Abstract
Introduction:
Ballet is a dance movement that has a series of repetitive explosive movements and requires balance, and high performance. Thus, the dancers are prone to injury. Injuries that occur more frequently in ballet dancers are usually the result of excessive repetitive body movements (overuse injuries) and these injuries are found most often in the lower extremities. The Movement Competency Screen (MCS) is a screening tool and has attractive characteristics for evaluating a variety of structured movements with different load levels. Aside from MCS, the Y-Balance Test (YBT) is also a screening tool to assess dynamic balance (mobility and stability) through a series of unilateral lower extremity reaches while maintaining a single limb stance. There has been no research yet here in Indonesia that measures the relationship between musculoskeletal functional movement and dynamic balance with lower body injuries in dancers during pre-season ballet dancers’ assessment.
Objectives:
The purposes of this study are to examine functional movement in elite female ballet dancers using the MCS and YBT and to determine whether both tests at the beginning of the season can predict sports injuries.
Methods:
This is a prospective cohort study that will follow elite female ballet dancers in the city of Jakarta, Indonesia annually. At the pre-season, each dancer will complete a general health history questionnaire (e.g. health problem, menstrual disturbance), dancing-related questions (e.g. training load, previous injuries, etc.), and undergo the body composition measurement and all components of the MCS and the YBT. Every month, the dancers will report if there are any dancing-related injuries through an online platform and the authors will arrange the injuries based on the Orchard Sports Injury and Illness Classification System (OSIICS).
Results:
This is a study protocol of MOLED study.
Conclusion:
This study will be the first prospective longitudinal injury prevention study of sports-related injuries in Indonesia, especially in the female dancers. The study will provide data on dancers’ well-being, dancers’ performance, screening tools scoring, and dancing-related injuries factors. It will help answer the question on the possibility of the MCS and YBT as screening and assessment tools for predicting sports injury especially in lower body. The results will eventually contribute to the development of evidence-based practices specifically to develop an early intervention and to implement sports injury risk reduction programs in the future for the dancers.