Doing flips on your head while breakdancing can cause a protrusion to form on the top of your head.
- Doctors warn against the repeated practice of headspin. This is a breakdance move that involves spinning on your head.
- They report that a breakdancer developed a tumor at the top of his skull from this movement.
- Analyzes showed that it was benign.
If the performances of breakdancers at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games have given you an irrepressible desire to learn this style of dance, be careful. Doctors reveal that the famous movement called “Headspin” can cause significant damage to the scalp.
They issued this warning after treating a breakdancing enthusiast who developed a benign tumor at the top of the skull. His case was presented in the journal BMJ Case Reports on October 10, 2024.
Repeated headspin: tumors on the skull caused by friction
The frequency of injuries is higher with breakdancing than with other types of dance. If I ask you to list the most common ones, you will rightly cite fractures and sprains of the wrists, cervical spine injuries and even scratches. But there is also a disorder less known to the general public called “headspin hole” caused by the regular practice of headspins.
This disorder, resulting from rubbing the head on the ground, is characterized by a fibrous mass on the scalp, hair loss and tenderness at the top of the skull. Doctors at Copenhagen University Hospital report observing this condition in a breakdancer in his thirties who had spent the last 5 years perfecting this dance move.
The MRI revealed that the protrusion consisted of subgaleal fibrosis (i.e. a hematoma between the skull and scalp) and subcutaneous thickening.
Breakdance: an operation to treat headspin hole
Doctors performed surgical removal of the dancer’s tumor. In addition to an aesthetic improvement in the shape of the skull, the patient assured that his pain was relieved.
“Histological analysis showed extensive fibrosis without malignancy. Postoperative follow-up indicated high patient satisfaction and significant mass reduction.”add the authors in their article.
The scientists point out that this case highlights “the importance of recognizing chronic scalp conditions in breakdancers and suggests that surgical intervention may be an effective treatment”.
