Injury Surveillance of Female Adult Zumba® Dancers

BACKGROUND: We sought to describe the patterns of injury and to establish the injury incidence rates associated with Zumba®. METHODS: Zumba® dancers were invited to complete an anonymous web-based survey containing 13 demographic background and 14 (1 yr retrospective) injury history questions. Inclusion criteria stated that the respondents had to be aged 18 – 64 yr and currently involved in group-based classes of Zumba®, either as a registered instructor or class participant. Binomial logistic regression analysis was used to predict the odds of injury during Zumba® and Mann-Whitney tests were employed to ascertain differences between groups. RESULTS: The survey response rate was 74%. The final sample of respondents (N = 138; female = 100%) included 19 registered instructors and 119 class participants, of which 58% and 16%, respectively, sustained ≥ 1 injury during Zumba® in the past year. The odds of injury was 7 (95% CI 2 – 19) times greater (p <0.01) for registered instructors than for class participants. Zumba® dancers had a 17 (95% CI 7 – 28) % greater (p <0.01) odds of injury for every 1 h of non-Zumba®-related moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) engagement per week. The injury incidence rate for registered instructors and class participants was 5.7 (95% CI 3.1 – 8.2) and 3.9 (95% CI 2.5 – 5.3) injuries per 1000 h of exposure, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Zumba® presents a low risk of injury; for registered instructors, the increased risk of injury is likely due to the high total volume of MVPA participated in weekly.