Researchers in Fort Worth are studying female ballet dancer health

Ballet is a performance art that takes dedication, and sometimes sacrifice, to get to the professional level. Researchers in the Performing Arts Medicine Clinic at UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth are studying why sometimes that sacrifice comes at the expense of health.

“Specifically bone health,” UNT Health Science Center Performing Arts Medicine Fellowship Director Dr. Yein Lee said. “From a sports medicine perspective or other medical perspective, we see it a lot in the clinic.”

“As I was doing this fellowship, I saw a lot of dancers with stress injuries and stress fractures,” Performing Arts Medicine Fellow Dr. Stephen Fung, DO said. “My question was, why?”

So Fung, a former Dancesport competitive dancer with a B.A. in Dance from UC San Diego, launched a study to find the risk factors and solutions.

“It’s important to concentrate on women,” Fung said. “Because men and women are different biologically.”

Traditionally, women ballet dancers needed to be strong, but not look too muscular.

“At the pre-professional stage, they’re very cognizant of how they look, the aesthetics,” Fung said. “And so they do whatever they can. That can come in the form of body dysmorphia and eating disorders, limiting their calories.”

“You know, not every dancer experiences an eating disorder,” Bethany Bailey said. “But it’s prevalent enough to where lots of dance departments are taking steps to fight that mentality.”

Bailey studies dance at TCU and teaches as well. She’s been in ballet most of her life.

“My mom put me in dance at 3 years old,” Bailey said. “It’s a beautiful thing to experience and it’s a beautiful thing to bring into every part of life.”

“I think there’s already a huge cultural change in the dancer world, talking about health and wellness in general,” Lee said. “We just want to be a helper.”

One of the research goals is to have a self-assessment checklist that women ballet dancers can use to see their risk factors. It could be applied more broadly to female athletes, too.

“To keep them healthy as they dance and they can enjoy doing what they want to do,” Fung said. “And everyone’s happy!”