For the first time, street dancers from 15 nations, along with a woman representing the Refugee Olympic Team, will compete for gold, silver, and bronze medals as breaking is introduced at the 2024 Paris Olympics. This dance form, which originated in the Bronx, has come a long way. The impressive and complex movements that were once exclusive to playgrounds and block parties will now captivate a global audience.
If you’re new to watching breaking, you might be amazed that people can perform these moves without injury. As someone who has been a dancer, is now a physical therapist for performing artists, and a biomechanics researcher, I investigate how dancers twist and bend their bodies in unexpected ways. I train them to safely push their physical limits. Breakdancers, known as B-boys, B-girls, or breakers, must not only invent creative moves but also build incredible strength and body control to execute them. One of the challenging moves is the headspin. Breaking, a form of street dance developed in the 1960s and 1970s, draws inspiration from hip-hop, martial arts, and gymnastics.
At the Olympics, two competitors will face off in improvised battles, taking turns trying to outdo each other with their best moves and style. Judges will score based on five criteria: originality, technique, musicality, execution, and vocabulary, which refers to the variety of moves used. This judging system is somewhat similar to gymnastics or figure skating, but because of the exchanges between the two competitors, breaking involves more improvisation. Battles demand athletes to be highly adaptable, requiring them to respond on the spot to their opponents.
Those with diverse and robust training protocols are more likely to achieve high scores and avoid injury. The headspin requires strong neck muscles and may leave onlookers questioning how breakers can spin on their heads, supporting their body weight without injuring themselves. While research on the specifics of headspins is limited, a spinning top offers insight into how this remarkable move is accomplished. A spinning object maintains its rotation due to the conservation of angular momentum. When spinning around a vertical axis, gravity does not interfere, but once friction slows or the object begins to wobble, gravity can cause it to topple.
To execute a headspin, breakers need to spin quickly and keep their torsos rigid. Maintaining a consistent spin involves balancing the torso vertically on the head and stiffening neck muscles to support it while avoiding undue bending or straining. Breakers can adjust the spin speed by moving their arms and legs toward or away from the rotational center, and they can also control speed by moving their arms. As a breaker spins, the rotational forces can lessen the pressure on the head, allowing some sliding and shifting on the floor. Elite B-boys and B-girls make headspinning appear effortless, but it places significant stress on the neck and carries injury risks.
Research has shown breakers don’t have more neck flexibility than others, but they do possess significantly more neck strength in all directions, essential for performing a headspin. Another study found that nearly half of breakers experience neck pain and strains. There’s even a term for a spinal cord injury from neck strain due to breaking, first described in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1985, called “break-dancing neck.”