Breaking out your dance moves can be an electrifying experience – the rhythm, the sweat, the adrenaline. Breakdancing, with its vibrant and remarkable dance styles, captures imaginations and fills hearts with passion. However, with great exhilaration comes significantly great risks; instances of sprains, hair loss, and considerable damage to body parts have been seen. Today, we delve into an alarming concern that is ringing alarm bells in the breakdancing world.
In a whirl of spins, flips, and flows, breakdancing stirs excitement but also paves the way for high-risk injuries. Not many know that constantly spinning on their heads could lead to developing a noticeable lump atop their head. This unexpected development has been flagged as a potential hazard in a medical case report featuring a man in his thirties in Denmark.
An accomplished breakdancer, the individual underwent intensive breakdancing practice up to five times a week for almost two decades. In course of his training journey, the man manifested an apparent protrusion on his head, later acknowledged as a ‘headspin hole’ or ‘breakdance bulge’. Essentially, doctors determined this to be an overuse injury occurring due to regular headspins.
As reported by the physicians at Copenhagen university hospital who treated him, the man’s usual training comprised roughly five sessions per week, each spanning about 90 minutes. These sessions involved sustained direct pressure being applied on the top of the head, ranging from two to seven minutes each time. In the half a decade leading up to the treatment of his lump, there had been a noticeable increase in its size, which eventually became sore.
While the bump did not impediment his head-spinning endeavors, the presence of the clinically termed ‘lesion’ posed an aesthetic displeasure to the patient. Initially, the medical team catered to various prognosis, including the possibility of the bump being a benign tumor or even cancerous. However, an MRI scan revealed it to be a ‘subgaleal mass’, essentially a mass under the galea, a layer beneath the skin on the top of the head.
The man, worn out by the constant need to shield his lump by wearing a cap or hat, opted to undergo surgery for its removal rather than relying on steroid injections, which might have helped in reducing it. His contented reflection of successfully achieving a more normally-shaped head was shared, where he expressed joy about being able to appear in public without a cap or hat.
He commended the improved overall appearance and the compliment he got about having a neat surgical scar. It is unclear whether he resumed his head-spin spinning routine five times a week post-surgery. Regardless, it is a cautionary tale to all breakdancers about the potential downside of Monday headspins.
The case highlighted here underscores how even recreational activities followed intensively can lead to severe physical repercussions, alerting fitness enthusiasts to stay aware of the importance of not overdoing specific exercises. Despite the scare, the popularity of breakdancing remains unabated, with its pulsating rhythms continuing to be a potent lure for young and old alike.
