Improve dancers' health and performance and prevent injury
Posted by: Jozef Varga on 06.Dec.2010 19:17
National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science
Donate for project here.2 year research project with plans for a legacy beyond that
The Big Idea
To improve dancers' health and performance and prevent injury by researching, developing and ultimately providing comprehensive, evidence-based medical and dance science support services. This project will be a significant advancement for dance, profoundly impacting dancers’ lives throughout the UK.
Need
80% of dancers incur at least one injury each year which affects their ability to perform. To sustain employability for dancers in the UK and continue to build a thriving dance industry that remains a source of inspiration and aspiration for all, we need to ensure dancers stay fit and healthy enough to cope with the ever more exciting choreographic challenges thrown their way. To do this we need specialist, evidence-based healthcare and dance science support, accessible to dancers at all levels.
Solution
This project will provide, for the first time, the large-scale, prospective, epidemiological research needed to more fully understand the multi-dimensional causes of dance injury, in different populations of dancers, and the best strategies for preventing and treating them. It will form the beginnings of a National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science, consisting of specialist centres that will allow resources to be pooled so that dancers can effectively ‘share’ teams of medics / scientists.
Donate for project here.
