Dancers from various disciplines face their own unique challenges and although trauma does present occasionally, the vast majority of dance injuries will be related to overuse conditions mainly affecting the lower limb, foot, hips and lumbar spine.
Ballet dancers will place unnatural stresses and strains on the complex joints of the ankle and foot.
Contemporary dancers Hip Hop dancers and cheerleaders often employ gymnastic techniques.
Ballroom dancers face tight postural techniques and stresses to the foot.
Irish / Scottish / folk dancers are susceptible to knee problems and conditions associated with constantly landing on one part of the foot.
Tap dancers – Dancing on unforgiving, slippery or sticky floors can result in some nasty muscle and tendon strains
Like many sports people, dancers begin at a very young age and the demands placed on a growing body can have unhappy consequences which show up later in life.
The young dancers’ body is susceptible to serious injury when “En pointe” and “Turnout” techniques are employed to early.
Stress fractures are common in the very young and older dancer with ligament, tendon and other soft tissue injuries being the most common.
Dancers are regularly exposed to gruelling training, rehearsals and performance schedules, sometimes in less than ideal environments, enduring cold dance studios and hard floors.
They may face a great amount of pressure from over enthusiastic parents and coaches to push themselves beyond a safe level of training. A common misconception is that more equals better but like any athlete the quality of training is more important than the quantity.
Previous injuries, biomechanics and nutritional deficiencies can all play a factor in the risk of injury and rehabilitation time.
The Sportsphysio.com Performing Arts Clinic aims to return you to full performance fitness as soon as possible, assess dancers’ biomechanics and suitability to extreme techniques.
contact us on 01228 586236