Are you a dance athlete in Greenville SC? If anyone says that dancers are not an athlete, then they obviously know nothing about dance. Dance athletes require the perfect balance of strength, flexibility, coordination, and power in order to create the illusion of simplicity and beauty with the most difficult of dynamic movements. Let’s face it, dance is a hard sport! Try to get 100 individuals to stand, walk, run, and then leap on the tips of their toes like a ballerina, or perform a Flair in breakdancing, and I guarantee less than 1-out-of-100 will be flexible, strong, or coordinated enough to so.
So with dance being such a difficult sport, why are dancers often the forgotten athlete? Is it because most styles of dance are never on TV? Or because dance is rarely offered college scholarships? Or maybe, is it because today’s generation would rather be playing videos game and watching cat videos rather than branching out to explore what they are good at physically? PS, I am not hating on cat videos as I have watched three just today. But no, I honestly think it is because dance is such a high skill level of athletic performance that many individuals are too nervous to tryout for any style of dance. Dance is a specialized sport and many people have no clue where to start. Some individuals also feel like it is too late to start dance. And let’s be honest, some people just don’t have rhythm, and rhythm is essential for dancers. But in every sport, you can practice and learn to develop your skills enough to excel in any sport. Furthermore, just like how there are a variety of ways to sing (opera, rap, country, pop, etc.) there are a variety of styles of dance (tap, hip hop, ballet, jazz, ballroom, etc.). And like how ~75% of the population believe they can’t sing, or are self-conscious about singing, I’m sure there is an equal number of the population who think they can not dance. What is neat to see in current society is how dance is becoming more popular through trends on social media. Trends like The Dab, The Dougie, and The Floss (which I’m still unsure if I call The Floss a dance). Maybe this change in dance trends will begin inspiring children of a younger age to engage and seek out more routes in dance.
Regardless of everything I just wrote, we should all understand now that dancers are athletes!And like all athletes, dancer can sustain injuries from their sport. I have worked with every style of dance and the injuries that come along with dance: tap dancing knee injuries, hip-hop spine injuries, ballet dancer foot injuries, etc. Every dance style is unique, and so are their injuries. I will discuss many common injuries, treatment, and preventative medicine in future blog posts. Most of these blog posts will be aimed towards the ballet dance athlete, since this is a majority of the current patient population I work with.
A physical therapist specialized in the rehabilitation of the dance athletes is a rare niche in today’s world. Being connected with a physical therapist specialized in dance medicine is even more rare. A dancer in our clinic can trust they will recover from their injuries faster than any other treatment location. Additionally, we focus on correcting faulty technique in order to prevent possible future injuries, thus increasing the longevity of a dancer’s career.
If you have questions about your pain/injury/limitation, or are interested in injury prevention, then call us at (864) 881-1712. We would love to take some time to help you.
If you need a physical therapist to evaluate, treat, or prevent your pain/injury/limitation, then click HERE to schedule an appointment today.