earticle

영어

While research on injuries in dance is underdeveloped compared to research on sports injuries, the data clearly show that dancers experience a substantial number of injuries. Unfortunately, however, dancers generally do not have the same access to specialized healthcare that athletes do. As a result, many of their injuries are either improperly treated or not treated at all. A university is an ideal place in which to provide dance medicine care because of its typically well-controlled academic environment and its formative processes for university dancers that are designed to train the dancers for successful careers in dance performance or other dance-related professions. Appropriate attention to health, wellness, injuries, and healthcare should receive attention as part of this education. This paper identifies the framework needed for providing clinical management of dance injuries in a university. Essential to providing healthcare for dancers is an interdisciplinary collaboration between dance and health sciences. There are several ways such an association can be implemented, with all of them focused on ensuring that dancers can dance at a high level while experiencing optimum health and wellness. Among the possibilities are hiring a healthcare provider to work in the dance department, organizing specialized care with the university’s student health service, and creating relationships with interested healthcare professionals in the university’s community. Whichever method is incorporated, the needs of the university’s dancers must be the primary focus.