Working WIth The Body You Have
Restriction.
No one likes that word, whether one is speaking of limitations set by parents and teachers, or those set by one’s own body, such as not being able to stretch and move easily in the direction one wishes.
Point those feet! Dance suppliers sell odd-looking things to help improve the arch, or the look of the arch. Some foot stretchers look like giant, padded Dr. Scholl’s shoes or funky short skis. You hook your foot under the canvas strip and stretch away, straightening the knee to increase the held-down arch. Some offer padded socks with a built-in arch that slips on under tights (sorry modern dancers). Dancers have been guilty of resting portable barres on their arches; of having a partner stretch their feet for them; of sitting on their own feet in a kneeling position and rocking back to increase the arch and of wearing ballet slippers and pointe shoes that are too tight. I certainly did. And now I am here to help.
Hips square and level! Well, keeping the pelvis level at all times is physically impossible. Leg bone hits hip bone and motion stops unless the pelvis is tilted at some point. The pelvis remains most ‘level’ and ‘untipped’ when dancers take their leg forward. Dancers call it ‘extension.’ The correct anatomical term is ‘flexion.’ As the leg is carried to the side (à la seconde), then to the back (arabesque), the pelvis must ‘tip’ to allow a greater movement in those all-important legs.
Mind those knees please! Too many dancers are still pointing their feet outward, forcing their fifth position no matter what pain results and forgetting the true source of turnout -- the hip joint. Improper positioning of the feet -- using them to approximate turnout -- results in a myriad of problems that do not stop at the ankle, but travel up as high as the neck. The knee joint is frightening when you look at it. Nothing interlocks as the hip joint does. Seven ligaments hold it together. Remember that once a ligament is stretched, it stays that way.
Watch that back! The unfortunate and still widespread pose – the one with the dancer in an ‘attitude derriere,’ head thrown back so far that the back of the head often touches the back of the neck – which is prevalent in dance competitions is not an indication of true flexibility in the back and needs to be reexamined. If you look closely, you’ll see the upper back is quite vertical. The lower back and pelvis take the brunt of that pose.
Elongated arms now! Here’s another one that can affect the back and the rest of the body adversely. Carrying the arms too far back, almost to “Swan Lake” standards, results in a jutting forward of the rib cage and chin, a tipping of the pelvic girdle, probable hyperextension of the knees and rolling (inversion) of the feet. All that misalignment just from the arms?
Imagine what is going on with those heavier parts, such as the legs, when they are out of alignment, and the body’s natural restrictions ignored.
Each body has limitations that include muscular, connective tissue (ligaments and tendons) and bony restrictions. Dancers and their teachers may not be aware of all these. Some who are aware of them try to ignore them with serious consequences which do not appear immediately. Stretching more and stretching to extremes is rarely the answer. It does not ‘release’ what is probably a bony or connective tissue restriction.
Dance and sports require these extremes, but only to a certain point. If you are in pain, and you and/or your teacher are still forcing you to perform moves that leave you in excessive pain, you may need to find a different teacher. The body will tolerate only so much. Damage may not be immediate, but in many cases it will be. Think of teenage Tara Lipinski getting a hip replacement. Muscles can be strengthened, but once a ligament is stretched, or bones are constantly dislocated, there won’t be much left for dancing.
Students and teachers need to allow for those bony and connective tissue restrictions so everyone can continue to dance. The ideal of the perfect ‘dance’ body’ needs to be revised.
Jan will go further into what happens when natural, normal restrictions of the body are ignored.
From the trainer’s viewpoint: As always, my view comes from science. We have three basic types of stability in our bodies. First, there is anatomical, which is how the bones are formed to fit together. This needs to be respected, always. Second, there is passive tissue, or ligaments that tighten when we put sufficient stress on our anatomical supports. These prevent movement at critical points in a joint range of motion where the anatomical support is not sufficient to do the job alone. For example, the posterior cruciate ligament would tighten to prevent hyperextension of the knee. This should also be treated with care as it provides stability at those times when weight bearing activity requires that the joint be tight and strong. The third type of support is that of dynamic stability or muscular support.
Since the hip of a dancer is often times much more flexible than an average person, the muscular support becomes of critical importance. We have portions that are meant to be stable, for example, when we stand with our feet hips’ width apart and toes pointing forward, this would be a stable position. Anatomically, we are designed to be very stable there so the passive tissues tighten to pull the joint together. As we rotate our hips externally, we open the hip and provide greater range of motion, to a point. Dancers and gymnasts work to relax those tissues to provide more motion throughout those joints’ possible positions. This means that the muscular support becomes critical to prevent excessive wear and tear on the joint. As the body weight moves directly over the hip, the cartilage thickens to provide protection during the point where the impact is greatest. If that joint is more mobile than it should be, the friction across that joint increases. Therefore, the erosion occurs much more quickly in dancers. Not only are they flexible, they are also jumping and landing on a surface with greater space than normal to allow for more sliding at the joint capsule.
The next thing to address is the muscular balance which is interfered with in any sport or dance practice. This is caused by repetitive motion over years of practice. For example, in the hip we have three muscles that cause abduction. They are the tensor fascia latae, the gluteus medius and the gluteus minimus. When we look at the opposing side for adduction, we see that there are five muscles. They are adductor magnus, adductor brevis, adductor longus, gracilis and pectinius. If we look to the actual reason there are more in the adductor group, we find that these two groups provide steering and added stability during motion. The adductors total five, the abductors total three. The hip has anatomical barriers that aid in stability to restrict abduction. The largest anatomical barrier in the hip is the greater trochantor of the femur. Understanding that muscle strength does not limit motion, but instead enables it, means that we should work to strengthen those muscles that are weak because of less motion in those paths.
Dancers are very strong where they are strong. They are very weak where they are weak. In order to stay on your toes longer, it is necessary to create balance that will re-stabilize the body. For more information or to ask questions, please e mail me at jangriscom@yahoo.com.