An analysis of epidemiology and financial outcome

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The financial outcome and epidemiology of ballet dan cers' injuries were studied by examining workers' com pensation insurance records covering 3 seasons (3 years) of activity for a large professional ballet com pany. One hundred four dancers sustained 309 injuries that resulted in insurance payouts for medical costs of $398,396. The average cost per injury was $1289. Although only 4.2% of the injuries resulted in medical costs exceeding $5000, these represented 60.0% of the total medical costs. Nine injuries resulted in medical costs in excess of $10,000 each. Overall, there were 2.97 injuries per injured dancer. Twenty-four dancers (23.0% of the injured) sustained 5 or more injuries each and thus were responsible for 51.9% (161) of all injuries. The foot (74 injuries, 23.9%), lumbar spine (71, 23.0%), and ankle (41, 13.3%) were the most frequently injured anatomic regions. The experience of this ballet com pany is similar to that of a college athletic department or a professional sports team. All could employ similar strategies to reduce injuries and associated costs.
Keywords

This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit: