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To determine the prevalence of the 3 components of the female athlete triad [disordered eating, menstrual dysfunction, low bone mineral density (BMD)] and their relationships with brachial artery flow-mediated dilation in professional dancers.Prospective study.Academic institution in the Midwest.Twenty-two professional ballet dancers volunteered for this study.The prevalence of the female athlete triad and its relationship to endothelial dysfunction.Subjects completed questionnaires to assess disordered eating and menstrual status/history. They also completed a 3-day food record and wore an accelerometer for 3 days to determine energy availability. Serum baseline thyrotropin, prolactin, and hormonal concentrations were obtained. Bone mineral density and body composition were measured with a GE Lunar Prodigy dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Endothelial function was determined as flow-mediated vasodilation measured by high-frequency ultrasound in the brachial artery. An increase in brachial diameter5% to hyperemic flow stimulus was defined a priori as endothelial dysfunction.Seventeen dancers (77%) had evidence of low/negative energy availability. Thirty-two percent had disordered eating (EDE-Q score). Thirty-six percent had menstrual dysfunction and 14% were currently using hormone contraception. Twenty-three percent had evidence of low bone density (Z-score-1.0). Sixty-four percent had abnormal brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (5%). Flow-mediated dilation values were significantly correlated with serum estrogen and whole-body and lumbar BMD. All the 3 components of the triad plus endothelial dysfunction were present in 14% of the subjects.Endothelial dysfunction was correlated with reduced BMD, menstrual dysfunction, and low serum estrogen. These findings may have profound implications for cardiovascular and bone health in professional women dancers.

Objective To determine the type of Irish dance injuries requiring evaluation and treatment by a sports medicine physician. Design Cross-sectional retrospective chart review. Setting Academic sports medicine center in the Midwest. Participants Female Irish dancers who presented at an academic sports medicine center from June 2002 to September 2009. Main Outcome Measures This was a retrospective chart review identifying injuries sustained to female Irish dancers in a single Irish dance company in a major metropolitan area. Dancers were evaluated and injuries were diagnosed by one sports medicine physician at an academic sports medicine center. Results Sixty-nine female Irish dancers, ages 8 to 23 years, sustained 217 recorded injuries. The top injuries included stress fractures (29.9%), patellofemoral pain syndrome (11.1%), Sever condition (6.0%), ankle sprains (5.1%), posterior tibialis tendonitis (4.6%), and plantar fasciitis (4.6%). The most common site for stress fractures were the sesamoids, comprising 27.7% of all stress fractures and 8.3% of total injuries. The majority of injuries were in the lower extremities (94.9%), remaining injuries involved the lumbosacral spine and pelvis (5.1%). Most dancers (79.7%) had multiple injuries. The number of injuries per dancer increased as the dancer's level increased. There was a trend for the average age of the dancers to decrease as the level of skill increased. Conclusion Lower extremity injuries comprised the majority of Irish dance injuries. Stress fractures (29.9%), patellofemoral pain syndrome (11.1%), and Sever condition (6.0%) were the most common injuries.