition, within-subject analyses showed that general stress scores significantly differed between the injury-free period and the injury period for injured students and substantially injured students.…”

“…Major psychosocial stressors (i.e., events resulting in major changes in the life of those affected) (Junge, 2000) and minor or everyday events (e.g., health, workload, or social issues) (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984) can have an effect on stress and thereby increase injury risk. Contemporary dance students are, for instance, exposed to life events, such as managing finances, homesickness, competitive auditions, approaching exams and performances and high expectations from others which can lead to great amounts of stress (Mainwaring et al, 1993;Adam et al, 2004;Pollitt and Hutt, 2021).…”

“…Moreover, prolonged stress can cause changes in brain functions that increase the risk of poor decision-making (Ivarsson et al, 2017), which has also been related to increased injury risk (Gabbett et al, 2012). The model can be applied to dance-specific examples according to a literature review of Pollitt and Hutt (2021), as for instance done by van Winden et al (2020b). In line with the stress-and-injury model, the results of the systematic review of Mainwaring and Finney (2017) also showed that stress, psychological distress, coping and personality were associated with risk of dance injury.…”

“…Furthermore it is possible that the specific academic environment could result in even higher stress levels compared to the general dance setting, due to, for example, the limited timeframe for achieving artistic and academic goals (Weigert, 2005). Besides, it is possible that all new (i.e., firstyear) dance students are at an elevated level of injury risk, due to stressors such as moving, managing finances, and homesickness (Pollitt and Hutt, 2021). Therefore, a prospective cohort study with four cohorts of first-year contemporary dance students over the course of a full academic year was performed to gain more insight into the association between general stress levels and injuries (i.e., physical complaints irrespective of the need for medical attention or time-loss from dance).…”