Foot arch height, toe flexor strength, and dynamic balance ability in collegiate female dancers and non-dancers.
Masaki Matsumoto, Kenshow Yamamoto
PMID 35221517WHAT IT FOUND
Collegiate female dancers showed higher foot arches, much stronger toe flexors, and better dynamic balance than non-dancers.
These differences likely reflect years of barefoot training, suggesting these measures could help screen for injury risk in this population.
Key findings
01Dancers had significantly higher foot arch height and normalized foot arch height than non-dancers.
02Dancers demonstrated significantly greater absolute and relative toe flexor strength compared to non-dancers.
03Dancers achieved significantly greater reach distances in all directions on the Y-Balance Test than non-dancers.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot prove that dance training caused these physical differences; dancers may have had these traits before starting. Participants were recruited from a single university, limiting generalizability. Only female dancers were studied, so results may not apply to male dancers. The sample size was small (20 per group).
Declared interests
None declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that prescribing dance-like exercises will create these specific structural adaptations in non-dancers. The study shows what dancers have, not what training produces, because it did not follow people over time.