DANCING AS A POTENTIAL INITIATOR OF EARLY HIP OSTEOARTHRITIS

Abstract

We present a study carried out with professional female ballet dancers to better understand the potential factors leading to early hip osteoarthritis in this population. This research consisted in three study arms: a radiological examination, a clinical evaluation and a biomechanical analysis to provide a comprehensive assessment of the dancer’s hip. We concluded that the practice of dancing movements could cause a loss of hip joint congruence and recurrent superior/posterosuperior femoroacetabular impingements, which could lead to early degenerative lesions in the morphologically normal hip.