A Dancer’s Dilemma

With all the dancing shows on television these days (So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing With the Stars, Breaking Pointe) dancers have been able to show their art form and athletic ability to the public.  It was once thought that dancers were not athletes; instead they were merely performers on stage.  But when SYTYCD teamed up with Gatorade and their Performance Lab it showed the true athleticism of dancers, equating them with football players and other “typical” athletes.

With that being said, dancers, just like every other athlete, push their bodies to the extremes and get injured.   Most will push through and not mention a thing because they don’t want an injury to hurt their chances of a certain role or be the end of their career (especially professional dancers).  However, when dancers don’t acknowledge and/or treat their injury properly they are at greater risk for more problems in the future.  Because dancers have a great awareness of their own bodies they will tend to compensate in rehearsal by avoiding the area that hurts and use other muscles and joints instead.  If this goes on long enough chronic overuse or fatigue problems will set up muscle imbalances.  This can lead to improper muscle use in turns, leaps, and developpees setting the dancer up for more injuries in the future.

As a former dancer myself I know that I rarely sought out care for an injury, but looking back on my dancing years I wish that I would’ve.  Could I have prevented some of the low back and hip pain that I have now as a 28 year old?  Most likely.  The key is to not think of getting care or treatment for a problem or maintenance as a bad thing!  It is a smart option!  It’s like getting the alignment on your car checked every now and then.  If something is out of balance the car tires will wear unevenly.  

If your body is out of alignment or you are using the improper muscles you are going to create other imbalances and hurt yourself in the long run.   

In order to keep your dancing body (or any athlete for that matter) in top performance shape it’s essential that you take care of your body in all the ways you can.  That includes eating right, sleeping well, having body work done, and taking time for yourself.

Any Questions!?

Dr. Darcee Schmidt

www.drleechiro.com