Objectives: Professional dancers suffer significant musculoskeletal injuries during the course of their careers. Treatment-seeking behaviour is important in all patient populations, yet is rarely investigated amongst professional dancers. This qualitative study aimed to form a better understanding of how dancers decide to seek treatment, and in particular to explore their experiences of receiving osteopathic care for their injuries.

Methods: A qualitative study design using grounded theory was used as a methodological framework for data collection and analysis. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore professional dancers' experience of injury and decision-making to seek professional healthcare.

Results: Five themes were constructed that explain and describe dancers' experience of injuries and their views and perspectives of treatment, these were; the growing dancer, the fear factor, learning to cope, effective treatment, and returning autonomy.

Conclusion: The personal development of each dancer consisted of an amalgam of internal and external pressures. These pressures combine with experiences of pain and injury to influence a dancer's decision-making behaviour when injured and deciding to seek treatment. The study also provide factors relevant in the effective treatment of dancers, and outlined participants' preference for a global physical approach to assessment and treatment of their musculoskeletal pain.