The UCSF Dance Medicine Center recognizes dancers as world-class athletes who must endure extreme physical demands and warrant specialty care for their unique physiques and lifestyles.
Professional dancers spend up to eight hours a day performing at a level of intensity that often takes its toll in the form of chronic injury. Professional ballet companies report an annual injury rate of 67 to 95 percent. Many of these injuries are serious enough to take dancers off the stage for six months to a year or end their career altogether.
We understand that a dancers' body is their instrument and work with you to develop a treatment plan that, when possible, allows you to continue dancing without further aggravating or causing injury.
Our center is located in the UCSF Mission Bay Orthopedic Institute and offers a weekly screening and education clinic. We provide injury and technique evaluation, musculoskeletal screening and treatment and education. Rather than a clinical office setting, dancers are evaluated in the UCSF Human Performance Lab, which has a suspended dance floor, balance bar and high-tech motion capture system.
Our team of experts includes a physical therapist, podiatrist and an orthopedic surgeon who have backgrounds in professional dance. The center is open to dancers of all ages, levels and techniques. We are sponsored by the Mount Zion Health Fund.
Dr. Nancy Kadel, an orthopedic surgeon and former professional dancer, discuss how treating the early signs of stress and strain can prevent debilitating injuries. listen to the discussion