Thursday, January 13, 2011

Beautiful you say...!
Personal image.

WILL THIS PAIN EVER GO...!
ANKLE/FOOT.

Structure
The ankle joint connects the lower leg to the foot and, in dance, allows for pointing the toe (plantar flexion) and flexing the foot during pliĆ© (dorsiflexion). The ankle also allows for inversion and eversion, producing turn-in and turn-out, respectively. The 26 bones in the foot work in concert with ligamentous support and muscular force to create three separate arches, critical for shock absorption during jumps. Structurally, the ideal foot for ballet is considered to be a flexible “square foot”, which has equal-length first and second toes. - Information from...

The foot has the largest number of bones in comparison to the rest of the body and so is very prone to many injuries. Dancers feet are one of the most important parts of the body, if we get problems with our feet or ankles we defiantly know about it!! 
Here's a list of all the dance injuries you can get in the foot and ankle;





Personal work.
  Not so beautiful now! 

This is a great example of 'The Beautiful Illusion.' Ballet is such a beautiful art form and my personal opinion even more beautiful to dance! However, this is what the professional ballet dancer faces in day to day life, the pain behind the beauty! You can see just how prone the body is too injuries and how ballet can really push the body to extremes!

Here is a list of all the dance injuries for the foot and ankle with comments of what the injury can feel like;

Dancer's Fracture - "I landed badly from a jump and now it hurts to walk."
Sesamoiditis - "I have pain underneath my big toe, particularly while walking without shoes."
Hallux Valgus and Bunion - "My big toe points inward and is painful."
Hallux Rigidus - "I have pain with full releve."
Plantar Fasciitis - "My foot hurts when I walk barefoot, especially first thing in the morning."
Metarsalgia - "I have pain over the balls of my feet."
Achilles Tendinitis - "My heel and lower calf hurt, particulary while running or jumping."
Trigger Toe/FHL Tenosynovitis - "My big toe 'clicks' and gets caught' sometimes. I have to use my hands to release it."
Posterior Impingement Syndrome - "I have pain with pointing my foot with releve."
Anterior Impingement Syndrome - "I cant achieve full plie on one side. And when I do, it's painful."
Lateral Ankle Sprain - I rolled my ankle during class and heard a 'pop' sound."

So quite a few problems there! I have personally experienced three of these, the Hallux Valgus/bunion, Metatarsalgia and Achilles Tendinitis. I remember such stiffness and continuous pain with Achilles Tendinitis...you couldn't do anything to escape the pain but still had to continue on dancing. I think that's the problem with most dancer's injuries, we start off with slight pain but ignore it and carry on dancing anyway. This then makes our niggles and pains grow into bigger problems in which we still continue dancing on. Then we end up where we are forced to stop because the problem has become to great and in many cases holts our career and ultimately can result in retirement due to that injury. 

If you have any comments or stories about dancers injuries or injuries in general please feel free to share them on here! Would be great to hear your story! :-)



8 comments:

m-c said...

HI Olivia. I came across your blog and I thought it was really great.
I myself write a ballet blog and was searching for a photo to go with my topic when I came across this image of the foot and ankle with injuries. It was perfect so I borrowed it. I thought it proper though to ask if I may as I would like to credit you with the image, if you don't mind. If you don't want me to use it however, I will take it down and search for another.
However, I'll definitely be back to check out your site again soon :-)
best regards, m-c

Moi said...

Hi there,

Thanks for your interest with my blog. Yes, thats fine to use the image, of course just as long as you credit me! Thanks for letting me know :-) I'll have a little look at your blog...it's great to see blogs about dance! There aren't that many great ones out there! :-)

All the best, Olivia.

m-c said...

Thanks Olivia, that's great. How can I credit you best for the image?
I usually write the whole name of the dancer photographed and who the image is made by.
Please let me know the details so that I can Edit it all properly.
You can best contact me on my own site through the contact page or by leaving a comment.
All the best,
M-C

Moi said...

No problem!

Its quite easy cos the dancer is me Olivia Ratcliffe and the photograph and graphics I've also done. If you could possibly put a link to my blog too that would be great!

All the best for your blog...it looks great! :-)

m-c said...

you are now properly credited. ;-)
Thank you.

Anonymous said...

hello is it okay if i use this picture for my tv production project. I am doing a video on the dangers of dancing and it may be aired on tv

Anonymous said...

Hi Olivia - I guess your image resonated with more than one person! I'm an older dancer who now owns a massage therapy center in NYC. I'm thinking I'd love to use your image on a blog post one day soon. I can discuss dance ad infinitum and your blog is wonderful to delve into! I'm going to take your previous permission as a go ahead to use the image. Thank you so much, and happy dancing.

Yih Shian said...

Hi Olivia,

This article is very informative! I would like to request for your permission to reuse the picture for a talk I am giving on foot health. I will put your site as the source :)