Within and between-day loading response to ballet choreography

Overuse pathologies are prevalent in ballet injury. Ten amateur
ballet dancers (age: 23.20 ± 3.08 years) completed a progressive
5-stage choreographed routine on two consecutive days. Tri-axial
accelerometers positioned at C7 and the dominant and nondominant lower-limb were used to calculate accumulated
PlayerLoadTM (PLTOTAL) and uni-axial contributions of the anteriorposterior (PLAP), medial-lateral (PLML), and vertical (PLV) planes.
PLTOTAL increased significantly (p = 0.001) as a function of exercise
duration within-trial, however there was no significant change
between trials (p = 0.18). PLTOTAL at C7 was significantly
(p = 0.001) lower than both lower-limbs, with no bilateral asymmetry evident (p = 0.97). Planar contributions to PLTOTAL were significantly greater in PLV than PLAP and PLML (p = 0.001). PlayerLoadTM
demonstrated within-trial sensitivity to the progressive routine,
however no residual fatigue effect was observed between trials.
The results of this study suggest that accelerometers have efficacy
in athlete monitoring and injury screening protocols, however unit
placement should be considered for practical interpretation.