Dancing is a great way to keep your body in great shape. But have you ever considered how much physical strain dancing puts on the body?
Dancers subject their bodies to a great deal of stress. After all, they must recruit and balance extraordinary agility, strength, and precision while staying aesthetically pleasing in their movements.
Intensive dance training entails strenuous, repetitive motions and the accompanying impact and stress on the foot and ankle are complex. With the number of hours dancers devote to practice, it is not surprising that 3 out of 4 dancer injuries result from overuse, with foot and ankle injuries accounting for the majority.
These are the most common dancing injuries:
Achilles Tendinitis (Tendinitis of the Heel)
Achilles tendinitis is caused by overuse of the Achilles tendon, which is a tough band of fibrous tissue that connects the calf muscles to the calcaneus, or heel bone. It is the most common type of tendon injury among dancers. Pain in the back of the leg or above the heel and soreness or stiffness are common symptoms.
Dancers Heel (Posterior Impingement Syndrome)
Ballet dancers are susceptible to the dancer’s heel, which is a compression of bone tissue in the back of the ankle. The compression worsens as the inflamed bone grows, and surrounding soft tissue becomes trapped between the bone spurs (osteophyte).
Pain and stiffness in the sole are common symptoms of this condition. Pain can be exacerbated by both prolonged sitting and increased activity.
Hammertoe (Rotated Toe)
A hammertoe occurs when the muscles and ligaments surrounding the toe joint go out of equilibrium. This causes your toe’s middle joint to buckle and become stuck in this position.
The most obvious sign of a hammertoe is a toe or toes that look buckled upward in the middle. You may get blisters and calluses on your toes due to these buckled toes, as well as pain in your toe joint, pain when walking, and stiffness in bent toes.
Anterior Impingement Syndrome (Athlete’s Ankle or Footballer’s Ankle)
The growth of bone spurs in the front of the ankle joint is the cause of anterior ankle impingement syndrome.
People with anterior ankle impingement typically experience pain over the front of the ankle joint, particularly when the foot is lifted higher towards the shin (dorsiflexion).
Plantar Fasciitis (Policeman’s Heels)
Plantar fasciitis is an inflammation of the fascia, a thick band of tissue that runs from your heel to your toes on the bottom of your foot. Plantar fasciitis is characterized by stabbing pain in the heel.
Shin Splints (Tibial Stress Syndrome)
Shin splints are caused by stress on the shinbone (tibia) and the connective tissues that connect muscles to bones. The most noticeable symptom is throbbing and aching shins.
Sprained Ankle
The ankle bones are held in place by three ligaments. A sprained ankle occurs when one of these ligaments is overstretched or torn.
The inflammation caused by a sprained ankle can cause swelling, bruising, and pain, as well as difficulty walking.
Hallux Limitus
Hallux limitus is a condition that causes the hallux, the joint that connects the big toe to the foot, to become inflamed, sore, and stiff.
Hallux limitus can escalate to hallux rigidus (also known as turf toe or stiff big toe), in which the joint becomes immobile and walking becomes difficult or impossible.
Dancer’s Fracture (Avulsion Fracture)
A dancer’s fracture refers to a fracture at the base of the fifth metatarsal bone, the long bone in the mid-foot that connects to the fifth (little) toe. This type of fracture occurs due to a minor break in the bone due to ankle and foot inverting and twisting injury, which is very common in dancers.
Localized pain, swelling, and bruising on the lateral component of the foot, and difficulty walking are common symptoms.
Metatarsalgia
Metatarsalgia is a common overuse injury characterized by pain and swelling in the ball of the foot. It is frequently considered a symptom of other disorders rather than as a disease in and of itself.
The most common symptom of metatarsalgia is pain at the base of one or more metatarsal bones. These are the bones closest to your toes in the ball of your foot. Visit the FootDocStore.com blog for more information on how to keep your feet and ankles healthy.