Celebrity D ance I nstruction - Hot Conversion M astered Pages, 8 Dvd Set.
Calf Pain and Achilles Injuries in Dancers Dancing has never been more popular especially with the ever popular celebrity Dancing competitions on TV. With more and more people now taking up the sport there are more people suffering injuries. The majority of injuries in dancers involve the legs and the foot. The foot is regularly forced into a hyper flexed position especially in ballet and tap classes. This causes the calf muscles and the Achilles tendon to become over worked and tighten. As a result, the biomechanics of walking can become altered causing injury to the foot, calf, knee, hip and back. It can also cause these structures to thicken up and become scarred. This makes them more prone to injury. Bunions, hammer toe, ingrown toe nails and Morton's neuroma are all problems that can occur with dance. Also ankle sprains, metatarsalgia and arthritis are also common. So whilst it looks graceful and effortless, dancers very often have terrible feet. Many of these problems are caused by the foot being in a poor position, biomechanically incorrect and poor maintenance afterwards. As with any athlete, the more you look after your body, the less injury you will get. This includes stretching, joint mobilisations and graduated training programs. Listen to pain! Pain has a function of telling you if the body is not happy and damage is being done. If you address it immediately usually it can be resolved quickly. However if you let it continue, arthritis and other irreversible problems can occur. Obviously it is not possible to change the dance, however, it is possible to help reduce the damage caused by constant flexed positions. Calf stretching is fundamental. Muscle stretches should not be aggressive. When a position is reached that causes a slight stretch within the muscles then it should remain in this position for approximately 30 seconds. If the intensity of the stretch reduces then the position can be increased slightly but must be done carefully. Deep tissue sports massage is the real key to preventing tightness within the muscle. Sports massage immediately identifies and treats areas of tightness, improves blood supply and helps release all the knots that can potentially cause injury and hinder performance. Dancing places a huge amount of stress throughout the whole body and usually start at the feet. In order for the forces to be distributed correctly and equally, the mechanics of the foot need to be functioning correctly. The most common abnormality in dancers is developing over tight calf muscles. We therefore recommend stretching and soft tissue massage to help avoid injury. Anne-Marie Samuel is the Senior Chartered Physiotherapist at Body in Motion. She specialises in treating pain and injury. For more help please visit http://www.bodyinmotion.co.uk For your free report on fitness and strength training please click here http://www.bodyinmotion.co.uk/home/?page_id=35 Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anne-Marie_Samuel Celebrity D ance I nstruction - Hot Conversion M astered Pages, 8 Dvd Set.