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Injuries
I'm starting to get freaked out by all of the strain dancing is putting on my body.
Right now I'm dealing with a strained rotator cuff, so I haven't been able to dance on stage for about a week. I'm hustling LDs only which is exhausting and beginning to depress me.
My day job is waitressing, so I'm now out of work there due to my shoulder being injured.
I recently began wearing 7" heels, but they are the clear, plastic shoes, and they smush my toes, causing a lot of pain in my pinkie toes. So today I switched back over to my 6" heels, which I've been dancing in for awhile. However, today they gave me horrible achilles pain in both ankles. I was having problems with my achilles about a month ago, but I thought my feet had gotten used to the shoes. It is painful to walk right now.
I've done searches, and I know a lot of dancers deal with foot pain, but is the achilles tendon problem that common? Are there really that many injuries with dancing? I have a dancing background, so I know to stretch before working, and I built up my arm strength (so I thought) before moving on to more difficult tricks...but I feel like my entire body is getting messed up. Does this happen to every dancer?
I've only been dancing for like 2 months.
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Re: Injuries
I know it's not foot painbut I have always had a bad left knee and when I first started dancing it would really swell up and I would have to ice it and occasionally wear a brace to work. Tres sexy! Eventually my muscles got stronger and now it very rarely bothers me. Hopefully this will happen to you. In the meantime I would suggest laying off strenuos (sp?) pole work til your shoulder gets better and possible try some lower 5" heels or even boots (if they go with your style- I've NEVER worn them)
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Re: Injuries
Yes, dancers can run into plenty of injuries and problems. Many of them can be avoided though.
I'm not really sure why you aren't doing stage shows, your rotator cuff injury doesn't limit you from all moves. Just stay away from the pole while you are healing, slow down, and bend from the elbow rather than the shoulder while you are healing. It may still hurt a little bit, but not as much. You don't have to be lifting your arms all the way above your head... run them down your body instead.
As for the heels, you may not be walking in them properly. Be sure to warm up your ankles before putting them on. There actually a DVD that is pretty good that you might want to check into called Leg Work.
Also be sure to take Advil or Aspirin while you are getting used to dancing, and use Arnica pills or external gels.
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Re: Injuries
I'm not doing stage shows because it's painful, and I want this to heal quickly. It doesn't just hurt when my arm is overhead, either. I've tried, trust me, I hate not being on stage. And more than one doctor told me not to, at least until I can go in for an MRI next week. Every time there's not a customer in the club I go on stage and practice all of the one-handed dancing and floorwork I can think of, but I felt like it was straining my other arm and I'm worried.
Thank you for the DVD link! I think you're right about me not walking right in heels. Actually, I'm positive I don't walk right in heels, because that's why I do so much pole work. I still can't totally balance in heels without holding onto something. I never had any heel pain until I began wearing stillettos, so me not walking right probably has something to do with that.
I have 5" heels that I wore when I first started dancing but I hated them, definitely not my style, but maybe I'll get those out again. I don't remember any problems.
Thanks for your responses.