Painful symptoms and associated factors in professional dancers*

Painful symptoms in sports and dancing have been object of increasing research over the last years. Professional dancers as well as sports professionals present high pain and tolerance thresholds, being common to find dancers with several injuries derived from excessive effort. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and factors associated with painful symptoms in professional dancers. An analytical study of transversal cut was conducted in 141 professional dancers performing in the main capitals of the Brazilian northeast. For evaluation of the painful symptoms, versions validated for Portuguese of the McGill Protocol and the Pain Inventory of Wisconsin were used. For the statistical analysis of results, a descriptive analysis followed by the t-Student and Pearson correlation tests was used, being considered a value of p < 0.05. High levels of pain tolerance were observed in 70.2% of the subjects, where the intensity varied from moderate to severe. Pain in the lumbar region was present in 85.8% of the interviewees. Positive correlations were observed between the degree of pain intensity with daily life activities, sleep, mood and personal relationship. The present study found high prevalence of pain in professional dancers performing in the main northeastern capitals, where the region most recurrent was the lumbar, observing great interference of painful symptoms in several activities of personal life as well as work of this population.