As a dancer, what does "injury prevention" mean to you?

Our big question to you and everyone else is, what does injury prevention/injury risk reduction mean to *you*?

Today’s DANCEPREHAB Dialogues is about “injury prevention”. One of the biggest shifts we’ve had in the last few years is seeing more and more dancers, parents, and institutions really start to ask more questions about investing in health, wellness, and ultimately better support for their dancers. 

So what is injury prevention?

On the surface, it's just that, “preventing injury” - not being hurt so we can do the things we love, continue to do the things that allow us to explore our artistry, and ultimately continue to give us the opportunity to grown and learn in our human selves. As physical and kinesthetic beings, our first thought of injury prevention is often physical - a strained muscle, a sprained ankle, low back pain that has been bothering us for some time, or perhaps a sudden unexpected fall somewhere. As we begin to acknowledge, recognize, and make space for conversation and dialogue, we see that there are many facets to injury prevention, or more accurately, injury risk reduction. 

PHYSICAL : As physical therapists working with primarily youth and adolescent artist-athletes, having a proper warm-up is paramount to reducing our risk of injury. Our favorite is the RAMP warm-up sequence, as it provides a solid parameter - and a memorable acronym - for you to cover while preparing for, not just movement, but the qualities of movement that dance often will require of you. It’s beyond stretching muscles or breaking a sweat, but 

In addition to dance-specific movement vocabulary, let’s also consider movement quality. What does it feel to prepare for a piece with powerful jumps? What does it feel like to prepare for a piece with lots of floorwork? Since we’re talking about warm up and preparation, what is the long term preparation process for you? 

What does it feel like to prepare for a YAGP solo that is 2 minutes and 30 seconds vs a full length piece that is more than 20 minutes? This last question also brings in another conversation of how we’re training for dance. Study after study has informed us that the activity that we find in dance classes alone aren’t enough to truly build capacity. 

While we do not directly provide advice for mental health or nutrition, we can’t ignore these two aspects, especially in relationship to exercise whether it’s in training or in rehab. 

MENTAL: In our immediate physical therapy and training environment, we can’t ignore the relationship of mental and physical, and oftentimes what we find, even in our younger dancers, is burnout. In athletics and dance, there are typically signs of burnout which is

1. A reduced sense of accomplishment

2. Emotional and physical exhaustion

3. And activity devaluation - where we lose interest in dance. 

It is also not unknown that children who specialize only in one sport often exhibit these traits more than those who explore other areas of movement. While we understand that our training has to be purposeful and intentional for dance, it also needs to be fun for our human selves. It’s not about goofing off or messing around, but it's about reminding ourselves and our community that our dancers are kids and we need to feed that kid side too. 

NUTRITIONAL: In the context of healing, nutrition is huge because we’re literally talking about our building blocks. You can’t expect to heal effectively without 1) fueling yourself right and you can’t expect to heal well 2) without proper sleep so you can utilize those building blocks that you’ve given yourself. Sleep is when our body repairs itself as higher levels of collagen are released during sleep, and it gives our body a chance to chill out so the body can focus on healing itself. 

In all three of these aspects we can obviously talk about the physical - which muscle or tendon is injured, feeling tired or burnt out after a long rehearsal, what are the things we’re ingesting as part of our dietary intake, drinking enough water, etc, but what about the cultural aspect? What about the social factors and power dynamics that also play a role?

In expanding the conversation, we have to talk about how, beyond the physical, injury prevention and injury risk reduction also means also challenging the culture, systems, and often, egos that come with dance and more specifically, the environments where dance learning occurs. We can have all the resources available to our dancers, but if there isn’t an environment where we can openly talk about injury, or having the time to create a plan or timeline to manage expectations, or we are shamed or belittled because of our injuries, than none of the information that we’re able to provide or convey matters.

This is definitely a nuanced conversation because of course, there are moments where the show must go on, and we have to manage what we can, in the time we have, with the resources we have, but at the end of the day, I suppose the conversation becomes about what are our support systems?

So with that all said, our big question to you and everyone else is, what does injury prevention/injury risk reduction mean to you? 

• If you’re in the studio environment, it means staying healthy so we’re able to continue hanging out and dancing with our friends. 

• If you’re in college, perhaps its about getting enough rest so you know you can handle your academic studies on top of your dance classes, and other extracurricular activities. 

• If you’re looking into pre professional programs or year-round junior training companies, then its making sure you’re taking care of yourself over the course of the year. Many of us still come from this mentality 

..and its going to change, depending on where you are in life.

At various points in my life, staying healthy meant all those things above.

Currently, in the dance context, staying healthy means we get to continue doing what we do to keep you all healthy and moving. It means being able to demonstrate during workshops, it means being about to move with you during your sessions with us. 

In the life context, it means being able to move around with my future kiddo (he’s now 3 months old!). 

So with all that said injury prevention isn’t just something you do, and it's not a class that you just take. It’s a respect for yourself as a human, being able to be self aware so you know the things that you need, or you know you have a support system to find and direct you in order to train the way you want, perform the way you want, and ultimately live the life you seek!

Let’s move!