Communication between Medical Practitioners and Dancers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate patterns of communication between professional and pre-professional dancers and medical practitioners. One survey was developed and randomly conducted among family physicians, sports medicine physicians, chiropractors, physical therapists, and registered massage therapists. A second survey involved volunteer ballet and modern dancers in professional dance training programs, college and university dance programs, and independent dance artists. One hundred and ninety questionnaires were distributed to medical practitioners, and 50 were returned. Of 380 questionnaires given to dancers, 202 were returned. The dancers were 18 to 49 years old, with a majority between the ages of 18 and 20. They averaged more than 10 years of dance training. All of the questionnaires were distributed in a single large Canadian city. The data shows that medical practitioners rarely communicated with each other concerning a common (dance) patient. They also failed to communicate, in most cases, with the dancers' teachers, choreographers, and directors. This was not disconcerting to injured dancers, who tended to believe that such communication was not important to their recovery. Significantly, dancers did not fully understand the nature of their injuries when they sought medical advice, and they did not press the medical practitioners for additional information. Both groups generally believed that dancers would benefit by learning more about human anatomy.