I am really pleased to share that my article, “A Retrospective Study Investigating Injury Incidence and Factors Associated with Injury Among Belly Dancers” has been published in the March 2019 edition of the Journal of Dance Medicine & Science. We collected so much data we could have written several papers from this, but I’m really pleased this little piece is out there.

As far as we know, this is the first scientific study ever to examine injury incidence and potential risk factors in belly dancers. I hope this generates more interest around the topic and furthers the belief that oriental dance and its associated forms are worth of academic study.

For us, The most significant clinical implication from this study is the correlation of non-dance-related exercise with reduced risk of injury. Strengthtraining has already been suggested for reducing injury risk in dancers of other styles, and as dance requires both aerobicand anaerobic fitness in addition to strength, any exercise training outside of dance may be beneficial for meeting the athletic requirements of dance.

You can access the article here.