Injury Prevention Effects of a Ballet Basics Training Program -Biomechanical Analysis of the Participants’ Experience from the Program-

Abstract

Ballet dancers become immersed in repetitive practice for many hours from childhood, and even after becoming professional dancers, they become immersed in countless rehearsals and performances for a long time. In the process, excessive turnouts and prolonged physical activity beyond anatomical limits cause ballet dancers to suffer from frequent injuries or chronic pain (Sojung Jang, 2022). In particular, repeated training of physical and artistic skills required by ballet while maintaining incorrect body alignment may lead to spinal diseases or imbalance in the pelvis. For ballet dancers, balance and stability of posture are essential to hold out, rotate, and leap on one leg while maintaining a good center of gravity. Since ballet requires controlled movements and requires a moment of pause at the same time, excellent posture control is required to perform successful movements. However, ballet requires excessive turn-out or rotation of one axis compared to other genres of dance or physical activity. Variation in classical ballet has many turns and jumps that is supported with one leg and often use the other leg. Therefore, lateral bias, in which only one leg develops excessively, causes tension and stress, which leads to chronic pain or injury (Mertz and Docherty, 2012). This study is conducted to establish a theory and hypothesis that even a basic ballet training program can improve body balance and posture control to prevent injury, and to develop a training program corresponding to it to verify its effect through biomechanical analysis and qualitative investigation. In order to achieve this research purposes, this study consists of the following contents. First, Chapter II establishes a theoretical framework that theoretically proves the effectiveness of the ballet basics program by reviewing previous studies arguing that maintaining body balance is a key causal variable in preventing ballet injuries. Chapter III describes the ballet basics program, so-called PRS program, developed based on three basic ballet movements: Plié, Relevé-demi point, and temps levé Sauté, and how to collect and analyze biomechanical data after training 10 college ballet majors for 8 weeks for experimental purposes. In addition, it explains the method and reason for collecting qualitative data by conducting an interview survey on the subjects. Next, Chapter IV provides statistical analysis of biomechanical data, as well as results and implications with supplemental qualitative analysis results. Finally, in Chapter V, conclusions are discussed.