WalkerandHals1

TheRelationshipbetweenGrowthPlateDevelopmentandPointeRelatedInjuries
January30,2016
AngelicaWalkerandStephanieHals
ChapinHighSchool
300ColumbiaAvenue
Chapin,SC29036


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TheRelationshipbetweenGrowthPlateDevelopmentandPointeRelatedInjuries
AngelicaWalker,112RacketRd.,Chapin,S.C.29036
StephanieHals,420DallasPointeLn,Chapin,S.C.29036
ChapinHighSchool,Chapin,S.C.
Teacherand/orMentor:Mrs.LisaMaylath

Thisobservationalstudywascompletedtofindthecorrelationbetweengrowthplate
developmentandpointeballetrelatedinjuriesofadolescentfemalesfromages1218
whodanceballetenpointe.

Pointeisaclassicalballet,inwhichaballetdancer
supportsallbodyweightonthetipsoffullyextendedfeet.Accordingtoastudydoneby
theJournalofDanceMedicine,atotalof82%ofdancershadsufferedbetweenoneand
seveninjuriesconsistingmostlyoffootandankleinjuries.

Dancerelatedinjuriesamong
childrenandadolescentsincreased37%between1991and2007,accordingtoanew
studyfromNationwideChildrensHospital.Forthisstudywehypothesizetherewillbea
correlationinlowdevelopmentofgrowthplatesandankleinjuries.Thesurveyasks
questionstodeterminetheextentofeachdancersdevelopmentandtypeofinjury.This
surveywasadministeredtopointedancersinIrmo,SCfromDanceDepartmentand
SouthernStruttinNovember2015.Thestudyshowsaconnectionbetweengrowing
growthplatesandahigherpercentageofinjuries,17%girlswithankleinjuriesand60%
ofthosedancerswhosegrowthplatesarestilldeveloping.Conclusionswererelayedto
currentballet/pointeteacherstoaidthemindeterminingifstudentsphysicallyreadyfor
pointe.


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HISTORY/HYPOTHESIS.4
Figure14
METHODOLOGY..6
Figure2....6
RESULTS.....7
Figure3...8
Figure4,5...9
CONCLUSIONS...9
Acknowledgments...11
References11


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HISTORY/HYPOTHESIS
Pointeisaform
of
balletdancethatchallengesthedancertopushalltheway
ontoahardtipofapointeshoe.Thetipoftheshoeisflat,butforthedancertobeable
topushallthewayover,theymusthavestrongankles.Earlypointedancersare
normallyaroundtheageoftwelveandcontinuetheformthroughouthighschool.
AccordingtoastudydonebytheJournalofDanceMedicine,atotalof82%ofdancers
hadsufferedbetweenoneandseveninjuries.Mostinjuriesoccurredtothefootand
ankleofthedancers.Dancerelatedinjuriesamongchildrenandadolescentsincreased
37%between1991and2007,accordingtoanewstudyfromNationwideChildrens
Hospital.


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Growthplates,orepiphysealplatesarezonesofcartilagelocatedattheendof
everylongbonesuchasarms,legs,fingers,ortoes.Sincebonesonlygrowfrom
cartilage,thegrowthplateistheonlypartofthebonewheregrowingorlengtheningof
bonesoccur.Asyougetolderyourbodyexperienceschangesinhormonelevels,for
girlsthisoccursaroundtheagesfourteenthroughsixteenandforboysthisoccurs
aroundtheagessixteenthrougheighteen.Thechangesinhormonelevelscauseor
triggergrowthplatestotransformfromcartilageintobone.Whenthishappensina
personthissignalsthattheyvereachedtheirmature/adultheight,meaningthegrowth
platesareclosedandconsideredtobenonexistentbecauseoftransformationfrom
cartilagetobone.Thegrowthplateofachilddeterminesthefuturelengthandshapeof
thematurebone.

Thepurposeofthisprojectistodetermineifthereisacorrelationbetweenthe
growthplatedevelopmentandpointerelatedinjuries.Thehypothesisisthattherewill
beacorrelationbetweengrowthplatedevelopmentandpointerelatedinjuries.Itisalso
believesthattherewillbeahigherpercentageofinjureddancerswhosegrowthplates
arestillopeningandbeginningthetransformationfromcartilagetobone.Findingthis
relationshipwillaiddanceteachersinfindinganageinwhichdancersshouldbeableto
beginthisformofballetwithoutriskofinjury.


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METHODOLOGY

Theresearchbegantwoballetteachers,KatieSmoakandAnnaPorter,
expressedtheirviewpointonwhatagetheybelievethatdancersaretrulyreadyfor
pointe.Theballetteachersalsodescribedtheirhypothesisofgrowthplatecorrelationto
theinjuriesindancers.Tocontinuetheresearchadoctorisinterviewedonwhena
femalesgrowthplateisclosed/finishedgrowingandhowtalltheygrowintheyearprior.
AsurveyhasbeencreatedthatisthenbeturnedintoaQRcode.Fourpointeclasses,
twofromeachstudioinIrmo(TheDanceDept.andTheSouthernStrutt),willbeasked
toanonymouslytakethesurvey.Thenresultswillbeanalyzedfromthesurveyto
determineifthereisacorrelationbetweengrowthplatedevelopmentandankleinjury,
usingthedatatographthecorrelationbetweengrowthplatedevelopmentandankle
injuryusingaChiSquareTestofIndependence.Oncethedataisanalyzedanda


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conclusionisdrawn,theballetteacherswillbeinformedandthedatacouldbeusedin
choosingstudentsfortheirpointeclasses.
Theresultswilldocumentedandthesurveywasgivenouttotheparticipants
throughGoogleForms.ThedatafromthesurveywillbepluggedintotheChiSquare
TestofIndependence.TheChiSquareTestofIndependenceshowsclosedgrowth
plateinjury,open/stillgrowinggrowthplatenoinjury,closedgrowthplatenoinjury,
open/stillgrowinggrowthplateinjury,andtheirrespectivecorrelations.Whenthedatais
placedintothisqualitativetest,itwilldeterminewhetherornotthe

hypothesisiscorrect.

TESTRESULTS

Theresultscanbeacorrelationofanyofthefourvariablestestedabove.Ifthe
hypothesisiscorrect,itcanbeconcludedthatopen/stillgrowinggrowthplateshavea
directcorrelationtoankleinjuriesinyoungdancers,orthatopen/stillgrowinggrowth
plateshavenocorrelationwithyoungdancersankleinjuries.Initialpercentagesshow
aconnectionbetweenopen/stillgrowinggrowthplatesandahigherpercentageof
injuries,with17%girlswithankleinjuries,and60%ofthoseinjureddancersgrowth
plateswerenotclosedorfinishedgrowing.
AftertheparticipantssurveyresultsweresubmittedtoGoogleForms,testswere
runonthedata.Fiftysixresponseswerereceivedduringtheadministrationofthe
surveys.ThefirsttestrunwasaChiSquareTestofindependencetestingthetimeof
initialmenstruationandwhetherornotthestudentshadaninjuryduetopointe.


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Whenthistestwasrun,theresultscamewithachisquarevalueof1.11andapvalue
of.575.Thispvalueshowsthatthistestdidnotshowsignificantresultsanda
correlationcannotbefullydrawnfromthedata.Thetestprovesthedatainsignificant
becausethepvaluewasgreaterthan.50,consideredbyscientisttobeonthe
borderlineofstatisticalsignificance


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CONCLUSIONS

Resultswillberelayedtoballetteacherswhoteachandchoosestudentsfor
pointeclasses.Theamountofdevelopmentofafemalepointedancersgrowthplates
hasaminiscule,almostinsignificantconnectionwithinjureddancers.Althoughthere
wereprimarilyolderfemales(1518)surveyed,theresultsshowthatmorethanhalfof
theinjureddancerswerenotyetfullydeveloped,supportingtheearlierhypothesis.
Whenthetestswererun,averyhighpvalueshowedthatthedatacollectedwasnotas
significantastheinitialpercentages.Theinformationwillbeusedtoaidballetteachers
inthefuturechoosingofdancersfortheirpointeclassestocreatetheleastamountof
injurieswithintheirpointclass.Mostofthedancersinjuredobtainedopengrowthplates
thathavenotyetfinishedgrowingandarestilltransformingfromcartilagetobone.A


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lurkingvariablethatmayhaveplayedintothetestresultsastherewerenotasmany
injureddancersinattendancethedayofadministrationofthesurveys.Thismayhave
skewedthedataandcausedtheinsignificantresults.Thereisalsotheconclusionthat
growthplatesdonotactuallyplayintowhetherornotapointestudentisinjuredduring
theircareer.Furthermore,yearsonpointe,anklestrength,andathleticabilitieswillbe
testedtofindoutthetruereasondancersareinjuredinthesport.


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstwewouldliketothankourdanceteachersforallowingustoperformthesesurveysduring
theirclasstimeandforgivingusinsightonbackgroundofpointereadinessforgirlsagesof
1218years.WewouldalsoliketoextendourthankstoMrs.LisaMaylathwhohasalways
guidedusthroughtoughproblemsthatappearedduringresearch.

REFERENCES

Dancerelatedinjuriesamongkidsontherise:Study.(2013,February1).Retrieved
January5,2016
Dar,G.,Hershkovitz,I.,Masharawi,Y.,Peleg,S.,SievNer,I.,Steinberg,N.,&Zeev,A.
(2013).InjuriesinFemaleDancersAged8to16Years.RetrievedOctober14,2015.
Richardson,M.,Liederbach,M.,&Sandow,E.(2012,September1).FunctionalCriteria
forAssessingPointeReadiness.RetrievedSeptember16,2015.
Savendahl,L.(2005).HormonalRegulationofGrowthPlateCartilage.Retrieved
September22,2015.
Shah,S.(2009,November1).DeterminingaYoungDancer'sReadinessforDancingon
Pointe:CurrentSportsMedicineReports.RetrievedDecember8,2015,from
http://journals.lww.com/acsmcsmr/Abstract/2009/11000/Determining_a_Young_Dancer
_s_Readiness_for_Dancing.8.aspx
Steinberg,N.,SievNer,I.,Peleg,S.,Dar,G.,Masharawi,Y.,Zeev,A.,&Hershkovitz,I.
(2010,November1).Injurypatternsinyoung,nonprofessionaldancers.Retrieved
December8,2015,from
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02640414.2010.521167
Warren,M.,Gunn,J.,Hamilton,L.,Warren,L.,&Hamilton,W.(1986).Scoliosisand
FracturesinYoungBalletDancers.NewEnglandJournalofMedicineNEnglJMed,
13481353.RetrievedSeptember28,2015
Weiss,D.(2008,February1).EZine.RetrievedSeptember16,2015.


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