dance physio

[ankado]

I am looking for some advice from a physio interested in dance. Our sports physio is great for treating my daughter's recurrent injuries but has not much experience of dance. Main area of advice would be on prevention and rehab. I'll go into details if there is anyone out there that can help.

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[physiobob]

What advice are you after. I work with a neo-classical company based at the Royal Opera House in London

[ankado]

Thanks for replying. My daughter is 12 years old and dances at championship level in Highland dancing. She is very small and slight and has not had a growth spurt. She has overpronated ankles and wears insoles. She can't wear these when she dances. She goes from one injury to the next. This year she has had sinus tarsi syndrome both sides twice. In between she had a left achilles tendonitis and recently a right achilles tendonitis. She also gets a touch of osgood schlatters. I feel she is not suited to Highland which is very hard on her joints but she is desperate to keep going. We are stopping now until january and I want to know what we should do to prepare her for her return. We have a Pilates DVD ( Darcey Bussell) I wondered if her muscles were strenghtened and stretched would she have less trouble. I am a little unsure as the DVD is aimed at adults and I don't want to aggravate anything. She also will hopefully get back to swim training ( The swimming pool had a fire!) However when she was swimming it made no differences to her getting further injury. I would be grateful for any advice even if it it is to give up or wait until she's stopped growing. (This could be several years from now so would amount to giving up)

[physiobob]

To be honest if her feet are that much of an issue that she requires orthotics then it does look a bit hopeless. Perhaps you might keep her in dance but in another form where she could wear some innersoles, e.g. in Jazz or Tap shoes?

It is important during her growth phases not to create movement patterns on the foot that will 'solidify' with continued ossification of the bones within the foot complex.

I am not up on the actual footwear for highland dancing however so can't say whether there is any other smaller/narrower othotic device that could be made to assist.

Best advice is to switch styles for a while and see how she goes. She might love tap

[ankado]

Thanks for your thoughts. Highland dance pumps are soft and flexible. In soles would only hinder as the whole dance is up on halfpoint. Her podiatrist says she can not really overpronate whilst dancing but landing leaps might be a problem area.We are taking a rest from all dance for a couple of months but would still appreciate advice on the use of pilates in a 12 year old. After all her injury problems she has lost strength and flexibility which can not help in the prevention of further injury. If this does not work out we could try tap. Unfortunately once a Highland dancer always a Highland dancer!

[physiobob]

Pilates is of course fine but one cannot learn it from a DVD. She would need instruction initially in a private class in a studio environment. That said I must dash as my next dancer is here for her gyrotonic and pilates class

Best of luck

p.s. As dance in general involves something called the plié she will be doing a not of excessive pronation. Do excuse the sarcasm