Background: Ballet dancers require extreme range of motion of the ankle, especially weight-bearin... more Background: Ballet dancers require extreme range of motion of the ankle, especially weight-bearing maximum plantar flexion ( en pointe). In spite of a high prevalence of foot and ankle injuries in ballet dancers, the anatomy and pathoanatomy of this position have not been sufficiently studied in weight-bearing. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a beneficial method for such study. Purpose: To develop an MRI method of evaluating the ankles of female ballet dancers standing en pointe and to assess whether pathological findings from the MR images were associated with ankle pain reported by the subjects. Material and Methods: Nine female ballet dancers (age, 21Ā±2.9 years; dance experience, 16Ā±4.1 years; en pointe dance experience, 7Ā±4.9 years) completed an ankle pain visual analog scale questionnaire and underwent T1- and T2-weighted scans using a 0.25 T open MRI device. The ankle was scanned in three positions: supine with full plantar flexion, standing with the ankle in anatomical position, and standing en pointe. Results: Obtaining MR images of the ballet dancers en pointe was successful in spite of limitations imposed by the difficulty of remaining motionless in the en pointe position during scanning. MRI signs of ankle pathology and anatomical variants were observed. Convergence of the posterior edge of the tibial plafond, posterior talus, and superior calcaneus was noted in 100% of cases. Widened anterior joint congruity and synovitis/joint effusion were present in 71% and 67%, respectively. Anterior tibial and/or talar spurs and Stiedaās process were each seen in 44%. However, clinical signs did not always correlate with pain reported by the subjects. Conclusion: This study successfully established an ankle imaging technique for ballet dancers en pointe that can be used in the future to assess the relationship between en pointe positioning and ankle pathoanatomy in ballet dancers.
Athletes who train indoors during the winter months exhibit low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)... more Athletes who train indoors during the winter months exhibit low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations due to a lack of sunlight exposure. This has been linked to impaired exercise performance. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of oral vitamin Dā supplementation on selected physical fitness and injury parameters in elite ballet dancers. Controlled prospective study. 24 elite classical ballet dancers (intervention n=17; control n=7) participated in a controlled 4-month oral supplementation of vitamin Dā (2000 IU per day). Isometric muscular strength and vertical jump height were measured pre and post intervention. Injury occurrence during the intervention period was also recorded by the in-house medical team. Repeated measures ANOVA and Mann-Whitney-U statistical tests were used and significance was set at p ā¤ 0.05. Significant increases were noted for the intervention group for isometric strength (18.7%, p<0.01) and vertical jump (7.1%, p<0.01). The intervention group also sustained significantly less injuries than the controls during the study period (p<0.01). Oral supplementation of vitamin Dā during the winter months has beneficial effects on muscular performance and injury occurrence in elite ballet dancers.
Introduction: Neuromuscular warm-up programs, such as FIFA 11+ were developed as early as 2006. T... more Introduction: Neuromuscular warm-up programs, such as FIFA 11+ were developed as early as 2006. These programs have been effective in reducing the risk of injury in female athletes by decreasing the moments surrounding the knee and improving neuromuscular control during static and dynamic movements such as jumping and landing. In addition, they have been effective for improving jump height in soccer, volleyball, and basketball. Methods: The effects of the 11+ Dance, a dance-specific neuromuscular warm-up program, was examined on jump height and lower extremity biomechanics during bilateral and single leg countermovement jumps in recreational dancers. Twenty female adolescents from 2 dance schools participated in this 2-centered 8-week controlled non-randomized trial. The intervention group (IG) performed the 11+ Dance program 3Ć/week for 8-weeks during the first 30-minute of their regularly scheduled dance classes. The control group (CG) continued with their regular dance classes ro...
The methods of measuring aerobic power in dance is reviewed. The underlying metabolic pathways us... more The methods of measuring aerobic power in dance is reviewed. The underlying metabolic pathways used during dance class and performance are examined and, in conclusion, dance has been classified as an intermittent form of exercise. The relevancy of measuring maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) in relation to intermit-tent exercise is discussed with regard to other sports. Previous dance VO2max data is examined in relationship to other exercise forms and it is shown to be comparable to results in other non-endurance sports. The limitations of graded exercise tests with regards to extrapolating oxygen data from heart rates during dance has been highlighted as a flaw in a number of previous research studies and a limitation to be aware of in future re-search. Due to the infancy of dance science, the availability of valid and reliable laboratory and field tests are limited and, therefore, until further research is done, there needs to be a reliance on tests de-veloped in the health and sport ...
Dancing en pointe is an integral aspect of ballet for female dancers and they start pointe traini... more Dancing en pointe is an integral aspect of ballet for female dancers and they start pointe training in young adolescence. The primary objective of this review was to investigate the screening tests used to determine pointe readiness in young adolescent female dancers, and the secondary objective was to determine the injuries associated with pointe training. The search engines Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science were mined using medical subject heading terms "pointe," "pointe readiness," "injury," "young," "adolescent," "female," and "dancer," and a manual search of relevant articles was conducted. The inclusion criteria were: females aged 8 to 20 years, pre-pointe, training en pointe, and pointe-related injury. The search strategy followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The following data were extracted; first author, year of publication, ...
Background: Previous injury survey recall methods often use one-off questionnaires with varying p... more Background: Previous injury survey recall methods often use one-off questionnaires with varying periods of recall. These methods have proven to show injury incidence inaccuracies and limited information on injury etiology. Purpose: The present study aimed to examine the efficacy of a remote weekly self-report injury incidence and etiology tool. Methods: Two online questionnaires were developed based on the āFit to Dance 2ā survey and sent to volunteers. The first questionnaire was sent once and asked for complete injury history information. The second questionnaire was sent to each respondent on a weekly basis and it focused on new injuries and their causes and whether injuries that occurred in previous weeks were still affecting their dancing. The online survey was opened for full-time dance students from September 2020 to July 2021. All weekly data for each respondent were combined with a unique reference code using their account names, studentsā numbers, and schoolsā names. The p...
Hip hop is a popular dance genre practiced worldwide that has gained popularity since the 1970s. ... more Hip hop is a popular dance genre practiced worldwide that has gained popularity since the 1970s. Despite this, studies related to the area and its physiological demands are still scarce. The purpose of this study was to report the cardiorespiratory profile of a group of male and female hip hop dancers to determine the zones of intensity of a predefined hip hop party dance sequence. Eight Brazilian professional hip hop dancers, four women and four men, mean age 22 Ā± 2.3 years, participated in the study. Using a portable gas analyser (Cosmed K5) their cardiorespiratory variables were measured at two different times: first, during a maximal treadmill test and later during a predefined hip hop party dance sequence. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) were used for calculating the dependent variables: oxygen consumption (VO2), heart rate (HR), and the intensity zones for the predefined hip hop sequence. Data normality was verified using the Shapiro-Wilk test. The Mann-Wh...
Introduction: It is well documented that there is high prevalence of injuries in pre-professional... more Introduction: It is well documented that there is high prevalence of injuries in pre-professional and professional ballet dancers. Current evidence from high in quality and quantity research on in- jury prevention in sport indicates that interventions can reduce injury risks by 30% to 50%. Injury prevention research in dance is limited. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility (adherence, fidelity, and practicality) of a randomized controlled trial for the utilization of neuromuscular training in pre-professional ballet dancers. Methods: A convenience sample of 22 pre-professional ballet dancers were randomized into an intervention and control group. The intervention group took part in a neuromuscular-based training workout, five times per week before the ballet class, for 10 weeks. The intervention was an adaptation of the FIFA 11+, an injury prevention intervention and is called 11+ Dance. The intervention consisted of low intensity bodyweight exercises that lasted 20 t...
Introduction: Pre-professional ballet training involves long training hours from an early age tha... more Introduction: Pre-professional ballet training involves long training hours from an early age that could influence young dancers' physical performance and injury incidence. This cross-sectional analysis investigated the relationship of year group and sex with countermovement jump and injury incidence (primary outcome) in adolescent ballet dancers at a pre-professional dance school. Method: Countermovement jump (CMJ) height was recorded at the start of the academic year for 179 participants (M = 68, F = 111) spread across eight year-groups. Injury etiology and incidence was prospectively recorded over a 6-month period (September through February) by the medical team using a time-loss definition. Results: Between-subject statistically significant differences were reported for sex [F(1, 153) = 101.46; p < 0.001], year group [F(7, 153) = 12.57; p < 0.001], and sex*year group [F(7, 153) = 9.22; p < 0.001]. Mean CMJ across the year groups ranged between 24.7 to 41.3 cm for ma...
Specialist dance floors have been promoted to reduce impact forces and reduce lower limb injury f... more Specialist dance floors have been promoted to reduce impact forces and reduce lower limb injury for dancers. 18 trained female dancers carried out 70 continuous ballet jumps on 4 different surfaces wearing an XSENS suit. Three specialist dance floors, Floor A (64% force reduction), Floor B (67% force reduction), Floor C (no data) were compared to Floor D (vinyl-covered concrete - control). Dependent variables for each analysed jump (2,3,4, and 67,68,69) were ankle, knee, hip range of movement (ROM); lower and upper leg angular velocities and pelvis vertical acceleration. No main effects were reported for dance floor, first and last jump series. Comparison of the floors against Floor D reported a main effect for the dance floors (p=0.001), first and last jump series (p=0.001). Between-subject effects noted that ankle ROM was significantly greater for trials on floor A (p=0.007) compared to floor D. ROM data significantly decreased between the first and last jump series whilst vertica...
26th Annual Conference of the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science (Wanchai, Ho... more 26th Annual Conference of the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science (Wanchai, Hong Kong, October 20 - Sunday, October 23, 2016)
Dancers are at a high risk of becoming injured, and most dancers sustain at least one injury per ... more Dancers are at a high risk of becoming injured, and most dancers sustain at least one injury per year. Research into injury risk factors is, therefore, imperative in order to identify strategies for prevention. The aim of this study was to examine professional ballet dancers, investigating their bone mineral density (BMD), body composition (lean and fat mass), menstrual history, company position, incidence and severity of musculoskeletal injury, and the relationships among these variables. One hundred and eleven dancers (39 male and 72 female) volunteered for the study. BMD and body composition were measured by DXA. Questionnaires recorded menstrual, medical and family history, medications, use of oral contraceptives, smoking, and alcohol intake. Injury incidence and severity data were collected using physiotherapy records from the two consecutive years following DXA. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS, with statistical significance set at p<0.05. Frequency and severit...
Background: Ballet dancers require extreme range of motion of the ankle, especially weight-bearin... more Background: Ballet dancers require extreme range of motion of the ankle, especially weight-bearing maximum plantar flexion ( en pointe). In spite of a high prevalence of foot and ankle injuries in ballet dancers, the anatomy and pathoanatomy of this position have not been sufficiently studied in weight-bearing. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a beneficial method for such study. Purpose: To develop an MRI method of evaluating the ankles of female ballet dancers standing en pointe and to assess whether pathological findings from the MR images were associated with ankle pain reported by the subjects. Material and Methods: Nine female ballet dancers (age, 21Ā±2.9 years; dance experience, 16Ā±4.1 years; en pointe dance experience, 7Ā±4.9 years) completed an ankle pain visual analog scale questionnaire and underwent T1- and T2-weighted scans using a 0.25 T open MRI device. The ankle was scanned in three positions: supine with full plantar flexion, standing with the ankle in anatomical position, and standing en pointe. Results: Obtaining MR images of the ballet dancers en pointe was successful in spite of limitations imposed by the difficulty of remaining motionless in the en pointe position during scanning. MRI signs of ankle pathology and anatomical variants were observed. Convergence of the posterior edge of the tibial plafond, posterior talus, and superior calcaneus was noted in 100% of cases. Widened anterior joint congruity and synovitis/joint effusion were present in 71% and 67%, respectively. Anterior tibial and/or talar spurs and Stiedaās process were each seen in 44%. However, clinical signs did not always correlate with pain reported by the subjects. Conclusion: This study successfully established an ankle imaging technique for ballet dancers en pointe that can be used in the future to assess the relationship between en pointe positioning and ankle pathoanatomy in ballet dancers.
Athletes who train indoors during the winter months exhibit low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)... more Athletes who train indoors during the winter months exhibit low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations due to a lack of sunlight exposure. This has been linked to impaired exercise performance. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of oral vitamin Dā supplementation on selected physical fitness and injury parameters in elite ballet dancers. Controlled prospective study. 24 elite classical ballet dancers (intervention n=17; control n=7) participated in a controlled 4-month oral supplementation of vitamin Dā (2000 IU per day). Isometric muscular strength and vertical jump height were measured pre and post intervention. Injury occurrence during the intervention period was also recorded by the in-house medical team. Repeated measures ANOVA and Mann-Whitney-U statistical tests were used and significance was set at p ā¤ 0.05. Significant increases were noted for the intervention group for isometric strength (18.7%, p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;0.01) and vertical jump (7.1%, p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;0.01). The intervention group also sustained significantly less injuries than the controls during the study period (p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;0.01). Oral supplementation of vitamin Dā during the winter months has beneficial effects on muscular performance and injury occurrence in elite ballet dancers.
Introduction: Neuromuscular warm-up programs, such as FIFA 11+ were developed as early as 2006. T... more Introduction: Neuromuscular warm-up programs, such as FIFA 11+ were developed as early as 2006. These programs have been effective in reducing the risk of injury in female athletes by decreasing the moments surrounding the knee and improving neuromuscular control during static and dynamic movements such as jumping and landing. In addition, they have been effective for improving jump height in soccer, volleyball, and basketball. Methods: The effects of the 11+ Dance, a dance-specific neuromuscular warm-up program, was examined on jump height and lower extremity biomechanics during bilateral and single leg countermovement jumps in recreational dancers. Twenty female adolescents from 2 dance schools participated in this 2-centered 8-week controlled non-randomized trial. The intervention group (IG) performed the 11+ Dance program 3Ć/week for 8-weeks during the first 30-minute of their regularly scheduled dance classes. The control group (CG) continued with their regular dance classes ro...
The methods of measuring aerobic power in dance is reviewed. The underlying metabolic pathways us... more The methods of measuring aerobic power in dance is reviewed. The underlying metabolic pathways used during dance class and performance are examined and, in conclusion, dance has been classified as an intermittent form of exercise. The relevancy of measuring maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) in relation to intermit-tent exercise is discussed with regard to other sports. Previous dance VO2max data is examined in relationship to other exercise forms and it is shown to be comparable to results in other non-endurance sports. The limitations of graded exercise tests with regards to extrapolating oxygen data from heart rates during dance has been highlighted as a flaw in a number of previous research studies and a limitation to be aware of in future re-search. Due to the infancy of dance science, the availability of valid and reliable laboratory and field tests are limited and, therefore, until further research is done, there needs to be a reliance on tests de-veloped in the health and sport ...
Dancing en pointe is an integral aspect of ballet for female dancers and they start pointe traini... more Dancing en pointe is an integral aspect of ballet for female dancers and they start pointe training in young adolescence. The primary objective of this review was to investigate the screening tests used to determine pointe readiness in young adolescent female dancers, and the secondary objective was to determine the injuries associated with pointe training. The search engines Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science were mined using medical subject heading terms "pointe," "pointe readiness," "injury," "young," "adolescent," "female," and "dancer," and a manual search of relevant articles was conducted. The inclusion criteria were: females aged 8 to 20 years, pre-pointe, training en pointe, and pointe-related injury. The search strategy followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The following data were extracted; first author, year of publication, ...
Background: Previous injury survey recall methods often use one-off questionnaires with varying p... more Background: Previous injury survey recall methods often use one-off questionnaires with varying periods of recall. These methods have proven to show injury incidence inaccuracies and limited information on injury etiology. Purpose: The present study aimed to examine the efficacy of a remote weekly self-report injury incidence and etiology tool. Methods: Two online questionnaires were developed based on the āFit to Dance 2ā survey and sent to volunteers. The first questionnaire was sent once and asked for complete injury history information. The second questionnaire was sent to each respondent on a weekly basis and it focused on new injuries and their causes and whether injuries that occurred in previous weeks were still affecting their dancing. The online survey was opened for full-time dance students from September 2020 to July 2021. All weekly data for each respondent were combined with a unique reference code using their account names, studentsā numbers, and schoolsā names. The p...
Hip hop is a popular dance genre practiced worldwide that has gained popularity since the 1970s. ... more Hip hop is a popular dance genre practiced worldwide that has gained popularity since the 1970s. Despite this, studies related to the area and its physiological demands are still scarce. The purpose of this study was to report the cardiorespiratory profile of a group of male and female hip hop dancers to determine the zones of intensity of a predefined hip hop party dance sequence. Eight Brazilian professional hip hop dancers, four women and four men, mean age 22 Ā± 2.3 years, participated in the study. Using a portable gas analyser (Cosmed K5) their cardiorespiratory variables were measured at two different times: first, during a maximal treadmill test and later during a predefined hip hop party dance sequence. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) were used for calculating the dependent variables: oxygen consumption (VO2), heart rate (HR), and the intensity zones for the predefined hip hop sequence. Data normality was verified using the Shapiro-Wilk test. The Mann-Wh...
Introduction: It is well documented that there is high prevalence of injuries in pre-professional... more Introduction: It is well documented that there is high prevalence of injuries in pre-professional and professional ballet dancers. Current evidence from high in quality and quantity research on in- jury prevention in sport indicates that interventions can reduce injury risks by 30% to 50%. Injury prevention research in dance is limited. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility (adherence, fidelity, and practicality) of a randomized controlled trial for the utilization of neuromuscular training in pre-professional ballet dancers. Methods: A convenience sample of 22 pre-professional ballet dancers were randomized into an intervention and control group. The intervention group took part in a neuromuscular-based training workout, five times per week before the ballet class, for 10 weeks. The intervention was an adaptation of the FIFA 11+, an injury prevention intervention and is called 11+ Dance. The intervention consisted of low intensity bodyweight exercises that lasted 20 t...
Introduction: Pre-professional ballet training involves long training hours from an early age tha... more Introduction: Pre-professional ballet training involves long training hours from an early age that could influence young dancers' physical performance and injury incidence. This cross-sectional analysis investigated the relationship of year group and sex with countermovement jump and injury incidence (primary outcome) in adolescent ballet dancers at a pre-professional dance school. Method: Countermovement jump (CMJ) height was recorded at the start of the academic year for 179 participants (M = 68, F = 111) spread across eight year-groups. Injury etiology and incidence was prospectively recorded over a 6-month period (September through February) by the medical team using a time-loss definition. Results: Between-subject statistically significant differences were reported for sex [F(1, 153) = 101.46; p < 0.001], year group [F(7, 153) = 12.57; p < 0.001], and sex*year group [F(7, 153) = 9.22; p < 0.001]. Mean CMJ across the year groups ranged between 24.7 to 41.3 cm for ma...
Specialist dance floors have been promoted to reduce impact forces and reduce lower limb injury f... more Specialist dance floors have been promoted to reduce impact forces and reduce lower limb injury for dancers. 18 trained female dancers carried out 70 continuous ballet jumps on 4 different surfaces wearing an XSENS suit. Three specialist dance floors, Floor A (64% force reduction), Floor B (67% force reduction), Floor C (no data) were compared to Floor D (vinyl-covered concrete - control). Dependent variables for each analysed jump (2,3,4, and 67,68,69) were ankle, knee, hip range of movement (ROM); lower and upper leg angular velocities and pelvis vertical acceleration. No main effects were reported for dance floor, first and last jump series. Comparison of the floors against Floor D reported a main effect for the dance floors (p=0.001), first and last jump series (p=0.001). Between-subject effects noted that ankle ROM was significantly greater for trials on floor A (p=0.007) compared to floor D. ROM data significantly decreased between the first and last jump series whilst vertica...
26th Annual Conference of the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science (Wanchai, Ho... more 26th Annual Conference of the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science (Wanchai, Hong Kong, October 20 - Sunday, October 23, 2016)
Dancers are at a high risk of becoming injured, and most dancers sustain at least one injury per ... more Dancers are at a high risk of becoming injured, and most dancers sustain at least one injury per year. Research into injury risk factors is, therefore, imperative in order to identify strategies for prevention. The aim of this study was to examine professional ballet dancers, investigating their bone mineral density (BMD), body composition (lean and fat mass), menstrual history, company position, incidence and severity of musculoskeletal injury, and the relationships among these variables. One hundred and eleven dancers (39 male and 72 female) volunteered for the study. BMD and body composition were measured by DXA. Questionnaires recorded menstrual, medical and family history, medications, use of oral contraceptives, smoking, and alcohol intake. Injury incidence and severity data were collected using physiotherapy records from the two consecutive years following DXA. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS, with statistical significance set at p<0.05. Frequency and severit...
The intensity of stretching is rarely reported in scientific literature. In this study, we examin... more The intensity of stretching is rarely reported in scientific literature. In this study, we examined the effects of stretching intensities at 30%, 60%, and 90% of maximum range of movement (mROM) on the inflammatory response of the right hamstring muscle. Methods: A randomised within-subject trial was conducted with 11 healthy recreationally active males over a three week period. Participants were strapped into an isokinetic dynamometer in the supine position, with the right knee fastened in a knee immobilizer. After randomising the ROM percentages, the hamstring muscle was moved to one of the three chosen ROM percentages for that week and held there for 5 x 60 seconds followed by a 10 second rest between repetitions. A 5ml blood sample was collected pre-, immediately post, and at 24 hours post intervention for high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) assessments. Results: Significant increases in hsCRP levels were observed between 30% mROM and 90% mROM (p=0.004) and 60% mROM and 90% mROM (p=0.034), but not between 30% and 60% (p>0.05). Conclusions: Muscle stretching at submaximal levels does not elicit a significant systemic inflammatory responses.
Uploads
Papers by Matthew Wyon
intensities at 30%, 60%, and 90% of maximum range of movement (mROM) on the inflammatory response of the right
hamstring muscle. Methods: A randomised within-subject trial was conducted with 11 healthy recreationally active
males over a three week period. Participants were strapped into an isokinetic dynamometer in the supine position, with
the right knee fastened in a knee immobilizer. After randomising the ROM percentages, the hamstring muscle was
moved to one of the three chosen ROM percentages for that week and held there for 5 x 60 seconds followed by a 10
second rest between repetitions. A 5ml blood sample was collected pre-, immediately post, and at 24 hours post
intervention for high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) assessments. Results: Significant increases in hsCRP levels
were observed between 30% mROM and 90% mROM (p=0.004) and 60% mROM and 90% mROM (p=0.034), but not
between 30% and 60% (p>0.05). Conclusions: Muscle stretching at submaximal levels does not elicit a significant
systemic inflammatory responses.