<b>Efficacy of strength and conditioning training on dance injury, physical fitness and dance performance in Chinese pre-professional dancers</b>

Purpose: To examine the effects of a strength and conditioning training intervention on dance injury, physical fitness and dance performance in Chinese pre-professional dancers. Study design: A prospective non-randomized controlled trial. Methods: A total of 89 full-time pre-professional dancers participated. Sixty-seven dancers volunteered for a 12-week strength and conditioning training intervention (2-session/week, 40-60-min/session), and 22 dancers acted as controls. All members of the intervention group carried out seven physical fitness tests pre- and post-intervention and a dance performance test using a ratified 10-item performance proficiency tool. Information on injury was self-reported by the dancers using a weekly remote dance injury monitoring tool. An inclusive definition of injury was used to record all injuries, even if they didn’t cause a cessation of training. Multivariate analysis of variance was employed to assess differences in physical fitness and dance performance pre and post-intervention. Injury data were initially analyzed for differences between the intervention and control groups; the intervention groups’ injury data were further analyzed by comparing to their own data collected during the previous year at the same period. Results: The intervention group demonstrated significant increases in physical fitness (p&lt;0.001), but their dance performance data remained statistically unchanged (p&gt;0.05). The intervention group also demonstrated lower weekly injury prevalence (28% vs 15%, p&lt;0.001) and injury incidence (8.09 vs 5.16 injuries per 1000hrs, p&lt;0.05) during the intervention period compared to their own injury just a year earlier. Conclusion: Strength and conditioning training improved physical fitness levels and decreased the risk of injury in pre-professional dancers, without detrimentally affecting dance performance