Injury Surveillance of Female Adult Zumba® Dancers

Pablo A. Domene, Anne A. Delextrat, Chris Easton

Research output: Contribution to journalMeeting Abstractpeer-review

Abstract

Zumba® is a popular form of Latin-themed aerobic dance exercise engaged in by an estimated 14 million people in over 150 countries, yet little (ie in class participants) to no (ie in registered instructors) information exists in terms of the injury surveillance of this activity.PURPOSE: To describe the injury incidence rates and patterns of injury associated with engagement in Zumba®.METHODS: Zumba® dancers were invited to complete an anonymous web-based survey containing 13 demographic background and 14 (1 yr retrospective) injury history questions. Recruitment was undertaken using four web-based social networking services. Inclusion criteria stated that the respondents had to be aged 18-64 yr and currently involved in group-based classes of Zumba®, either as a registered instructor or class participant. Binomial logistic regression analysis was used to predict the odds of injury during Zumba® and Mann-Whitney tests were employed to ascertain differences between groups.RESULTS: The survey response rate was 74%. The final sample of respondents (N = 138; female = 100%) included 19 registered instructors and 119 class participants, of which 58% and 16%, respectively, sustained ≥ 1 injury during Zumba® in the past year. The median (Q1 - Q3) number of injuries for registered instructors and class participants was 2 (1-2) and 1 (1-1), respectively. Of the physical complaint injuries, only 5% required medical attention. The majority (80%) of time-loss injuries were minor in severity and none required medical attention. The injury incidence rate for registered instructors and class participants was 5.7 (95% CI 3.1 - 8.2) and 3.9 (95% CI 2.5 - 5.3) injuries per 1000 h of exposure, respectively. The odds of injury was 7 (95% CI 2-19) times greater (p < 0.01) for registered instructors than for class participants. Zumba® dancers had a 17 (95% CI 7-28) % greater (p < 0.01) odds of injury for every 1 h of non-Zumba®-related moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) engagement per week. Age, Zumba® experience, and Zumba® engagement per week were found to be non-significant (all p > 0.05) covariates in the analysis.CONCLUSIONS: Zumba® is a relatively safe form of exercise. For registered instructors, the increased risk of injury observed during Zumba® is likely due to the high total volume of MVPA engaged in weekly.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)866
JournalMedicine & Science in Sports & Exercise
Volume48
Issue number5S
Publication statusPublished - May 2016

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