Movilidad sagital espinal en bailarinas de danza clásica

Abstract

Classical ballet training focuses on developing very high levels of joint mobility as it is an idiosyncrasy and aesthetic requirement of this artistic discipline. The purpose of this study was to use an inclinometer to measure sagittal spinal mobility both in general and more specifically for the degree of curvature in the thoracic and lumbar spine in both maximum trunk flexion and extension. 33 volunteer female ballet dancers were studied and compared to a control group. The Student’s t-test was used to compare both groups and analyse variance. A higher level of mobility was detected in the group of dancers than in the control group both in terms of trunk mobility (t =10.10; p<0.00005) and segmental mobility of the lumbar spine (t =6.52; p<0.00005). The results show that classical ballet training could be used as a technique to compensate for sagittal spine misalignments with increased kyphosis and lordosis, when executed properly. Moreover, the more these mobility exercises are used in classical dance training, the more the dorsal degrees decrease in trunk flexion and extension and the lumbar degrees decrease in trunk flexion. Therefore, this type of training is recommended to prevent sagittal misalignments produced by a sedentary lifestyle that causes a lack of muscle tone and postural control.

Keywords

• misalignments
• thoracic kyphosis
• lumbar lordosis
• ballet