Kato Everaert – Psychological and social risk factors for low back pain in dancers

The general purpose of this project is to elucidate psychological and social risk factors for low back pain in dancers. We will explore perceived causes of low back pain in female pre-professional dancers. The novelty of this approach is the unraveling of low back pain from a multidisciplinary perspective in adolescents at risk for developing low back pain in a period of their life characterized by significant biological and psychological changes. The multidimensional nature of low back pain is widely recognized in adults, but has only rarely been studied in adolescents while the foundation of low back pain in later life is likely to start in the adolescence period. For this reason, we will examine the role of psychological (anxiety, stress, pressure to perform), social (based on the artistic biotope) and biological aspects in the development of low back pain during adolescence, a period characterized by important biological changes (maturation, etc). The qualitative methodology will allow to explore these psychological and social risk factors in more depth, as validated questionnaires to examine these topics in adolescent dancers are lacking. This will lay the foundation for fundamental prospective studies examining causes of low back pain in adolescents from a genuine biopsychosocial perspective.

Promotors:

· Nathalie Roussel, Revalidatiewetenschappen en Kinesitherapie, Universiteit Antwerpen

· Pascal Gielen, Antwerp Research Institute for the Arts, Universiteit Antwerpen

· Eric Van Breda, Revalidatiewetenschappen en Kinesitherapie, Universiteit Antwerpen