The Nutcracker at Birmingham Royal Ballet
Dancers may want to consider taking a Vitamin D supplement as new research highlight a deficiency in those who train indoors, especially through winter.
The study, published in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, found that vitamin D supplementation had a significant influence on improving muscle function and injury occurrence. Dancers who train indoors, especially during the winter, are prone to low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (vitamin D) due to a lack of sunlight exposure.
Researchers at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH), University of Wolverhampton and the Jerwood Centre at Birmingham Royal Ballet, three of the founding partners of the National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science, have discovered significant benefits of oral vitamin D supplements in elite ballet dancers and are now urging medical professionals and trainers to consider providing dancers with vitamin D during the winter months.
Researchers from the National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science (NIDMS) – which includes a specialist clinic at the RNOH - discovered that when providing oral supplementation of vitamin D3 (2000 IU per day) to dancers, significant improvements were noted. The dancers who took vitamin D supplements demonstrated greater increases in muscle strength and vertical jump performance and showed a decreased rate of injury occurrence, compared to those in the group that did not take supplements.
The NutcrackerAs a result of the findings the RNOH is calling on medical staff and teachers to monitor Vitamin D levels in dancers throughout the year and consider providing supplements during the winter months to help return them to normal serum levels which can ultimately improve their overall performance.
The study was led by Professor Matthew Wyon from the University of Wolverhampton and involved Nick Allen, Clinical Director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet and Dr Roger Wolman, Consultant in Rheumatology and Sport and Exercise Medicine at the RNOH. Dr Wolman said:
“Vitamin D is important for bone development and has a wide range of functions. In a deficient state, dancers are at increased risk of bone injuries and this latest research indicates an increased risk of muscle injury, which can be detrimental to their health and their careers.
“In a population known to be at risk of these deficiencies, such as ballet dancers, medical staff and teachers should consider supplying their dancers with appropriate levels of vitamin D whilst training indoors to help them build on their core muscle strengths to avoid injury. These findings could also be extrapolated to cover other sports and training activities that take place indoors.”
NIDMS established the first specialist dance clinic embedded in the NHS which opened last year and is based at the RNOH in London. The clinic provides a radical new approach to dancers’ healthcare which is one of the most pressing problems facing the growing industry. Injury treatment costs the subsidised dance sector on average £900,000 a year and £1 million in lost time*. As well as providing efficient, affordable, specialist treatment for dancers, the institute focuses on cutting edge research into dancers’ health, injury and performance, which will lead to more effective injury prevention.
Helen Laws, NIDMS Manager at Dance UK said: “Traditionally dancers spend between six and eight hours training indoors for six days a week throughout the year and they need to be able to execute highly technical movements during high intensity periods of training and when performing. This study provides important advice on performance enhancement as well as offering vital insights into the overall health and wellbeing of dancers.”
Due to the success of the London clinic, the National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science is now expanding its health and support services to dancers in the midlands by launching a new clinic in Birmingham at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. This will be launched at the Birmingham Hippodrome with Birmingham Royal Ballet on 29 November 2013.