Need some help with a dance injury? Then read on.......... Irish Dancer has just teamed up with the highly qualified specialists at Health and Fitness Solutions to bring you vital information on what to do about dance injuries, and more importantly how to avoid them in the first place! |
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The staff at Health and Fitness
Solutions are all
highly qualified in their own specialist areas, which
they have brought together under one roof to offer an
integrated solution to your injury problem. Which we think is kind of perfect! |
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Obviously you do really need to visit them to be properly assessed before they can design a treatment program for you, which may be a little impractical if you are not within easy travel of London. We asked one of their
Clinical Directors - a chap called Paul Godfrey - some common questions to see what sort of
thoughts he had. He will only offer a
generalised response as he could not be expected to
provide a full diagnosis, which could be dangerous,
without seeing you. |
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Read on as we Ask the Expert! |
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| Is there any need to warm up before dancing? | Warming up before exercise is designed to increase your heart rate and subsequently the blood flow to the large muscles of the body that will be used during exercise. This ensures that there is extra oxygen being delivered to these muscles so they can work harder; the warm up also raises your body temperature, this is important as warmer muscles and ligaments can with stand more stress before damage might occur |
| What’s the best way to warm up and cool down? | The best way
to achieve a good warm up is to allow enough time for the
above to occur – 10 - 15 minutes should be enough,
if done correctly. The warm up should consist of a gradual increase in activity to allow the body time to adjust with the increase in demand being placed upon it and avoidance of too much impact exercise too early on – so don’t just dance to warm up! Ideally, impact would be avoided altogether by using an exercise bike or cross trainer etc, but in a dance class session, I would start with walking around the hall, quickening as you become warmer, then break into a jog or some skipping / star jumps. Only once you have a sweat on and you have raised your breathing and heart rate should you put your dance shoes on and finish your warm up dancing. I also believe that ‘cooling down’ is a waste of time and stretching should play no part of a warm up routine! |
| Wow, controversial stuff! Most dancers live by the warm up, stretch, warm down concept. do you totally disagree? | In short, no.
Warm up – yes, but stretch no. Stretching is
something that historically has always been done before
and sometimes after exercise, but there is very limited
research proving that it actually achieves anything and
it certainly does NOT prevent injury. If you have a persistent tight muscle group e.g. your calf or hamstring muscles, you must first address why they are always tight and this is something a good physiotherapist would be able to help you with; If they just suggest stretches and do not explain why the tightness has occurred then seek a second opinion! |
| So would you never recommend a program of stretches? | In some instances, once the cause of the muscle tightness has been addressed then stretching can help, but only under strict guidelines. The general rule of thumb for effective stretching is threefold: a) correct technique – this should be shown to you by a physiotherapist, the correct stretch is not as obvious as you would think b) the duration of hold at least 60 seconds per stretch and c) the frequency of stretch – at least 30 minutes intermittently per day PER muscle! So suffice to say most people are not effective when they stretch and are wasting their time. |
| What sort of thing should a dancer eat to boost their energy levels when they dance? | Despite the numerous ‘energy bars and drinks’ on the market claiming to optimise your energy etc. the best way of ensuring good energy levels for dancing is an overall balanced diet. Plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, a balance of protein for building muscle (milk, cheese, chicken, lean meat), carbohydrate for energy (pasta, bread, potatoes) and even fat (not animal fat though – oily fish etc). |
| What about a piece of chocolate or something, to boost the sugar levels in the body? | Avoid sweets
and crisps, as these give you a ‘sugar rush’
which in theory is what is needed for a lot of energy
release when dancing over a three to four minute dance
period, but what actually happens is that the sudden
increase in blood sugar causes the body to produce
insulin to cause the increase or ‘extra’ sugar
to be removed from the blood and to be stored for use
later, thus causing sugar removal rather than sugar
production. The source of energy for Irish dancing comes from carbohydrate stores in the leg muscles and these are stored several hours before dancing, so that is the best time to be eating for dancing not several minutes before you start |
| You always see dancers guzzling from bottles, should they be? | Most people are chronically dehydrated i.e. do not drink enough water. For muscles to work properly and to withstand stress they need to be well hydrated, individuals should be drinking 2 – 3 litres a day and if you exercise that should be much higher |
| That's quite a lot to drink, how can you be sure that you've had enough? | A simple test for hydration levels is to see what colour your pee is – it should be as clear as possible and you should pee several times a day. You should not drink anymore than about 250ml of water in a 15 minutes period, otherwise your kidneys will just excrete the excess and you will pee more. Caffeine and sugar drinks do not count, these will make you pee more too and help you become dehydrated and you should not wait until you are thirsty, as by this time you are already dehydrated - Water is the best dance drink. |
| Dancers complain of aching knees when they dance, is that just part of the game? | Many Irish dancers complain of knee pain when they dance and in my experience in treating these injuries it is related to poor lower limb alignment / biomechanics and the inability to shock absorb when dancing |
| How can they tell whether it's that, or just general aches from working hard at the dancing? | The easiest way to assess whether you have good alignment is to stand in front of a mirror with your feet facing directly at the mirror (at 12 o’clock) and see if your knees point in the same direction, if they don’t they probably ‘squint’ in towards each other, something that goes unnoticed in Irish dance due to the ‘turned out’ stance, but knees and feet that don’t line up over each other will not offer proper shock absorption when dancing |
| So if a dancers knees "squint" do they just have to accept it? | These alignment issues can be addressed with correct physiotherapy exercises (this does NOT include strengthening and stretches!) – Irish dancers do not have ‘weak’ legs!!!!!! You should seek the advice of a physiotherapist for an individual assessment for a more detail explanation of how to get rid of your pain. |
| Another common complaint is pain in the Achilles tendons when dancing – what can they do? | Achilles problems are as common as knee pain in the Irish dance world and are caused in a very similar way i.e. poor shock attenuation due to poor leg alignment. With foot and ankle pains, like Achilles problems, the foot itself must also be assessed and faulty movement patterns must be corrected e.g. falling arches will cause the foot to roll in and alter the stress through the Achilles tendon resulting in eventual pain. It is not caused by ‘tight calf muscles’ and remember stretches will not help! |
| So how do they go about getting things sorted? | A Podiatrist will assess your feet and dance shoes with all of this in mind and will be able to correct the foot issues accordingly. It should be noted at this point that no lower limb pain can be treated by a physiotherapist or podiatrist on their own and a dancer looking for treatment should see both, as only an integrated approach to rehab will clear the symptoms permanently. Look to see a physiotherapist and podiatrist who work together for the best results |
| Ok then, now for the £64,000 question - how can a dancer avoid getting injuries when they dance? | There are many variables to consider to stay injury free; maintain a balanced diet, stay well hydrated, ensure you have good lower leg alignment – see a physio and podiatrist for advice, always warm up properly before you train, get plenty of rest and take part in other activities other than Irish dance e.g. swim or aerobics and do not break the lasts on the bottom of your heavy shoes! You need the support they give you!!!!” |
| What exactly do you mean when you say "do not break the lasts on the bottom of your heavy shoes" | I'm referring to Irish dancers habit of taking new heavy shoes and repeatedly bending the shoe in half until the leather last on the sole breaks so they can high toe more easily! The leather last is what offers the dancer some foot support. |
| Oops! I think all dancers do that to their Super-Flexi type shoes! There are many shoes worn now with suede soles, many of them claiming to offer support still. Are these a problem? | 'Flexibility and support' in a shoe is essentially a contradiction in terms - you can't have both! I can not catagorically state that all dancers should avoid the flexi - shoe, as it does depend upon the type of feet you have, but the nature of Irish dancing means that dancers do need foot support.The Flexi - shoe has been developed in line with what dancers have historically done with their heavy shoes i.e. breaking the lasts, to prevent them from having to 'break the shoe in' for what they need for their art. However, just because that is what dancers have always done for their art, it does not mean that this is the healthiest practise; the flexi - shoe perpetuates the idea that alot of flexibility is OK, when for alot of dancers it will simply accelerate an injury. See a podiatrist for further advice. |
| Most dancers shoe of choice when they are not dancing are trainers - are these okay, and what are the best ones to buy? | Generally avoid trainers with ‘air bubbles’ in the sole, your feet need proper support and contrary to popular belief this type of trainer will not aid shock absorption, but in most cases will make foot issues worse. See a podiatrist for the correct type of trainers your feet will benefit from, as everybody’s feet are different but usually ‘fashion trainers’ should be avoided! |
| What about the various dance sneakers that are available. Are they okay for practicing? | There are also a lot of ‘non – Irish dance shoes’ on the market – promoted as the footwear of choice to dance in. These too should be avoided as they also offer no support. I would always recommend Irish dancers have an assessment with a podiatrist to prevent problems before they start – it’s no different to seeing a dentist regularly to prevent problems with your teeth!!! |
| If a dancer starts feeling pain when they dance, what should they do? | Always seek the advice of a clinic that has a physiotherapist and podiatrist working together under the one roof. It is important that several experts be involved in the treatment of the Irish dancer and that they know their own limitations, but both can work together to alter the faulty movement mechanics causing the pain and dysfunction, most Irish dance injuries need a physio and podiatry input. |
| Another £64,000 question - How much, or how often, should a dancer train to achieve the best results? | This is a very difficult one to answer, as every dancer is capable of learning and training at different rates. A maximum would be about five times a week for no more than two hours at a time and less maybe sufficient either in class or practising on their own. As anymore increases the risk of over training and injury; it is essential Irish dancers get plenty of rest. |
| So in other words work hard, but get plenty of rest? | It is
important you remain disciplined regarding the rest you
get, even in the lead up to major competitions, the more
you train does not necessarily equate to the better you
get! Remember Paula Radcliffe sleeps on average 14 hours a day (albeit she is a professional athlete, but Irish dancers are just as dedicated), but it does just go to show how much rest is needed to be a World champion! |
And knowing most teenage girls, (and the lads
too) that sounds like Dance for a few hours and then sleep all day! Now read
the answers to some of your own questions |
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