The effects of structured training program on injury occurrence in Hip-hop dance

Plesna disciplina hip hop vsebuje veliko različnih stilov. V relativno kratki koreografiji plesalci izvedejo veliko skokov, zadrževanj v nenaravnih položajih telesa in hitrih gibov v velikih amplitudah (predvsem zgornjih udov), za kar potrebujejo dobro razvite gibalne sposobnosti. Kot pri drugih športih tudi pri plesu hip hop poškodbe predstavljajo pomemben zdravstveni problem. Raziskave o poškodbah v plesu kažejo največ poškodb kolena, gležnja in hrbta, zato je bil temeljni cilj naše raziskave zmanjšati število poškodb spodnjega uda pri plesalkah in plesalcih hip hopa. V ta namen smo izdelali preventivni strukturirani vadbeni program, ki sledi potrebam in zahtevam plesalcev hip hopa, ter ugotavljali, kakšen vpliv ima na pojavljanje poškodb in morfološke značilnosti in gibalne sposobnosti predstavnikov hip hopa. Želeli smo ugotoviti, ali obstajajo razlike v gibalnih sposobnostih in morfoloških značilnostih med plesalkami in plesalci s poškodbami in brez njih. V randomizirani kontrolirani raziskavi je sodelovalo 161 plesalcev hip hopa (18,71 ± 4,37 leta), ki smo jih razdelili v eksperimentalno (n = 63) in kontrolno (n = 98) skupino. Pridobili smo podatke o nekaterih demografskih in morfoloških značilnostih ter gibalnih sposobnostih plesalcev hip hopa, prospektivno beležili pojavljanje poškodb med trajanjem intervencije (tri mesece) in spremljali število poškodb šest mesecev po končani intervenciji. Pridobljene podatke smo primerjali med poškodovanimi in nepoškodovanimi merjenci ter med eksperimentalno in kontrolno skupino. Temeljne ugotovitve naše raziskave so: (1) pri plesalkah in plesalcih eksperimentalne skupine se je število poškodb spodnjega uda od začetka do konca raziskave zmanjšalo, pri kontrolni skupini pa pomembno povečalo, (2) plesalke in plesalci kontrolne skupine so imeli statistično značilno več poškodb kot plesalke in plesalci eksperimentalne skupine ob koncu trajanja intervencije in ob koncu raziskave, (3) z 12-tedenskim preventivnim vadbenim programom smo uspeli zmanjšati število poškodb med trajanjem intervencije, (4) preventivni vadbeni program je pomembno izboljšal parametre nekaterih gibalnih sposobnosti, (5) v plesu hip hop prevladujejo preobremenitvene poškodbe, (6) najpogosteje poškodovano področje je bilo koleno, sledili so mu hrbet, gleženj in rama, (7) nepoškodovani plesalke in plesalci so v primerjavi s poškodovanimi dosegli statistično značilno boljše rezultate pri skoraj vseh testih gibalnih sposobnosti.The dance discipline ‘hip hop’ consists of many different styles. In relatively short choreography, dancers perform many jumps, pauses in non-natural body positions and rapid movements in great amplitudes with upper limbs. All that requires properly developed motor abilities. As in many other sports, injuries present an important health problem in hip hop dance. Previous research show that the most common dance injuries are located in the knee, the ankle and the back, therefore the main goal of our investigation was to decrease the number of lower limb injuries among hip hop dancers. We designed a preventive structured training program which follows hip hop dancers’ demands and requirements and discovered its effect on injury occurrence and dancers’ motor abilities, morphological and physiological characteristics. We aimed to find out whether differences in motor abilities, morphological and physiological characteristics between injured and non-injured dancers exist. In our randomised controlled trial, 161 hip hop dancers (18.71 ± 4.37 years of age) took part and were divided into experimental (n = 63) and control (n = 98) groups. Our collected data consisted of hip hop dancers’ demographic, morphological and physiological characteristics, motor abilities and prospectively reported injuries during the intervention (3 months) and after the 6-month follow-up. We compared the results between injured and non-injured dancers as well as between experimental and control groups. Our main findings were: (1) decreased number of lower limb injuries in the experimental group and significantly increased number of lower injuries in the control group from the beginning to the end of our research, (2) dancers in the control group reported significantly more injuries than those in the experimental group after the intervention and after the 6-month follow-up, (3) the 12-week preventive training program decreased the number of injuries during the intervention, (4) the preventive training program significantly improved some parameters of motor abilities, (5) in hip hop dance, overuse injuries are most common, (6) the most frequently injured body part was the knee, followed by the back, ankle and shoulder, (7) non-injured dancers had significantly better results than injured in most of the tests of motor abilities