Reducing risk of injury due to warm up and cool down in dance aerobic instructors

Abstract

Objectives:

The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence of injuries in dance aerobic instructors in relation to the duration of warm up and cool down before, during and after a class and the types of stretching exercises.

Methods:

The sample of the study was constituted of 404 (120 male and 284 female) aerobic instructors who were educated in public and state colleges of physical education and sports in Greece. For the statistical treatment of the data, the method used was the analysis of frequencies and the non-parametric test ${\mathit{X}}^2$ .

Results:

According to the results, 58.7% of the instructors were injured: Most of the injured instructors were absent from class up to a month, 21.8% over a month and 12.9% up to a week. Out of all injuries, 159.5 (29.5%) were acute injuries and 384.5 (70.5%) overuse syndromes. The injury rate was 0.23 injuries per aerobic instructor per year. It was also recorded that there is a statistically important relation between the rate of injuries and the duration of the warm up and cool down. When the warm up and cool down during the program is about 15 minutes, the number of injured instructors appears significantly smaller. As for stretching exercises included in the warm up and cool down, the results showed that there is not a statistically significant relation between the rate of injuries and the type of stretching exercises. When instructors performed a private warm up and cool down before and after the program, the rate of injury decreased even further.

Conclusions:

Injuries may occur because of many factors, but in aerobic dance the duration of warm up and cool down must be taken into serious consideration, as much as specialized knowledge and constant update.