Common Dance Injuries
Houston Chiropractor Comments: Being in the Clear Lake area of Houston, TX, we are blessed to have several excellent dance studios for our children to learn a variety of dance forms. Over the last 30 years I have treated several hundred kids and young adults with a variety of injuries from different sports. The most common dance injuries that I have seen and had excellent results with are as a result of overuse and over training.
The most common injury that we treat is hip pain. The pain typically comes from hip flexor tendonitis or iliotibial band syndrome (ITB). This responds very well to soft tissue therapy and educating the dancers and their parents on how to proactively treat the problem.
The second most common injury that we see is injuries to the lumbar spine and sacroiliac joint. These are treated with spinal manipulation and physical modalities (electrical stimulation, traction, ultrasound, and ice/heat). Afterwards the patient is given stabilization exercises to help prevent a reoccurrence of the problem.
The third most common complaint that we work on is injuries to the knee and ankle. The knee is typically a patellofemoral (around the kneecap) pain due to a muscle imbalance or a tendonitis. This responds well by making sure that all of the muscles on the front of the thigh (quadriceps) are equally stretched out. Typically one of the muscles will become dominant and tend to get tighter. This can lead also to patella (knee cap) tracking issues. The ankle is typically due to a joint dysfunction. This can cause muscles to be used incorrectly. This responds very well to joint mobilization and physical modalities to the related tendons.
Now that you know the common injuries and how they can be treated, we will discuss how to hopefully prevent the injury to begin with. First of all you need to warm-up before training and practice. Second you need to make sure that you get enough rest and don’t over train. Third you need to wear the proper shoes. Fourth you need to eat well and stay hydrated and finally you need to do cross training exercises to build up the endurance and strength in all parts of your body.
Dr. Ward Beecher practices at Beecher Chiropractic Clinic at 1001 Pineloch, Ste 700 Houston, TX 77062. You can schedule an appointment at www.BeecherChiropractic.com or by calling (281) 286-1300. If you have any questions regarding this blog, please comment below!
