ORIGINAL PAPER Injury Prevention for Modern Dancers: A Pilot Study of an Educational Intervention Tracy L. Fuhrmann • Anne Brayer • Noelle Andrus • Scott McIntosh Published online: 3 February 2010 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010 Abstract Modern dancers suffer a high rate of muscu- loskeletal injuries. Preventing injury prolongs dance careers and eases financial burden on both individual dancers and dance companies alike. A medical student partnered with Garth Fagan Dance to develop a curriculum to teach principles of injury prevention specific to prepro- fessional and professional modern dancers. Quantitative assessments showed a significant increase in participant injury prevention knowledge after completion of the course (P \ 0.0001). Participants’ concern that injury may end their careers showed no significant change after the course (P = 0.35). Injury prevention and dance-related injuries were reported the most often as useful topics while weight management was reported the least often as a useful topic. Qualitative evaluations showed that participants’ found a course on injury prevention valuable and desired a course of longer duration that includes a greater number of topics. These findings show that modern dancers perceive an educational course on injury prevention as valuable and retain information presented in the course in the short-term. Further study is warranted to assess changes in injury rates after the course and to continue to improve curriculum content and implementation. Keywords Dancing Á Prevention Á Education Á Injury Á Curriculum Introduction Modern dance continues to grow in popularity as a per- forming art in America. However, modern dance compa- nies continue to be comprised of fewer dancers and run on smaller budgets than ballet companies [1]. Therefore, injury-related costs place a proportionally larger strain on modern dance companies. In addition, due to the small number of dancers in a company, dancers may be forced to perform with minor injuries, causing more severe injuries. Likewise, dancers covering for their injured counterparts may incur overuse and fatigue-related injuries. For these reasons, modern dance companies particularly need an intervention to help prevent injuries among their dancers. Dancers are at high risk for musculoskeletal injuries. Annual injury rates are reported averaging 67–95% [1]. A recent review found that lifetime prevalence of injury in professional ballet dancers ranged between 40 and 84% [2]. Point prevalence of minor injury in university and profes- sional ballet and modern dancers was 74% in one study [2]. About half of all dancers report a chronic injury [3]. Many injuries force professional dancers to take up to a week off of exercise [4]. Many factors that contribute to injury in dancers can be modified [4]. Injuries tend to occur late in the day or at the end of a dance season, suggesting fatigue as an under- lying cause [5]. Fatigue and low fitness levels can be T. L. Fuhrmann University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY, USA A. Brayer Department of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA N. Andrus University of Rochester School of Nursing, Rochester, NY, USA S. McIntosh (&) Department of Community & Preventive Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, 120 Corporate Woods, Suite 350, Rochester, NY 14623, USA e-mail: scott_mcintosh@urmc.rochester.edu 123 J Community Health (2010) 35:527–533 DOI 10.1007/s10900-010-9223-z