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Stretching Healthy…A Primer For Dancers

February 14, 2014 by 4dancers

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Know the difference between a good stretch and a bad stretch? (Hint: This isn’t a good one!)

by Jan Dunn MS

Stretching feels sooooo good!

Dancers love to stretch–we do it all the time, whenever we can–before class, during class, after class, watching TV, waiting for the bus (seriously–haven’t you ever done a quick calf stretch while standing there?) –but how many of us really know that much about stretching?  -i.e, the Do’s and Don’ts of doing healthy stretching?

Ankle-on-the-barre stretching….one of our favorites, and found in almost every ballet class……but–the problem with this position is that it puts so much weight on the Achilles tendon, on the back of the ankle—and can potentially lead to Things You Do Not Want To Have, like Achilles tendinitis.  Far better to stretch your hamstrings (back of the leg) or adductors (inner thigh) — which is what that stretch does — by sitting on the floor, or using Theraband lying down, etc.

Watching cold (as in not-warmed-up) dancers sitting on the floor stretching was the impetus for getting this particular article out to you, especially as you start off 2014!

So here’s what you need to know about stretching (in no particular order of importance):

1- WHEN to stretch:  When you are warmed-up.

Think of it this way–if you take a cold rubber band and pull it taut, what might happen (Yikes!)?  Yes, it might snap. Your muscles are like that. When we stretch stone cold (as in before a class or rehearsal), that’s what we are doing. We are potentially pulling small muscle fibers that may tear as a result.

LIGHT stretching before a class, which means alternating contracting and releasing a muscle is OK–(the stretch comes when you release), but heavy duty stretching (the on-the-floor or leg-on-the-barre variety) is not advised.

You want your muscles good and warm before you start heavy stretching–as in the middle of class, or at the end.

2- How LONG to stretch:  Again, if you’re warmed up–

Usually a minimum of 30 seconds is recommended–that gives the muscle fibers time to really lengthen. If you don’t have a second hand around, timing it to last about 3 nice long breaths is usually about 30 seconds for most people (or take the deep breaths with a second hand in front of you, and see how many you personally might need).

Sometimes in rehab, physical therapists will have you hold a stretch longer than the 30 seconds–but that’s a different situation.

3- If you have some very tight muscles that you want to hopefully permanently lengthen, it’s recommended that you do it at the end of a class / rehearsal / performance (i.e, when you’re really warm). Take the desired stretch and do 3 or 4 sets of the 30 second stretch, with a slight pause (maybe 10 sec.) in-between, doing this as your body cools down.

4- If you have really held a stretch for a long time, for whatever reason, don’t ask the muscle to contract immediately afterwards. They lose that ability briefly when heavily stretched, so you want to be careful.

5- We’ve already talked in this column, about how weather / age, etc. affect your body, but here’s a brief reminder when it comes to stretching:

-the colder the weather / room, the longer it takes to warm-up — i.e, the longer it will take to get to a good stretching place for your body!

-a muscle that has been injured may take longer as well.

-the older we get, the longer it takes / the more careful we have to be — we lose some of our flexibility as part of the natural aging process, so be aware that you can’t stretch as fast / easily at 40 as you can at 20!

6- There are different types of stretching–the two main types that we use are usually:

-Static: where you take the desired stretch and just hold it.

–Ballistic: bouncy stretches —not recommended (they can inadvertently tear small muscle fibers).

There are other types – such as Prolonged, Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF), and Dynamic, which I won’t go into in this article. But if you go to the IADMS website, there is an excellent Resource Paper on Stretching, which goes into considerable detail on this topic.

7- A word here about the difference between general flexibility / joint mobility, and Joint Hypermobility Syndrome (JHS), which is a very different thing. It’s a very specific condition which has to be medically diagnosed by a physical therapist or other medical practitioner – it takes the joint beyond what we think of as general overall flexibility. It’s something that both dancers and teachers need to be aware of, as studies have shown that a good number of younger dancers may have it, and if they do, it does impact their dance lives (and their everyday lives).  It doesn’t mean you can’t dance if you fall into this category, but it does mean you and your teacher should know about it, and about how to train properly.

We have a special article on the site dedicated to JHS.

8- And last but not least:

Research has shown us that stretching before a class, when cold, actually decreases such things as strength, power, endurance, balance, jump height and other factors that we use in dance movement. So when you are sitting on the floor stretching before class, you’re not only potentially injuring yourself, but also negatively affecting the dance activity you are about to do–whether it’s class / rehearsal / performance.

SOOO……I hope all of the above has been informative and helpful–and even better, maybe just a good reminder, because you already know all of this and are already Stretching Healthy!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Jan Dunn, MS
Jan Dunn, MS

Editor Jan Dunn is a dance medicine specialist currently based on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, where she is owner of Pilates Plus Kauai Wellness Center and co-founder of Kauai Dance Medicine. She is also a Pilates rehabilitation specialist and Franklin Educator. A lifelong dancer / choreographer, she spent many years as university dance faculty, most recently as Adjunct Faculty, University of Colorado Dept. of Theatre and Dance.  Her 28 year background in dance medicine includes 23 years with the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS) – as Board member / President / Executive Director – founding Denver Dance Medicine Associates, and establishing two university Dance Wellness Programs

Jan served as organizer and Co-Chair, International Dance Medicine Conference, Taiwan 2004, and was founding chair of the National Dance Association’s (USA) Committee on Dance Science and Medicine, 1989-1993. She originated The Dance Medicine/Science Resource Guide; and was co-founder of the Journal of Dance Medicine & Science.  She has taught dance medicine, Pilates, and Franklin workshops for medical / dance and academic institutions in the USA / Europe / Middle East / and Asia, authored numerous articles in the field, and presented at many national and international conferences.

Ms. Dunn writes about dance wellness for 4dancers and also brings in voices from the dance wellness/dance medicine field to share their expertise with readers.

Filed Under: conditioning, Dance Wellness Tagged With: iadms, jan dunn, joint hypermobility syndrome, safe stretching, stretching, Stretching for dancers, warming up

Healthy Dance Practice Certification Course

November 10, 2013 by 4dancers

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Happy November (and Turkey Day) !

I’m happy to let you know that for the first time in the USA, a dance medicine and science course designed specifically for dance educators will be offered through the University of Colorado, Boulder, in January, 2014.   The 4-day course prepares the participant totake the Safe in Dance International (SIDI) and IADMS (International Association for Dance Medicine and Science) Healthy Dance Practice Certification.  

The course, and the Certification, is an evolution of a previous one pioneered by IADMS and offered for the last several years in the UK, through Trinity Laban College.  The class covers such important information as:

–basic anatomy and physiology

-warm-up and cool-down

-nutrition

-safety in the dance environment

-basic injury prevention and management

It includes the latest scientific and practical information on healthy dance practice and teaching, performance enhancement, and most importantly – offers practical tips and information on how to integrate all this knowledge into classes, rehearsals, and performance. The course is designed for teachers, directors, managers, and choreographers in all genres of dance, and achieving the certification helps students, parents, and employers know that you have taken the extra steps to help dancers get the best possible education, in the safest environment – to keep them dancing longer and stronger!

We are so pleased that the Department of Theatre and Dance, at UC-Boulder, has stepped forward to host this first-in-the-US event.

Here are the specifics:

Dates: January 9-12, 2014
Location:   Department of Theatre and Dance, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
Cost:         $400 

This includes the fee for the certification exam, as well as the course,  Once you have completed the course itself,you have one year to take the exam and complete the certification.

Registration: http://healthydancepractice.eventbrite.com

For more Info: Contact Erin Sanchez at erin (at) danceuk.org

For further information on Safe in Dance International:  www.safeindance.com

Many of you have been faithful readers of our Dance Wellness column since we started it, nearly two years ago.  This course is a wonderful opportunity to learn LOTS of wonderful information in one fell swoop! — and take it home to integrate into your dance environment immediately. I hope that you will take this opportunity.  The vision is to eventually be able to offer these courses in different locations around the country, but that will take time, and there’s no way to know how far off in the future that might happen. But the Boulder course ishappening NOW, so take advantage of it!  You–and your dancers–will be glad you did.

Aloha to all of you-

Jan

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Filed Under: Dance Wellness Tagged With: dance medicine, dance wellness, iadms

Book Review: Dance Medicine Head to Toe: A Dancer’s Guide to Health

October 2, 2013 by 4dancers

by Emily Kate Long

dance medicine bookJudith Peterson knows dancers’ health. She served the Pennsylvania Ballet for ten years as attending physician and is currently a member of the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science, the American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Her book covers the whats, hows, and whys of anatomy that are most relevant to dancers. The functional descriptions of each body structure (spinal regions, cardiovascular system, hips, knees, ankles, feet, and toes) are thorough enough to be really useful but presented simply. Most importantly, each chapter includes a bulleted summary and practical exercises for each body region. Dance Medicine Head to Toe makes it easy to see why anatomical knowledge is important to dancers and how they can put that knowledge into practice.

An especially important feature of this book (aside from the high quality and effective presentation of the information, of course) is the emphasis Peterson places on getting help from a qualified dance medicine professional rather than trying to ignore pain or “tough it out,” such unfortunately common practices in the competitive fields of professional and pre-professional dance. Cultivating a dance culture where it’s understood to be OK to get help for injuries is critical to the advancement of our art and expansion of our field.

In addition to the valuable information provided in Peterson’s text, the book is peppered with diagrams and dance photographs. Succinct, comprehensive, and conversational, Dance Medicine Head to Toe should be part of every dancer’s and teacher’s library.

Dance Medicine Head to Toe: A Dancer’s Guide to Health, Judith R Peterson, MD, Princeton Book Company, 2011

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Filed Under: Books & Magazines, Dance Wellness Tagged With: dance book, dance medicine, iadms, judith peterson

Balance, Proprioception & Alignment: On Stage & In The Dance Studio

September 6, 2013 by 4dancers

by Emily Kate Long

Picture 4You stand on a dimly lit stage. The murmur of the audience on the other side of the curtain swells and then settles. The music starts, the curtain rises, the lights go up…and suddenly you feel completely disoriented, like you’re on a different planet. You’re blinded from the sides by brightly colored light. In front of you, the darkness seems endless. Where are the walls? How far away is the floor? Are you even standing straight? How are you supposed to dance when you can’t tell which way is up?

No dancer wants to be caught in such circumstances. If this scenario is familiar to you, your balance organs and proprioceptive sense may need a tune-up. For this installment of Finding Balance, I’m going literal and taking a look at the relationship of balance, proprioception, and alignment onstage and in the studio.

In her book Dance Mind and Body, Sandra Cerny Minton defines balance as “a body feeling of being poised or in a state of equilbrium. If you are balanced, you are centered and will not fall by giving in to the force of gravity.” The International Association of Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS) tells us that proprioception is the physical sense or feeling of your moving body. Sometimes it’s nicknamed the “sixth sense.” In a very simple way, you could think of balance as the feeling of the still self, and proprioception as the feeling of the moving self.

In the scientific sense, balance happens when an object’s center of gravity is placed over its base of support. A larger support base and lower center of gravity equal more effortless balance. To illustrate, think of the ease of balancing barefoot in a second-position grand plie with the hands on the hips and eyes looking straight ahead—wide base and low, compact center. Now contrast that with a balance on pointe in a back attitude with asymmetrical arms and a turned and inclined head—small base, high center, plus a lot of extended limbs to complicate things.

Another concept to consider in the discussion of balance is alignment. Correct static alignment is the stance featuring left-right symmetry in the body from a front or back view, with a vertical line passing through the earlobe, shoulder joint, trochanter head, kneecap, and the front of the ankle joint from a side view. Dynamic alignment refers to the body’s parts relating to one another in a balanced way when the body is in motion. Good alignment is inherently balanced.  Essentially, it’s good biomechanics. You could say that proprioception is the feeling of one’s dynamic alignment. (Interestingly, these two alignment terns are also commonly used in mechanical engineering. I love the paradox that we can only appear to transcend the laws of physics by adhering to them!)

One last idea we’ll look at is centeredness, both as a physical feeling and a mental image. Centering is equally physical and psychological, according to Minton. Bodies have a center of gravity (located in the pelvis) and a center of balance (the solar plexus) and the relationship of these two physical centers affects balance. Minton’s defnintion of psychological center is roughly akin to the IADMS definition of proproiception: a mental awareness of what the body is doing as it moves. The key difference is the confidence aspect of being mentally centered. Minton notes that “skill in balancing is tied to the less concrete concept of body awareness and the psychological aspects of center…Body awareness involves having an accurate sense of where you are moving in space and what parts of your body are moving.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Editorial, Finding Balance Tagged With: dance alignment, finding balance, iadms, proprioception

Dance Wellness: Phases Of Healing

November 29, 2012 by 4dancers

We are pleased to have Marika Baxter, PT, as our guest contributor this month.  Marika has extensive experience working with dancers, and her article on the “Phases of Healing” is great information to share regarding what happens in your body when you have an injury, and how to integrate that with returning to happy, healthy dancing.

After Marika’s article, you’ll find a few additional words from me, on something we’ve mentioned before in our Wellness column, but which bear mentioning again — keeping the rest of your body in shape while you’re recovering from an injury.

The Holidays are here, so enjoy — happy “Nutcracker”, if that’s a part of your dance life, and “talk” to you again soon!

Jan

Jan Dunn, MS

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Phases of Healing

by Marika Baxter, PT, MSPT, OCS

ballet dancer striking poseIf you’ve ever had an injury that’s sidelined you from dancing, the most pressing question you may have is “How long will it take to recover and when will I be dancing again?”  Though every injury and dancer is different, the way our body heals does follow the same pattern.  Understanding the phases of healing and how they relate to getting back in the studio can help you in the journey back to health.   The important thing to remember is that healing is a process, not an event!

Phase I – The Inflammatory Phase

The first phase of healing is called the inflammatory phase.  You’re in the studio rehearsing for a performance and as you step into a turn your concentration lapses and your ankle rolls.  You feel pain on the outside of your ankle and when you try to continue dancing your ankle feels weak and is too painful to put weight on.  Luckily you put ice on it right away but by the end of the night your ankle is swollen and bruised.

Whether the injury is major, like this story of an ankle sprain, or just a small cut or bruise, the first thing the body will experience is inflammation.  You can think of the inflammatory phase as the clean up phase.  In the first 24-48 hours, the body will send cells to the area to help remove injured tissue.  The body will also begin laying down new cells to form a blood clot, almost like an internal scab.  This helps keep the injury protected as it begins to heal.

During the inflammatory phase, there are a number of things you may be feeling.  It’s common to have pain, swelling and possibly warmth and redness in the area.  Depending on the severity of the injury, you may have difficulty dancing, walking or moving the body part.  In this first phase of healing, you may need to modify what you’re doing in class or rehearsals to allow for healing to begin.  In some cases you may need to take a break from dancing so the body can start the healing process.

In these first few days after an injury, the best thing to do is PRICED: Protect, Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate, Diagnose.  You can see the previous dance wellness article on 4dancers.org entitled “Keeping Dancers Dancing: “Help I Have An Injury – What Do I Do?” for more information on PRICED.

Phase II – The Repair Phase [Read more…]

Filed Under: 4dancers, Dance Wellness, Injuries Tagged With: dance wellness, dancer, dancer injury, iadms, Marika Baxter, new york city ballet, phases of healing, school of american ballet

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