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BALLET
 WITH OVER 600 MUSCLES, 206 bones and countless nerves, ligaments, and tendons in the body, it's almost impossible for dancers to escape getting injured. Acute injuries, such as a sudden sprain or muscle pull, seem to happen out of the blue. One minute you're dancing, the next minute you've hit the floor. Chronic problems, like tendonitis, develop from repetitive stress over time. The dance community is paying more attention, with companies like New York City Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre providing cross-training, pre-season screenings, and educational seminars to reduce injuries. In today's fast-paced, competitive world of dance, the new catch phrase is injury prevention. Though there are many types of injuries, some are more common among dancers than others.
5 MOST COMMON DANCING INJURIES INCLUDE:
- Ankle Sprains – see ankle injuries
- Knee Injuries – see knee pain and injuries
- These include meniscal and cartilage tears
- This may be found in dancers with limited hip rotation and therefore the dancer twists at the knee to improve turnout placing them at increased risk of meniscal damage
- Choreography that involves deep squats or sudden grand plies can also damage the cartilage of the knee
- Hamstring Injuries
- Dancers use the hamstring in almost every movement of the lower body, making it easy to overload. Tightness is the main cause of these injuries, although there are usually other factors include structural asymmetries, like a crooked pelvis, stiffness in the lumbar spine and muscle strength imbalances. Many young dancers experience these imbalances during growth spurts, when they temporarily lose flexibility, strength, and balance.
- Hip Injuries
- Some dancers are born with perfect turnout--the envy of every ballet dancer. But in some instances this large degree of rotation may be due to shallow hip sockets (acetabular dysplasia), which the body attempts to stabilise with a very large acetabular labrum--the supporting rim of hip cartilage. This is good when you are young, but as you get older, symptomatic labral tears may represent the first step toward degenerative arthritis and, perhaps, even a hip replacement.
- Relative rest is indicated for this type of pain along with strengthening exercises. It is useful to avoid turnout and stay away from anti-inflammatory drugs which could mask the pain.
- Back Injuries – see Back Pain
- The most common problem is when the dancer says 'My back is out!' from joint fixation." Simply put, the back freezes up, causing a localised aching pain over a specific joint that limits movement (rather than nerve pain that radiates down an arm or a leg from a ruptured or degenerative disc.) While it's hard to pinpoint the reason, possible causes for back problems include: fatigue; hypermobility (where you can wrap your legs around your head); scoliosis; leg length inequalities; and emotional stress. The most severe cases involve intense spasms in which the muscles contract to protect the joint.
- Physiotherapy treatment will help to unlock the joint, help it to move correctly, reduce pain, muscle spasm and inflammation and take you through a graduated exercise program that will involve stretching, core-stability exercises and movement re-training.
- To prevent recurrence of this problem, clinical pilates has been shown to be very effective.
While dance injuries are a fact of life, there is a lot you can do to reduce their severity. These treatments include decreasing fatigue, backing off during growth spurts, getting a correct diagnosis, and rehabilitating residual problems to prevent re-injury. Your body will thank you!
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