Understanding musculoskeletal disorders in dancers: The role of lumbopelvic muscles and movement competency.

Objective: To investigate whether transversus abdominis activation (TrA), hip strength, and movement competency are associated with the incidence of musculoskeletal disorder episodes (MDEs) in dancers when controlling for confounding variables. The secondary objectives were to determine if there were differences between professional and preprofessional dancers for the aforementioned factors, as well as to determine if there were differences in TrA activation and hip strength between the dominant and non-dominant sides.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Methods: 118 dancers were recruited. The independent variables were collected at the beginning of the dance season: 1) TrA activation, 2) hip strength, and 3) movement competency. To assess the development of MDEs, a weekly electronic diary was used over a 38-week period. MDEs were compiled for each dancer's whole body and subdivided into total musculoskeletal disorder episodes (all body parts) and lower quadrant musculoskeletal disorder episodes (lower limb and lower back).

Results: Lower TrA, as well as higher hip abductor and external rotator strength, were associated with a lower incidence of MDEs. TrA activation (β = 0.260, p = 0.023) and hip external rotator strength (β = -0.537, p = 0.002) could significantly explain 25.4% of the variance of total MDEs, as well as 20.9% of the variance of lower quadrant musculoskeletal disorder episodes (β = 0.272, p = 0.016; β = -0.459, p = 0.011). No significant associations were found between movement competency and MDEs.

Conclusions: Higher hip strength could be a protective factor for MDEs among dancers. Further studies are needed to better understand the involvement of the transversus abdominis in MDEs.