SELF-REPORTED MUSCULOSKELETAL PAIN AND DISCOMFORT IN PROFESSIONAL BALLET DANCERS IN SWEDEN

One hundred and forty-seven professional dancers belonging to the thre e major companies in Sweden were asked to fill out a standardized ques tionnaire about musculoskeletal trouble and their work situation. This study details the answers and suggests ways of dealing with this part icular work situation. Of the 128 dancers who answered the questionnai re, 121 had experienced trouble some time during the preceding 12 mont hs. The low back was the site provoking most complaints (70%) followed by complaints from ankles/feet (65%) and neck (54%). There were no si gnificant differences between the sexes. Trouble during the preceding 7 days in ankles/feet and low back had been experienced by 30% and 27% of the dancers, respectively. Ankles/feet trouble had kept dancers fr om their daily work in 54% of the cases, while low back trouble had pr evented them from working to a lesser extent (40%) and neck trouble ev en less so (20%). Of the total 472 problems, 168 (36%) had prevented t he dancers from doing their daily work. The answers to what they thoug ht caused their problems to increase and decrease were later categoriz ed as either physical, psychosocial or environmental. Most of the circ umstances believed to increase trouble were related to poor training, while the ways to decrease trouble were mostly related to passive ther apeutic treatments.