The injury panorama in a Swedish professional ballet company

We performed a combined retro- and prospective study of injuries in a Swedi sh professional, classical ballet company during 5 consecutive years, There were 390 injuries incurred by 98 dancers over a 5-year period, i.e., 0.6 i njuries/1000 dance hours. Most injuries were considered to be due to overus e. The median sick leave was 2.3 weeks per injury. The foot and ankle regio n is vulnerable in classical ballet dancers, and overuse injuries can resul t in long periods of sick leave. Of the dancers employed for more than I ye ar 95% were suffered injuries during the study period. We found considerabl e differences in the injury profile between male and female and between you nger and older dancers. Male dancers suffered more frequently from acute in juries to the knee joint. Traumatic injuries were seen most frequently in m ale soloists. Female dancers more often suffered overuse injuries, especial ly to the foot and ankle region. The younger dancers more often suffered tr aumatic injuries, for example, ankle sprain, and also stress fractures.