Injuries and Prevention

Disclaimer: I am not a certified fitness/health instructor; just a dancer sharing some knowledge and experience.

            I can nearly guarantee you that any ballet dancer will say ballet is a sport. The large amount of physical strain ballet places upon any dancer is simply irrefutable. I haven’t danced for very long compared to most dancers, but I can honestly tell you that I have had my share of injuries.

            From minor to major, injuries inflict pain and can inhibit you from doing the things you love most. Unfortunately, injuries have the power to end a dancer’s career, or prevent you from doing the very basic functions of daily life; like sitting. We only have one body, so prevention is vital.

           I’ve been quite lucky in the sense that a majority of my injuries haven’t been too serious. More often than not something will go amiss, but once I let it rest, add some icy hot, use a few ice packs, and muscle wraps, I’m ready to dance again within a day or two. Though I wish every injury fell under the category of negligible, there have been a few moments where I’ve experienced a series injury that I’ll never really quite recover from. For that reason, I’ve made it my priority to share with you what I’ve learned to help assist any injuries you may have, or better yet, to prevent any injuries you may be susceptible to.

            Through nearly three years of ballet, I’ve learned to listen to my entire body, from my toes, achilles, ankles, shins, knees, hips, tailbone, lower back, shoulders, and every muscle and tendon in between. Now just as a warning to any prospective ballet dancers; once you begin to dance, serious injuries are pretty unlikely if you receive the right instruction and take preventative measures. Like any other sport or physical activity, ballet is great exercise, but it does put stress upon different parts of your body. There are essentially many aspects of ballet that are unnatural for our bodies. From middle splits, to major backbends, ballet isn’t 100% normal, so naturally, one may hear some popping or cracking sounds when stretching out or warming up.

            Once of the largest commonalities between dancers is “popping hips.” While this phrase alone may make you cringe, dancers across experience this symptom of ballet. Classical ballet always requires one’s hips to be turned, so it’s natural to make a popping or cracking sound a couple of times; don’t worry, it’s nothing serious. A few other commonalities would be cracking toes, popping ankles, and a cracking back.

            What I simply can’t stress enough, is to find an instructor who knows the proper alignment for dancers. A good teacher will push you to turn out as much as you can, but won’t force you to the point where your alignment is off and you seriously injure yourself. If a teacher says to try and keep your tailbone down, it doesn’t mean to tuck your tailbone. If you do so, you can seriously injure your tailbone like I did, and may I say that the pain was so excruciating that I received sharp, shooting pains each time I sat down and got up. It got to the point where I was forced to bring a pillow to school, and I stood in class when I could. When I went to the doctor, I was told that I had a “bruised tailbone,” which was most likely caused by ballet, since I hadn’t slipped or fallen on it. The unfortunate truth is that because it was my tailbone, there was no cast to let it heal like a broken bone would. So instead, I had to let time take its course and do my best to not agitate it. That was during my first year of ballet, and four years later I still have problems if I sit too long or put too much pressure on it. Because ballet puts so much stress on the body and is unnatural in many aspects, it is absolutely crucial for you to take preventative measures and learn from a teacher that truly knows what he/she is doing.

            One of the reasons that I stayed with Honolulu Classical Ballet, the studio that I currently attend, is because of my teacher, Ms. Aya. Within only a few classes, she corrected the alignment with my knees in fifth position. She described to me that my knees weren’t over my toes when I pliéd, so my alignment was off, which could lead to a series injury pertaining to all of my lower body. She then explained that everything is connected, so when my knees aren’t over my toes, it makes my ankle roll, and when my ankle and knees are off, so are my hips. After spending two years at two other studios, no one had ever told me that, or showed me how to properly correct it, like she had. Yet here I was, at a new studio only a couple classes in, and my teacher had caught a problem that quite possibly could have saved my body from serious damage. I am forever grateful to her for that.

           Ms. Aya’s correction was only enforced when I took one-on-one pilates classes over the summer. My instructor worked with me continuously to improve my alignment with my knees. She made it clear that my knees were “knocked.” (That would help explain why I walk a little like a penguin) With Ms. Aya’s words in mind, I knew that she was correct. Thank you Ms. Aya.

            Continuing on prevention, it’s also important not to mistake a Porte bra backwards as a back crunch. What I mean by that, is it’s a common mistake for dancers to allow their hips to push forward as they do a lean backwards. This is probably the most corrected mistake at each studio I’ve ever attended. By pushing your hips forward and crunching your back, you can damage your back by putting unnecessary pressure on your vertebrae. This is a major mistake to watch out for.

            Although ballet is great for the body, especially with maintaining/improving strength and flexibility, like other sports, it requires proper training from a professional. Injuries are awful, so prevention is essential to living a healthy and happy life.