Ambegaonkar, J.P.; Hansen-Honeycutt, J.; Wiese, K.R.; Cavanagh, C.M.; Caswell, S.V.; Ambegaonkar, S.J.; Martin, J. Female Collegiate Dancers’ Physical Fitness across Their Four-Year Programs: A Prospective Analysis. J. Funct. Morphol. Kinesiol.2023, 8, 98.
Ambegaonkar, J.P.; Hansen-Honeycutt, J.; Wiese, K.R.; Cavanagh, C.M.; Caswell, S.V.; Ambegaonkar, S.J.; Martin, J. Female Collegiate Dancers’ Physical Fitness across Their Four-Year Programs: A Prospective Analysis. J. Funct. Morphol. Kinesiol. 2023, 8, 98.
Ambegaonkar, J.P.; Hansen-Honeycutt, J.; Wiese, K.R.; Cavanagh, C.M.; Caswell, S.V.; Ambegaonkar, S.J.; Martin, J. Female Collegiate Dancers’ Physical Fitness across Their Four-Year Programs: A Prospective Analysis. J. Funct. Morphol. Kinesiol.2023, 8, 98.
Ambegaonkar, J.P.; Hansen-Honeycutt, J.; Wiese, K.R.; Cavanagh, C.M.; Caswell, S.V.; Ambegaonkar, S.J.; Martin, J. Female Collegiate Dancers’ Physical Fitness across Their Four-Year Programs: A Prospective Analysis. J. Funct. Morphol. Kinesiol. 2023, 8, 98.
Abstract
Dance is physically demanding, requiring physical fitness(PF) that includes upper body, lower body, core fitness, and balance for successful performance. Whether PF changes as dancers advance from when they enter(freshmen) to when they graduate from their collegiate program(seniors) is unclear. We prospectively compared collegiate dancers’ freshman-to-senior PF. We recorded PF of the upper body strength-endurance(push-ups, n=number), core strength-endurance(front, left-side, right-side, and extensor plank hold times, s=seconds), lower body power(Single-leg-hop-SLH distances % Height; Leg Symmetry Index: LSI=higher/lower*100, %), and balance(Anterior Reach Balance,%Leg-Length, LL; LSI balance=higher/lower*100, %) in 25 collegiate dancers(23 females, 2 males; freshmen age=18.2±0.6yrs). Paired t-tests(p<.05) compared measures from freshmen-senior years. Across their collegiate programs, dancers’ PF remained unchanged: upper body strength-endurance push-ups numbers(p=.93), core strength-endurance plank times(left:p=.44, right:p = .67, front:p=.60, p=.22), SLH distances(left: p =.44, right:p =.85) and SLH symmetry(p=0.16). Dancers’ right leg balance(p =.08) remained similar, while the left balance(p =.02) improved with better symmetry(p<.001) in senior balance scores. Overall, dancers’ PF did not change across their collegiate programs, except for greater left leg balance scores. Findings suggest that practitioners can use collegiate dancers’ freshmen baseline PF when devising rehabilitation programs and making return to activity decisions post injury throughout their dance programs.
Keywords
Performing Arts; Core; Star Excursion Balance Test; Balance; Push-ups; Planks; Single Leg Hops; Dancers; Training; Performance; Health; Physical Fitness; collegiate
Subject
Public Health and Healthcare, Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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