While concussions have been a focus for sports medicine literature and the sports media, they have received very little attention in the dance and dance medicine communities. This case series retrospectively reviewed the medical charts of 11 dancers who suffered a concussion during dance activities over the course of 5.5 years. The cases presented here are similar to sports-related concussion cases in mechanism of injury and presentation of symptoms. Perhaps unsurprisingly, nearly all of the dancers examined here continued dancing on the day of their injury despite experiencing symptoms. The researchers theorized that many dancers, like athletes, may be suffering concussions without recognizing or reporting them. Additionally, dancers are known to attempt to dance through pain, which means that some dancers may also be intentionally continuing to dance despite concussion symptoms. Since many dance-related concussions occur through accidents like collisions and falls, standard safety measures can and should be taken at dance studios and performance venues. The researchers finish up by proposing dance-specific adaptations to the guidelines for concussion management from the 4th International Conference on Concussion in Sport.
Stein CJ, Kinney SA, McCrystal T, et al. Dance-related concussion: A case series. J Dance Med Sci. 2014:18(2):53-61
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