Appropriate load management is lacking in elite adolescent Irish dancers. Monitoring of general health in these dancers is advocated to prevent injurydancers, and should be monitored carefully. Young Irish dancers ,may continue to dance when injured. Reasons may be benign or harmful, and should be monitored closely. To investigate dance exposure, sleep, general health and injury in elite adolescent Irish dancers. Design:Prospective study. Setting: Six Irish dance schools in Ireland. Participants: Thirty-seven elite Irish dancers, aged 13-17, competing at the highest championship level for at least the previous year. Main Outcome Measures: Self-reported weekly hours of dance, general health, sleep quality, monthly and annual height and weight, injury incidence. Results: Overall injury incidence (time-loss plus non-time-loss) and time-loss only injury incidence were 9.3 injuries, and 4.5 injuries, per 1000 hours of dance respectively. At least one injury was incurred by 86.5% of participants, with the foot/ankle most commonly affected. There were no statistically significant associations (p>0.05) between injury and sleep quality, or annual change in height/weight. There was some evidence of a statistically significant association between injury and health quality, with poorer health associated with increased levels of injury. There was no evidence of a statistically significant association between the probability of injury over time and sleep quality one week earlier, health quality one week earlier, or training load one and two weeks earlier. Conclusions: The incidence of injury in elite adolescent Irish dance is considerable with many dancers continuing to dance when injured. Increased dance exposure is associated with new injury.
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