Different Types of Dance Injuries and Prevention Tips
To some people, dancing may seem effortless. Well, it may really look like that because most of the time, dancers make it look like they are just enjoying what they’re doing. The truth is, dancing requires a huge amount of strength, focus, determination, and stamina. Moreover, just like any other hobby and sports, dancing comes with health risks and injuries. Regardless of what type of dancer you are, it is important to have enough knowledge when it comes to common dance injuries, prevention, and treatment.
Experts from Central Texas Spine Institute (CTSI) have exemplary treatment and services related to injuries from different types of physical activities. Moreover, there are valuable information on their site about injuries, prevention, symptoms, and the right treatment.
Common Dance Injuries
According to some studies, the most common type of injuries dancers can get are injuries from using your ankles, joints, muscles, and back too much. Most injuries involve ankles, knees, and lower back.
The most common types of dance injuries are listed below:
- Hip injuries: snapping hip syndrome, hip impingement, labral tears, hip flexor tendonitis, hip bursitis and sacroiliac joint dysfunction
- Foot and ankle injuries such as ankle impingement
- Arthritis in the knees, hip, ankle, foot.
- Lower back injuries: spine injuries due to improper posture
If you dance frequently and vigorously and you started to experience these kinds of pain, it is important to consult a specialist or therapist. They will know what kind of treatment should be given and how severe the injury is.
How do dance injuries happen?
The above mentioned injuries are just some of the most common dance injuries. But why do dancers get these injuries? One of the obvious reason is that dancing is an activity that must learn properly because is someone tries dancing without knowing the correct movement and posture he/she will most likely get an injury.
Moreover, studies have shown that dancing for about 3-5 hours a day or longer means greater chance to get injury and fractures. Also, because dancing is a demanding and time consuming, dancers only have little time to rest and recover which is why energy is easily decreases.
Because of the various types of injuries, it is important to follow these guidelines to lessen the risk of injury:
- balanced diet
- Enough rest
- Proper warm up and stretching
- Always wear the appropriate dancing clothes and shoes
- Focus on strength exercises to improve endurance and strength