This document discusses implementing an injury prevention program for a dance school called Propel Dance. It conducted surveys and focus groups (though focus groups did not provide enough data) with students, parents and teachers to understand dance injuries. The findings showed that current injuries led to missed classes and were often preventable. Injured dancers experienced negative emotions. Schools provided limited support for injuries. Based on this, the document concludes regular conditioning, additional student/teacher education on injury prevention, partnerships with health professionals, and teacher training on injury assessment would benefit dancers. It discusses recommendations and organizational implications of implementing an injury prevention program.

1. Running Head: INJURY PREVENTION
PROGRAM IMPACT ON CURRICULUM
!
THE EFFECTS AN INJURY PREVENTION PROGRAM WILL HAVE ON CURRICULUM
OF YOUTH DANCERS
By
ARAN LEWIS
An Organizational Leadership Project Report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
MASTERS OF ARTS
In
LEADERSHIP (Health Cohort)
We accept this Report as conforming to the required standard
ROYAL ROADS UNIVERSITY
August 2015
Aran Lewis, 2015
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Port Moody, BC V3H 2B6 (c) 2015 www.propeldance.com

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Founded in January 2015 by Aran Lewis and Isabella Flores, Propel Dance Inc. (Propel
Dance) offers professional, competitive, and recreational dance programs for people of all ages.
It is Propel Dance’s vision to build a nurturing dance community where individuals and groups
can come to learn and experience the art of dance as well as a place where they can express
themselves through music and movement. Propel Dance’s mission is to promote health and
wellness, and to guide the development of personal and professional confidence, knowledge, and
self-awareness through the study of dance.
At the beginning of this capstone project, Isabella identified that the dance industry was
stagnant, in that the majority of new and experienced schools weren’t offering any unique
programming to their students. She also recognized that over the last 5 years, the number of
quality dancers, graduating from what would be top quality schools, was few and far between.
During her four years at Simon Fraser University, anecdotal data showed that a number of
talented dancers did not move on with dance because schools did not have resources available to
dancers to prevent or help promote recovery from injury. Isabella realized then that injury
prevention was an area of dance that needed to be developed. Over the last seven months, talk
about injury prevention has increased, and stakeholders within this community have recognized
its importance, as well as the complexity of its development.
For this inquiry project, two qualitative action research methods were used. First,
surveys were a single method that was used to create the data that would later populate what
Coghlan & Brannick (2010) call the “Look” part of the action research spiral. FluidSurveys
was chosen because of its ease of access to the target participant population, as well as its ability
to streamline the data collection process. Because of the size and geographically dispersed
participant population, it was recommended that a “computer assisted… research [tool]” (Palys
& Atchison, 2008, p. 166) be used to conduct the surveys. Focus groups were chosen as
secondary method because of its ability to provide insight to the motivation and behaviours of
participants (Morgan & Kruger as cited in Morgan, 1996). The intent was to use Focus Groups
as a secondary data collection method. However, due to insufficient participation, it was
impossible to do so. We still believe this would be a good data collection method, moving
forward.
These two methods were applied to explore the inquiry question: What components of an
injury prevention program would reduce overall dance injuries in youth dancers age twelve to
eighteen years old? This overarching question was supported by the following sub-questions:
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3. INJURY PREVENTION PROGRAM
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• What injury prevention programs are currently available to youth dancers aged twelve
to eighteen years old?
• What psychosocial issues increase the chance of injury in youth dancers?
• What components of the current dance program might contribute to a dancer’s chance
of injury?
The effects that an injury prevention program will have on youth dancers are important to
investigate because it can provide a safety net for parents when their children’s training starts to
become more rigorous and intense. Organizationally, this is not a significant change for Propel
Dance. However, this inquiry has potential to have significant impact on the industry of dance.
By working together with policy makers at other dance schools, and competition owners, an
effective framework for enhancing the dancers’ health and well-being, as well as safety nets
while training, can be created and implemented to the benefit of all dancers (Bodilly, Chun,
Ikemoto, & Stockly, 2004; as seen in Adelman & Taylor, 2007). In the end, studying the effects
of an injury prevention program will give a better understanding around what we need in order to
develop sustainably safe curriculum for youth dancers.
In the literature review, we examine three topics relevant to the inquiry of promoting safe
training in dance education for students aged twelve to eighteen years: Injury prevention
programs, nutritional and psychosocial practices, and organizational change. The first topic
examined the use of injury prevention programs to supplement dance training and encourage
faster and more efficient progress in the students. The second topic explored the importance of
nutritional and psychosocial practices that are necessary in the success of young dancers, and
what dance educators can do to encourage these practices. The third topic explored how
implementing an injury program in a dance school will affect the institution’s curriculum, staff,
and clients, while investigating the problems that could occur with such a significant change and
what can be done to avoid them.
After a review of the literature it was clear that there is a definite benefit to including an
injury prevention program into the curriculum of youth dancers. The literature showed that
specific knowledge is required when implementing an injury prevention program because
“dance-related injuries have distinct injury patterns” (Hernandez & Hernandez, 2013, p.6).
Finally, during the recovery phase of an injured dancer, ‘specialized dance health care’ such as
physiotherapists, nutritionists, or other such medical professionals would be required to properly
aid in the recovery process (Russell, 2013).
For this inquiry I was an outside researcher and therefore had no power over any of the
participants. All members of the inquiry team were external to any of the potential participants,
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again reducing the risk of having a power over them, or other conflicts of interest. In the
research findings section of this paper I presented the following five research findings:
1. All reported injuries led to time lost by missed dance classes
2. The majority of injuries were preventable
3. Injuries resulted in students experiencing anger and anxiety regarding their limitations
4. Limited resources were available from dance schools.
Following this, I developed conclusions that were an outcome of the findings, the
reviewed literature, and my knowledge of the business context. Finally, I described the
limitations to the inquiry that I identified as the findings and conclusions developed.
The findings described a number of the participants’ concerns regarding their children’s
well-being. However, my goal is to organize these concerns into constructive outcomes that can
lead to dance educators taking action in addressing these concerns. There are three study
conclusions based on the analysis of the findings, sponsor consultation and reviewed literature:
1. Regular conditioning classes are in high demand,
2. Dancers and their families are in need of a wider range of support from their dance
schools, and
3. Injury prevention education would be beneficial for all members of the dance school.
Four study recommendations were developed based on the above conclusions and the
reviewed literature. They include:
1. Add a mandatory strength and conditioning class to curriculum that is appropriate for
dancers’ physical development
2. Additional classes to educate students on injury prevention and proper self-care.
3. Partnerships with medical health professionals
4. Education for teachers on assessing injury risks in students.
Upon providing the above recommendations to my sponsor I explored the organizational
implications required to implement the study recommendations, as well as the implications if the
recommendations are not implemented. The data showed that talk about injury prevention has
increased, and stakeholders within this community have recognized its importance, as well as the
complexity in its development. This appears to be a tipping point for parents when choosing a
dance school. Gladwell (2008) explained that a tipping point is a point where an idea trend, or
social behaviour crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. In the case of these
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stakeholders, there appears to be a change of thinking over what is important when looking for a
dance studio.
Finally, when examining change, one needs to understand that by taking a learning in
action approach, as discussed by Baker (2003), McDaniel (2007) Roberts & Coghlan (2011),
Senge (2006), Short (1998), and Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder (2002) it will aid in the
transition of running change projects over multiple departments and/or organizations, or in this
case, the industry of dance. It is also important to create an environment where an exchange of
ideas and open dialogue can take place. Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, and Switzler (2012)
referred to this as a space for crucial conversation. When investigating how implementing an
injury prevention program into the curriculum for youth dancers, it was important to take
advantage of the learning in action processes, not only because I was unaware how curriculum
and staff interacted, but also because I was not familiar with the culture or traditions within this
industry.
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