Relationship between the joint mobility index and the presence of injury and pain among ballet students in Brazil

Dance is a unique blend of art and athleticism, which makes its practitioners particularly susceptible to skeletal muscle injuries and pain. Dancers are subjected to intense training, which contributes towards increasing the severity of injury. Injuries occur significantly more frequently in hypermobile dancers than in the non-hypermobile individuals. The present study aimed to correlate the Joint Mobility Index, obtained through Carter and Wilkinson"™s Joint Mobility Scale, as modified by Beighton, with the prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries among students at vocational schools for classical ballet in Brazil, and to make a correlation with self-reported presence of pain and muscle fatigue. This study indicates that there is a real association between hypermobility as a risk factor for lesions, which were more present in hypermobile individuals. On the other hand, pain was inversely presented, such that it was more present in non-hypermobile dancers, perhaps because of skeletal muscle overload to meet the physical and esthetic needs of ballet. Fatigue was not an important variable in the analyses between the groups, and was similar between them. It is especially important to establish a relationship regarding the need for intensive therapeutic care for treating of skeletal muscle injuries among hypermobile individuals.Key-words: classical ballet, musculoskeletal system, injuries, joint mobility index, physiotherapy.