Conditioning & Cross Training for Dancers Injuries
To dancers and other athletes, an injury is more than just a physical occurrence. To dancers and other athletes, an injury affects more than just a muscle, ligament, bone or connective tissue. Though not technically an injury, even a blister can cancel a performance. Most of the time we 'dance through the pain' in a mind-over-matter mode, later wondering what we did to deserve this. From Day One in dance class, we work for mastery over and control of the body. How dare it betray us with an injury? We love to think of dance and dancers as near perfect human specimens resulting from near perfect training, but the truth is much harsher than that. We arrive in the world with imperfect genes and imbalances throughout the body. Those weaknesses are magnified by poor training and inefficient movement patterns.
Treating an injury is no longer a matter of staying off of it for six weeks. There is hope. The New York City Ballet Education Department offers a "Dance for Wellness Day" each September. The Harkness Dance Clinic treats dancers on a sliding scale, turning away no one. More and more companies and schools screen dancers and students, helping them avoid injuries by evaluation and conditioning. As Dr. William Hamilton said of his work with the New York City Ballet dancers, "We take the best and make them better." A site in Sydney, Australia site www.dancephysio.com (www.purnelldanceacademy.com/dancersclinic) is one of many now offering online help:
"Q: Will you tell me to stop dancing if I have my injury treated at The Dancer's Clinic?
A: It depends on the severity of the injury, however very few injuries require complete rest from dancing. As we have a thorough understanding of dance technique, we can advise you on exactly what steps to avoid to allow your injury to heal. We realise how quickly you lose your strength, flexibility and co-ordination if you cease dancing, so we aim to allow you to continue with some aspects of training while your injury recovers as well as prescribe exercises to maintain your fitness during the recovery period if necessary. "
Recovery is possible and becoming more and more probable. Bebe Neuwirth is back on Broadway in "Chicago," this time as Roxie Hart, performing with a hip replacement - just one example of many success stories now. Injuries are no longer career-ending monsters.
Jan Griscom is an elite personal trainer at the Chelsea Piers in New York, and is a regular speaker and teacher in "Cross Training and Conditioning for Dancers" at the annual New York City Ballet Dance for Wellness Workshop, hosted by the Company's Education Department. She facilitates a session that helps professional performers, teachers, and students avoid and/or rehabilitate from injuries that could prematurely shorten a dancer's career. She joins Dancer as a writer in this series, offering these words for dancers. "Hard work will help, but only so much. It is talent versus the body's limits." One of her goals in working with dancers is "how to help the structure hold together longer" so dancers can perform longer. "You need to rethink your motivation for pursuing this career. At what price to your health and well-being have you chosen it? Is the price I am going to pay physically worth the journey? You, your parents and your teachers need to look at what you are. Most teachers would agree that by a very early point in a dancer's life, those who are headed toward the stage evidence themselves. This is not to say that one should only pursue dance if there is the opportunity to perform, however ways in which one might protect the vehicle that must last for a lifetime, would be prudent in all cases. By choosing dance, you have also chosen to compromise the human body. Dancers, parents, teachers and choreographers need to be clear and realistic in assessing those strengths and weaknesses.
What can you do to keep dancing longer? Build a better foundation. But do you do enough not to suffer the side effects of dance training? Building a better foundation takes training the muscles you seldom ever use in dance. Choose wisely as those muscles that are already strong do not need more work, they need rest. The weaker muscles are the ones you should target in this style of training. Those at the top of their game in dance, figure skating and gymnastics have parents and a body that cooperated. But if you look at those at the top of the game, you may be shocked at what they are doing to hurt themselves now and in later life."
Dancer will continue this series. Readers are welcome to send in questions.