Musculo-skeletal   [back to the Category]

Flamenco Dance Injuries: The Spanish Experience   [read the french version]

Author :   Dr. Juan Bosco Calvo, Dr. Luis Gomez-Pellico

Authors: Juan Bosco Calvo, M.D., Prof. Luis Gomez-Pellico, Department Morphological Sciences & Surgery, Laboratory of Biomechanics, School of Medicine. University of Alcala de Henares (Madrid), Spain

Introduction:

We are researching in Flamenco Dance in four sections:

- Analysis of the steps together with Body arm and leg movements.
- Study of shoes and steps on shoed feet (“zapateado”).
- Morphological and functional consequences of Flamenco dancing on the interpreter.
- Research on injuries: prevention and treatment.
We present a statistical analysis of injuries, and their correlation with other variables.
Materials and Methods

At this moment (January 2000), 200 Flamenco dancers belonging to professional companies have been investigated. The time devoted to each one was an average of 20 hours weekly; data were obtained in several sites, such as: dance studios, theater rehearsals, and at private clinical surgery.

Methods
Anthropometric data.
Clinical approach at private orthopaedic clinic. Alignment. Diagnosis. Treatment.
Test of motion at spine, hip, and ankle joints.
Statistical analysis of data (SSPS).

Results

Percentage of injuries:
1) Feet,
2) Neck/Shoulders,
3) Knee,
4) Lumbar spine

Beginners suffer muscle pain at calves, thigh, and trapezius more often.
Professionals suffer metatarsalgia, anterior knee pain, and lumbalgia but they ask for help
first when knee problems disable them for dancing.
Related factors like sudden increase of hours, age, spine extension, and ankle dorsiflexion flexibility are involved in specific syndromes.

This is the abstract of a paper presented at the Tenth Annual Meeting of the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science, held 27-29 October 2000 in Miami, Florida, USA. All rights are reserved by the individual author(s).