Most dance injuries result from overuse, not trauma.
As with all sports, there is a risk of injury while dancing. Would you believe that most dance injuries are a result of overuse and not trauma? Dance injuries commonly occur to the feet, ankles, knees, hips, and low back.
Good Pain vs. Bad Pain
For young dancers, learning the difference between good pain and bad pain can help minimize the risk of developing long term injuries and missing days dancing.
Good pain, as we sometimes call it, is associated with training muscles and is normal for building a strong and healthy dancer. This soreness emerges within 24-72 hours, located in the muscles as a dull ache or a tight sensation, and is gone within 2-3 days. Good pain is part of your body building tolerance and getting prepared from more dance.
Bad pain, on the other hand, can be achy to sharp, more constant, usually increases with activity, begins either during exercise or 24 hours after and may not go away on its own. Bad pain is your body alerting you that short and/or long-term damage is being done from your dance. The onset of bad pain may be brought on by extrinsic training factors like the volume of dance or intrinsic factors like your dance technique.
When your body is warning you with bad pain symptoms, consider one or more of the following:
- Scheduling rest days
- Taper dance class and rehearsals before performances
- Get adequate sleep
- Practice proper nutrition and hydration
- A physical therapy consultation
A consultation with a physical therapist who specializes in dance will help you understand the reason for the bad pain and take specific actions to help your body to be better prepared for the stress of dancing.
Contact Positive Energy at (310) 540-5758 and we’ll schedule you with our specialist.