Is Scoliosis Associated with Dance Injury in Young Recreational Dancers? A Large-Scale Cross-Sectional Epidemiological Study

Some studies suggested that adolescent scoliotic dancers were more likely to sustain dance injuries than non-scoliotic dancers. This study aimed to investigate the association between scoliosis and dance injury among children and adolescent recreational dancers. Identical web-based and paper-based questionnaires were distributed to children and adolescent recreational dancers to collect demographic information, dance experiences, history and location of dance injuries, as well as the frequency of dance injury in the last 12 months. The prevalence rates of the top three dance injury sites (lower back, knee, and ankles) were estimated. Associations between the presence of scoliosis and various dance injuries in the last 12 months were evaluated by multivariate logistic regression. Data from 704 respondents (644 females, 13.3 ± 2.4 years) was analyzed. Ninety-one respondents (12.9%) reported scoliosis and 11 respondents (1.6%) were wearing scoliosis braces. The 12-month prevalence rates of lumbar, knee, and ankle injuries in scoliotic dancers (24.2%, 22.2%, and 28.5%, respectively) were significantly higher than those of non-scoliotic dancers (10.4%, 14.9%, and 14.8%, respectively). Scoliosis was an independent risk factor for lumbar spine injury (Odds ratio, OR = 2.7), knee injury (OR = 2.6), and multi-site dance-related injury (OR = 1.9). Given the observed strong associations between scoliosis and lumbar or knee dance injuries in the current study, future studies are warranted to investigate the underlying causes.