Injury, Training, Biomechanical, and Physiological Profiles of Professional Breakdancers.
Amelia J H Arundale, Roisin McNulty, Cory Snyder and 2 others
PMID 37795328WHAT IT FOUND
Elite breakers reported knee, elbow and shoulder injuries.
They trained about 24 hours weekly, mostly breaking, with little strength work. Shoulder strength exceeded overhead sport norms, but hip and jump tests showed no clear injury links. Data is pilot-only, not clinical guidance.
Key findings
01Knee was the most commonly injured body part, followed by elbow and shoulder, with an average of 3.2 injuries per breaker.
02Breakers had higher isometric shoulder external and internal rotation strength than reported values for overhead athletes, potentially due to different loading patterns.
03No significant differences were found in hip or shoulder strength between breakers with and without a history of injury to those areas.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Very small sample size (n=14) limits generalizability to amateur or less experienced breakers. Injury data relies on athlete recall and subjective definition, with potential bias from a culture of 'pushing through pain'. Testing methods were chosen for clinical feasibility, not research validity, and may not capture sport-specific demands like horizontal or rotational power. The study is retrospective and cross-sectional, so it cannot establish whether strength profiles cause or result from injuries.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use these strength or jump values as clinical cut-offs for injury risk or return-to-sport decisions. The study reports no significant differences between injured and non-injured athletes in these measures, and the sample is too small to establish normative data for breaking.