13 Dance Studios in the Central Valley + How Physical Therapy Can Help Dancers

A dancer’s fracture is a fracture in the shaft of the fifth metatarsal bone.

Like the name implies, this fracture is common in dancers but can occur during any inversion injury. The symptoms include feeling or hearing a “pop,” swelling and bruising towards the outside of the forefoot, and discomfort while bearing weight.

While dancers generally experience popping joints during movement, a fracture pop would be accompanied by pain. Even if swelling or discomfort is minor, it is a good idea to rest and get the area checked if the problem persists.

This type of fracture usually heals very well without needing surgery. Typically, a patient needs to use a removable cast boot, or walking boot, for six weeks. They can bear weight during this time. Serial X-rays are performed to check the healing process.

Physical therapy exercises through PRO~PT can help with recovery from a dancer’s fracture—your qualified, experienced, and certified physical therapist will work to restrengthen the area while also training your body to maintain correct alignment and prevent further injury.

Dancer’s Ankle, also known as Dancer’s Heel or posterior impingement syndrome, occurs when the tissue at the back of the ankle becomes compressed due to a bony formation at the back of the ankle.

This product of overuse, overgrowth, and incomplete adolescent bone formation is often referred to as an extra bone, called Os Trigonum. The pain may be triggered by an ankle sprain or by the tissue being trapped between the ankle and heel bone. When the soft tissue at the back of the ankle is pinched, it becomes inflamed and painful.

Posterior impingement syndrome, as it is also known, is common among ballet dancers. It can often be treated with physical therapy, shoe insoles, home exercises, and rest.

Sometimes, in more extreme cases, surgery is required to remove the extra bone. But since surgery always results in physical trauma, it’s a good idea to pursue physical therapy as a remedy first. If surgery is necessary, physical therapy is an essential part of the healing process.

The ankle is a crucial joint for dancers because it not only connects the leg and foot, but it establishes lower limb stability. It is one of the most commonly injured body areas in dance.

Incidences of injury to the ankle-foot area account for 27% to 49% of total injuries for ballet, modern, flamenco, and tap dancers. Dancer’s tendonitis, also referred to as Flexor Hallucis Longus (FHL) tendonitis, is an overuse injury from repetitive plantarflexion and dorsiflexion (pointing and flexing) of the foot. This results in inflammation of the FHL tendon.

In dancers, injury to the FHL tendon is usually provoked by the recurrent movement of changing position from a plié position to a relevé position.

• Plié is a French term meaning to bend
• Relevé is a ballet term meaning “raised” explaining the action when a dancer rises up on their toes, whether demi-pointe or full pointe.

This movement of action produces a force that is equal to 10 times the dancer’s body weight. It causes strain on the tendon, especially if the tendon has not been warmed up correctly or if there is improper placement.

There are several methods of treatment that physical therapists can use for tendonitis, all of which are helpful in solving the issue long-term.

Ballet dancers are especially susceptible to foot injuries because they often practice for many hours each day. In addition, they typically wear shoes that don’t provide much support or cushioning.

Pointe shoes are designed to allow dancers to stand on their toes but offer little protection from the impact of landing jumps. As a result, ballet dancers often suffer from issues with the bones and joints in their feet.

It is essential to take care of your feet by stretching and warming up properly in order to avoid injuries. Some dancers use exercises that involve tools such as resistance bands, exercise balls, and marbles. This is important for young dancers as they strengthen growing muscles and build a foundation of good technique, but it is good for dancers of all ages to remember to warm up their feet before dancing.

A hammer toe is a deformity that causes your toe to bend or curl downward instead of pointing forward. This deformity can affect any toe on your foot, most often affecting the second or third toe.

Although a hammer toe may be present at birth, it usually develops over time due to arthritis or wearing ill-fitting shoes. Dancers who wear specialized shoes, such as tap shoes or character shoes, can be at risk for hammer toe. Ballet dancers who use pointe shoes often deal with many different types of toe issues, including hammer toe.

In most cases, a hammer toe condition is treatable. There are tools, such as toe spacers, toe separators, and soft pads, that ballet dancers use to make pointe shoes less painful. Some of these tools can be used effectively by other people as well. There are also exercises and therapies that can greatly relieve hammer toe discomfort.

Exercises you can do:

https://pro-pt.net/treatments/snapping-hip-syndrome

Hip impingement is a change in the surface of the hip joint that makes it prone to damage, causing pain and general discomfort. If it is pincer-type impingement, then the hip socket is angled improperly, while cam-type impingement means the head of the femur is misshapen.

Sometimes, arthroscopic surgery is necessary in order to successfully treat hip impingement. Whether or not surgery is considered, physical therapy is an effective way to start the healing process.

According to the American Physical Therapy Association, hip bursitis affects 15% of women and 8.5% of men of all ages in the United States. This painful condition is also known trochanteric bursitis, and it occurs when one or both of the bursae become damaged or irritated.

The most common cause is repetitive activity, but it can also be a result of direct trauma, hip surgery or replacement, bone spurs, poor posture, infection, disease, or improper movement. Physical therapy can help improve balance, flexibility, strength, and movement, and patients usually make a return to full activity after rehabilitation.

Snapping hip is a condition in which you feel a snapping sensation or hear a popping sound in your hip when you walk, get up from a chair, or swing your leg around. The snapping sensation occurs when a muscle or tendon (the strong tissue that connects muscle to bone) moves over a bony protrusion in your hip. Although snapping hip is usually painless and harmless, the sensation can be annoying. In some cases, snapping hip leads to bursitis, a painful swelling of the fluid-filled sacs that cushion the hip joint.

Arthritis, or inflammation of the joints, is one of the most common ailments experienced in, and outside, the dance studio. Dancers typically feel pain and stiffness in their ankles and knees, but depending on the type of arthritis, pain can be felt anywhere. A degenerative disease, osteoarthritis breaks down the cartilage around your bones, causing bones in a joint to grind together. If you are dealing with inner knee pain or pain in other areas of the joints you use while dancing, it could be because of the pressure you’re putting on the joint.

When dealing with arthritis, it is especially important to warm up properly before beginning dance class or rehearsal. Doing small, gentle exercises prepares your body for performing larger movements.

At the beginning of dance class, wear layers of outer clothing that you can shed as your muscles get warm. Be aware of which movements trigger discomfort so that you can address those movements later with your physical therapist.

Patellofemoral pain is pain around the kneecap generally caused inflammation of the patella. This causes pain in natural knee movement. While there are different causes that could lead to anyone having this problem, young females are the most at-risk demographic.

The primary symptom is pain, and treatment may involve physical therapy and/or arthroscopic surgery.