LAUSR

CONTEXT Joint hypermobility has a high prevalence in dancers and may be associated with injury and performance. OBJECTIVES To investigate whether total Beighton score can predict injury and to determine the relationship between joint hypermobility and injury and to report injury demographics. DESIGN A prospective cohort injury study. SETTING University Dance Injury Clinic. PARTICIPANTS Eighty-two dancers (62 females, 20 males). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Joint hypermobility via the Beighton score ≥ 4 with lumbar flexion included and removed. RESULTS Sixty-one dancers were classified as hypermobile which reduced to 50 dancers with lumbar flexion removed. A significant difference existed between pooled total days injured in hypermobile dancers and non-hypermobile dancers with lumbar flexion included (p = 0.02) and removed (p = 0.03). No significant differences existed for total Beighton score between injured and non-injured groups with lumbar flexion included (p = 0.11) and removed (p = 0.13). Total Beighton score was a weak predictor of total days injured (r2 = 0.06, p = 0.51). Forty-seven injuries occurred in 34 dancers and pooled injury rate was 1.03 injuries/1000 hours. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis demonstrated an area under the curve of 0.83 for male dancers with lumbar flexion removed which was considered diagnostic for injury. CONCLUSIONS The Beighton score can be utilised to identify dancers who may develop injury. Clinicians should consider the role of lumbar flexion in total Beighton score when identifying those dancers at risk of injury. Different injury thresholds in female and male dancers may aid injury management.