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“HEALTHY
CULTURE NEEDS HEALTHY ARTISTS” SAYS NEW SOCIETY
Story by Dr Mark Seton and Dr Paul Duff
from left to right: Dr. Steven Miller, Dr.
Bronwen Ackermann, Dr. Paul Duff,
Dr. John Hadok, Dr. Mark Seton, Dr. Jonathan
Levesey, Ms. Diana Devitt-Dawson,
Dr. Peter Bragge, Dr. Debra Shirley, Ms. Jan
Cullis, Dr. Dwight Dowda
An exciting new health organization has been
launched to promote better health management for performing artists.
The Australian Society for Performing Arts Healthcare (ASPAH) (www.aspah.org.au)
brings together health professionals, educators and performing artists to
address the healthcare needs of Australian performing artists. Their aim is
to establish a culture of lifelong preventative healthcare and safety
practices in the performing arts.
Its inaugural president, Dr. Bronwen
Ackermann, believes that this is a desperately needed initiative in the
performing arts sector. "There are studies which suggest that acute and chronic injury rates for
professional dancers run at over 50%." she said. "Other studies have
suggested similar injury rates in professional musicians and even amongst
dance and music students.”1-3,4,5
Dr Ackermann went on to say, "A 50% injury rate for a professional sports
team would be front page news in Australia. Professional athletes have teams
of health workers, and even a specialist national institute, which recognise
the importance of good health in optimising performance. This is not true
for performing artists.We need to bring about a cultural change in the
performing arts so that health concerns are not held in complete disregard
because ‘the show must go on!"
The Australian Society for Performing Arts Health Care was formed in Sydney
on the 25th of November 2006. Eleven health and performing arts
professionals met to discuss their shared vision for the future of
healthcare for performing artists in Australia. The meeting was triggered by
an attempt to hold a performing arts medicine symposium in Mackay,
Queensland in August 2006, as part of the Regional Arts Conference "Pacific
Edge." The symposium didn’t eventuate, but the enthusiasm and momentum from
that effort continued, and stimulated the formation of ASPAH. In the wake of
the Mackay Symposium, one of its co-conveners and most of the keynote
speakers, recognising the need for a coordinating body to support healthcare
for the performing arts, decided to keep moving forward. They were inspired
by a number of international bodies, in particular the Performing Arts
Medicine Association based in the USA, and became determined to establish a
uniquely Australian organisation.
"All performers, young and old, amateur and professional, have unique
healthcare needs,” said Dr. Ackermann. "Young dancers with stress fractures,
musicians with hand injuries, or actors with performance anxiety issues have
problems which are often not answered by standard models of health care.We believe that if Australia values its rich culture of performing arts
then it must start looking after its performing artists - ASPAH plans to
make this happen," said Dr Ackermann.
All enquiries to Dr Bronwen Ackermann at
B.Ackermann@usyd.edu.au
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References:
1.
Geeves, T; SAFE DANCE I. Published by
Ausdance, 1990
2.
Bejjani, F. J., Kaye, G. M., and Benham, M.
1996. Musculoskeletal and neuromuscular conditions of instrumental
musicians. Arch. Phys. Med. Rehab. 77: 406–413.
3.
Christine Zaza, PhD; Playing-related
musculoskeletal disorders in musicians: a systematic review of incidence and
prevalence CMAJ • APR. 21, 1998; 158 (8) 1019-1025
4.
Geeves, T; SAFE DANCE II – A study of
pre-professional dance training in Australia, Published by Ausdance, 1997.
5.
Fry HJH, Rowley GL. Music related upper limb
pain in schoolchildren. Ann Rheum Dis 1989;48:998-1002. |
