EDD’s monthly newsletter designed to
share our 29 years of EXPERTISE, ADVICE
and RESOURCES with dancers &
parents of ALL ages!

PROTIP # 12

CELEBRATING OUR ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

EDD is committed to bringing our knowledge, advice, and expertise to our dance community!

CHRONIC and LONG TERM INJURIES

How to deal with them and how to prevent them

What caused your chronic injury?

"My personal experience with chronic injury is a series of pinched nerves in my pelvis. As I was growing up dancing, I overused the right side of my body. In my break dancing classes I mainly focused on strengthening my freezes and power moves using my right arm and obliques. On the other hand, in jazz and ballet, I favored my right leg; always working on leaps pushing off my right leg, and increasing flexibility for my battements and extensions with my right leg. These little actions I did 5-8 years ago have shaped my body’s alignment today.”

What were the repercussions of those actions?

“My right leg developed longer than my left, so my pelvis is lifted on the right side. My obliques on my right side have tightened so much that my right shoulder has dropped toward my hip. Since my spine is now curved to the right, it has caused a lot of pressure on the lowest disc in my spine (the connection point from my spine to my pelvis). Because of the compression, my sacrum often shifts out of place and the nerves have a smaller pathway to travel through. As a result, the past three years I have been battling mild to severe pain throughout my pelvis and the front of my right hip.”

Here are some easy guidelines to follow to avoid chronic injuries.

HOW TO AVOID:

• Properly warm up

  • When you’re young, your body is quite malleable. You might not feel the pain of a joint or muscle that hasn’t been properly warmed up. If you don’t safely warm up before executing strenuous movements (or anything that requires your full range of motion), it will slowly wear down the joint or muscle. 

• Strengthen both sides equally

  • In the day and age of competition dance, you may be rehearsing something on one side multiple times a week for an entire year. On your own time, make sure you are taking the time to strengthen the opposite side!

• Stretch both sides equally

  • Social media can make it seem like we are behind when it comes to flexibility. People post crazy things they can do with their bodies! Just remember (1) don’t stretch past your limits and (2) STRETCH BOTH SIDES. A healthy body is more important than an impressive social media post!

• Listen to your body and modify when needed

  • Everyone’s bodies are different. If an instructor asks you to do something that you feel is outside your range of motion, or you’re having trouble doing it safely/correctly, don’t be afraid to ask to MODIFY! Modifications might seem defeating in the moment, but listening to your body’s limits is very important to avoid long-term injuries.

• Make a routine for preventative exercises

  • Ask an instructor or look up exercises online for triggering areas like your pelvis, knees, and ankles. As dancers, these joints get overused every day, and to prevent injuries, it is important to work on stabilizing exercises. Try to make them into a routine either before or after class and you’ll be surprised how much of a difference it will make!

In the end, it is important to focus on how your body feels and not how it looks on the outside. We want to continually push ourselves as movers, but we need to remember that our bodies are our instruments and we need to take care of them!

Missed out on the last few ProTips? No worries! Look back on past ProTips at anytime here!