Honouring the Tendu

Mastering the articulation of the front of the foot that should occur in a tendu is quite possibly the single most effective way to prevent foot injuries in dancers. Focusing on the correct execution of this fundamental step can also lead to dramatic improvements of all areas of a dancers technique and will lead to fewer injuries, higher jumps and better pointe work! It is very important for dance teachers to focus on teaching this essential articulation of the foot in very young students, to constantly revisit and refine this as they develop.

The Anatomy of the Pointed Foot

The foot is an extraordinary feat of engineering, however underdevelopment of some muscles and overuse of others is what contributes to the majority of foot and ankle injuries in dancers. The ankle should be pointed by the big calf muscles; the smaller ‘extrinsic’ foot muscles control the alignment of the ankle, while the toes are pointed by the small ‘intrinsic’ foot muscles.

Age 4-6

Dance students can start working on their foot control from a very young age. Start with Toe Wiggles and Toe Waves, and progress to the more formal Toe Swapping exercise as they get more proficient. At this age, the student should have a good concept of pointing and flexing the ankles, keeping them nicely aligned. Learning how to correctly use each of the muscle groups in the foot will also help maximise their range of motion.

Ages 6 – 10

Children of this age should be able to perform the Toe Swapping exercise well. They should then be introduced to Doming the forefoot to engage the intrinsic muscles of the foot (Lumbricals), and integrate this into parallel tendus. The focus should then move to the inclusion of this movement in every Tendu that they do in class. It is essential to get this pattern started very early in order to make it a habit, as it helps prevent many foot and ankle injuries in older dancers. At this age special focus should be made on achieving optimal range through all parts of the foot. This will endure optimal Plié & pointe range later on.

Ages 11 & Over

There should be a constant focus and revisiting of the articulation of the forefoot in many different ways to help further develop the control of the front of the foot. Exercises such as Point Through Demi Point with the Ball, and Parallel Tendus can help add resistance and improve endurance of the muscles in the front of the foot.

Tendu en Croix

Integrating the articulation of the forefoot into the tendu may take persistence, but the rewards are enormous. Focus on maintaining stability of the standing leg, and working the foot through a high 3/4 pointe position before pointing the toes in each position. Working in toe thongs can help the student achieve good articulation without sticking to the floor! Begin in parallel and at the barre, and progress to work in turnout in the centre.

Seated Jumps

Performing the slow action of a jump by working through the foot in a seated position can help students learn the concept of working through the foot. This movement is also essential to retrain following any injury that resulted in the dancer being off jumps for some period of time. Gradually increase the speed, load and complexity of this exercise to build the pattern back into their jumping pattern at the barre, and then in the centre.

Pointe Work

Including this specific articulation of the forefoot into all work en pointe, from simple rises to advanced level training is extremely important in developing sensitivity in pointe work. This helps prevent overloading of any particular tendons, and ensures that the dancer is as quiet on the stage as possible. Our ‘My Beginner Pointe Program’ gives lots of exercises to seamlessly integrate into beginner pointe classes. Spend lots of time focusing on the basics, and students will flourish as the work increases in complexity.

 

 

Click HERE to download this as a PDF

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Hamstring Mobilisers

Hamstring Mobilisers

How much do you stretch your hamstrings? Probably, a lot, but many dancers get frustrated because no matter how much they stretch, their hamstrings never seem to get more mobile. The reason for this is that quite often the issue is not actually your hamstring muscles! Far more often, the restriction is in the fascial network and will not respond to regular static stretching. So, how do we work on our mobility?

If you ask dancers to “stretch their hamstrings”, 99% of the time they will sit with their legs straight out in front of them and then stretch in turnout. Very very rarely will dancers ever to think to stretch their hamstrings in parallel or in internal rotation. Mobilising the fascia of the whole leg is incredibly beneficial as it will open up the whole Superficial Back Line. This will allow all of the tissues to slide in relation to each other and let you finally achieve your full range.

Watch the video below to learn exactly how to mobilise your fascia to get more flexible and prepared for class!

Be conscious of where you feel tension and be sure to give these areas a few extra mobilisations to free them up.

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Hip Mobilisers 1, 2 and 3

Hip Mobilisers 1, 2 and 3!

These fascial mobilisers are great for anyone who is looking to improve their flexibility around their hips and create extra space to allow for a greater range of motion. This is always desirable for dancers who need a greater range of motion than other athletes due to the demand of the work they do. Particular focus is given to the anterior part of hip which is prone to getting quite tight. Common causes of this tightness can be from people who tend to overuse their quadriceps, people who have hyperextended legs and tend to sit into their knees or over-trained hip flexor muscles.

What do stiff hips do to my dancing?

Stiff hips are the cause of many limitations in your technique. As they are the part of the body connecting your upper body to your lower body, you want them to be as mobile as possible so that the two parts can work together instead of against each other. A good example would be in arabesque, having tight hips means that your upper body and leg can’t achieve their full range and one ends up compensating; either your back is as upright as you want or you have to settle for a low arabesque. Give your hips a good release to increase your arabesque height plus other benefits like increased turnout.

Important to note: If you have hip pain, it is important that you DO NOT feel your hip pain while doing these hip mobilisers. Aim to feel this stretch above or below where you normally experience pain to improve your mobility without exacerbating your symptoms.

 

If you think anyone would benefit from doing these hip mobilisers, send them through to our page where they can sign up and receive the same tips as you are. Good information like this should be made available to anyone who is serious about becoming the best dancer they can be.

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Thoracic Mobilisers

Thoracic Mobilisers

Within the body, the fascia is in a constant state of remodelling and change as we saw in the video “Fascia 25x”, taken from the full documentary “Strolling Under the Skin”. (Have another watch here if you’ve forgotten). In your thorax, the fascia is constantly changing, stiffening and releasing as we go about our lives. As the fascia around the muscles around the spine stiffen up, this causes all the muscles to consequently stiffen up in sympathy. Nothing could be worse for your flexibility than having a tight back. Limited range of motion throughout these muscles and fascia is going to cause others to stiffen up and soon you’ll find that you’re actually losing flexibility.

Doing these thoracic mobilisers is going to help keep all those structures working optimally and performing at top capacity. You’ll find that there are lots of area where you have a large range of motion but in other directions, you’ll be tighter than you thought. Maybe you can bend backwards really far but have real trouble rounding your back. Doing these exercises not only allows you to ascertain where you have restrictions but also points out where you have excessive motion.

We like to call these mobilisers “exercises” as they combine stretching and strengthening into one movement. Being conscious of what you are doing allows you to recognise what correct movement patterning feels like. Doing this enough will embed this patterning into your subconscious so you won’t have to think so hard about your technique when dancing and can focus on performing.

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Taping for the Back

Why use tape?

Even when we know what we SHOULD be doing with our back, sometimes this is easier said than done! Muscles often fire too much, and we need them to calm down, or they are lacking the endurance to do what we want them to do. Both of these situations can be helped with the correct application of different types of tape. All tapes have different purposes. Knowing how to correctly apply tape for your condition can really accelerate your training. However, using the wrong method may hinder your progress, so where possible please check with your dance teacher or therapist before trying it. Please note that you should never experience pain or increased tension from any tape application.

Also, some individuals have a sensitivity to some of the components in the adhesive on tape. To test if you are sensitive to any type of tape, cut off a small square and apply to the soft skin on the inner forearm or stomach for at least 2 hours. If there is any redness or irritation it is not advisable to use this tape on your skin. There are various preparations on the market that may help to reduce sensitivity, so feel free to trial several to see which works for you.

Dynamic Tape – Used to offload areas of strain and to support muscles.

Dynamic Tape is a great tool for anyone who is trying to retrain certain muscles but finds that the muscles fatigue quickly. Often you can notice this by how long you can accurately hold your posture. People with weak deep core activation often have bad posture and sit in a flexed position when sitting at a desk or at a table, or find it challenging to stand for long periods. Even when you know WHAT to do, it may be hard to sustain a good position for an extended period of time, or you may simply forget when focussed on an additional task. The effects of this habitually bad posturing can not only have long term effects on your core muscles but can also negatively impact on your digestion, mood and breath.

With this Dynamic Taping technique, you can help to subconsciously train your brain into forgetting your old habits and adopting new, better habits. This is done by a process of constant feedback from the tape. When your back wants to tend into the slumped position, the tape will pull on the muscles and remind you to readjust your position to the better position. The tape has elastic properties and a recoil ability that means that when it is put on stretch, it will want to move back into its original position. Think of a bow when an arrow is fired. This taping technique also helps take the load off the bigger muscles helping you to improve your endurance over time.

Watch the video below to see Lisa’s technique and see the tape in action. You will have to get a friend to help you with this one as positioning is key!

 

K-Tape to reduce tone in muscles

Sometimes you may need to try and reduce the activation of some muscles as they may fire too much, in a response to an underlying weakness, which can lead to sore back muscles and general overall tension. Often if the smaller stabilisers are not firing when they should, the body attempts to stabilise by chronically contracting the long Erector Spinae muscles. It’s not exactly accurate to say that the big muscles need to be “switched off” as they should be working in cooperation with the other muscles in your back, but it’s a good image to help reduce excessive tension. Using K-Tape is a good way to lessen the effort exerted by the big global back muscles to allow you to specifically train your other, deeper muscles that are the true stabilisers of your back. Improved control of these deeper back muscles ultimately leads to a more flexible and dynamically stable spine.

Try this taping method if you find that you have lots of tension in your lower back or if you feel very sore in your big long back muscles after a full day. However, we do not recommend that you use this taping technique during class. Often the range of motion achieved is great, however, until you have the strength to control this new range of motion, the back may be unstable and vulnerable to injury. Use this taping technique to reduce firing in your big back muscles while you practice all of the deep core exercises in our New Approach to Core Stability program.

 

 

 

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A New Approach To Core Stability

Woo hoo! Its Finally Here!

After I took our old core stability book off the market almost 18 months ago, we have had so many dancers and teachers patiently waiting for the new version to be released, and now it’s finally ready! I wanted to review the resource as so much has changed in the research and development of training stability of our spine, and I always want every one of our resources to be sharing the latest knowledge available. So while the old one was good, this one is even better.

By far one of the major problem areas that we see as therapists working with dancers, athletes, office workers and weekend warriors alike is in the the area of “Core Stability.” The issues we see are two-fold. On one hand, very few people have good natural core control and dynamic stability of the spine. The second is that many of the exercises that people are taught to do do not address the real issue. Lack of true stability of the spine leads to over compensation by other structures which leads to many of the injuries that we see in the clinic. This is especially true for young dancers who are training specific movements over and over again.

Are you still doing traditional stability exercises?

The latest research shows this could be doing more harm than good!

Many dancers, athletes and other individuals who have been involved in Personal Training, Physio or Pilates classes are performing “core” exercises that may focus too much on control or restricting movement by bracing. Often we discover that the very exercises that individuals are using to try and better themselves are actually part of the problem. Over recruitment of muscles can cause just as many, if not more issues, than weakness in muscles, and this often happens when individuals have been formally taught how to move. In addition, many people perform their stability exercises lying on their back, which does not prepare them for the demands of sitting, standing and dancing!

What is needed is a radical rethink of what ‘core stability’ actually is, and a new approach to training stability in dancers which is built up over the years. When addressing core stability when there is an issue with mobility or pain in older dancers, we need to make a careful assessment of each individuals movement strategies, isolate their specific weaknesses and a develop a carefully considered retraining program to retrain optimal stability.

The focus in training core stability has evolved from a focus on control, maintaining neutral and restricting movement, to tapping into the natural deep stabilising systems of the human body, and reprogramming them to allow a fluidly stable, dynamic core. This allows greater relaxation of the outer movement muscles, relieving much of the pain experienced by dancers and office workers alike.

When we ask most dancers what they do for their ‘core training’ we get the common reply of “Planks, Sit-ups and Crunches”. These exercises are not necessarily “bad” exercises, however the problem is in the  way they are performed if the individual lacks the control to do them properly. Also, if they are not  movements that are a part of our normal movement in daily life, then excessive training of them can lead to altered movement patterns when it matters most! Training your stability should be done in accordance with what you actually have to do in life, whether that is sitting in an office, lifting a three year old, or performing a Grand pas de deux in a Classical Ballet. This program aims to give you a completely new approach to the development of core stability in your own body, whether you are young a dance student, a professional dancer, an office worker or a keen athlete.  I aim to give you an insight into the nature of true core stability and how it can be developed naturally over the years, rather than with the onset of problems and pain.

The most important factor in staying vibrant, vital, happy, healthy, and physically capable as we age is stability of our spine. If we are intrinsically more mobile, or spent many hours training in our youth; learning how to correctly stabilise our own spine can give us greater insight into how to train our students. As the demand on dancers increases through challenging choreography, acrobatics being included in dance, and ever increasing ranges of motion becoming ‘normal’, effective and specific training is becoming more and more essential into the long term health of our dancers.

Using a combination of exercises to naturally facilitate the subtle deep core muscles, and a clearly laid out grid to help guide your training through 5 different positions and 5 different grades, our “New Approach To Core Stability” program will teach you how to have a dynamically stable spine throughout your life, no matter what you do during the day.

This kind of stability is essential for resolving chronic back pain, but also has the added benefits of allowing greater spinal mobility and flexibility through the whole body, as many muscles that have been previously overused can relax.

This program approaches Core Stability training in a completely new way. Using a simple visual chart comprising of 5 different positions(Lying, Side Lying, 4 Point, Sitting and Standing) and 5 different grades, you can work your way through the entire program at your own pace, layering levels of stability to achieve ultimate dynamic control of the spine and pelvis. We work on rediscovering the body’s own intelligence, and rebuilding the natural layers of stability that many of us fail to build as infants and young children. This logical and strategic process allows you to develop your own individual training program within the framework of a structured course, and will also give you unlimited options for variations, once you understand the principles.

Take the next step in your own professional and personal development, and share the jewels that I have discovered in this area of training!

As a special Launch Bonus, you can get $5 off
the purchase price until 30th September 2015! 

Simply use the code “COREBOOK50”

Remember that all our prices are in Australian Dollars – so go to www.xe.com to work out how much in your local currency!

Currently $50 AUD = Approximately $36.50 USD

This is a completely new program, which will change how you feel about “Core Stability” forever! 

FIND OUT MORE!

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The Oversplit Leg Mount

One particular stretch that is has been popping up more and more in my Instagram and Facebook feeds that has me very, very worried, is the oversplit leg mount. Young dance students are taking the leg past its natural range of motion, and often right behind their neck or upper back. I am concerned that the student, their parents or even their teachers do not fully understand the risks that are involved with repeatedly performing this particular move. In the clinic at Perfect Form Physio we are seeing more and more hip injuries related to this kind of over-stretching, and so I wanted to write an article explaining exactly what is going on in the hip joint, so that everyone has more information and can train more safely.

(Once again, thanks to Dad for the great cartoon!)

When any of the methods that we use to improve our dancing are questioned, we should ask ourselves the following questions:

1. Why are we doing it? 

2. Is it necessary? .

3. What are the risks? 

4. What’s happening anatomically? 

5. Is there another way to do it better? 

To read the full article that answers each of these questions – CLICK HERE!

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