Straight Knees
Dancing Smart Newsletter
April 1, 2005
Hope you are enjoying a wonderful start to April! It's getting to be a very busy time ofthe year preparing for recitals and spring programs. Quick note on the questions you send in. Sometimes I am able to send a personalresponse right away; sometimes I have to save them for a later newsletter. Like all of you, I am juggling manyballs and when my schedule eases off towards the summer I hope to be able toanswer more of the wonderful questions that come in. Plus – I am determined this summer to figure out howto add photos and diagrams to my newsletters!
Onto this week's question.
Two questions with similar concerns
Question: Myleg never seems to get all the way straight when I dance. I want to know if there are anystretches to help my leg to be straighter or if it is just how my leg is built.
Deborah, I love your answers, this is such an asset toteachers who are constantly working with students to help them understand theirbodies more each day. What tips doyou have for pointe students who can be on pointe, but still have difficultystraightening their knees? Thanksagain for all your expertise!!!!
Elizabeth
Good questions and somewhat challenging to answer. Knees come in all shapes andsizes. Typically, the desired lookfor dancers has a slight hyperextension to the knees. In my opinion, the slighter the better as hyperextensionbrings many other issues with it. The look of the quadriceps muscles, and the overall length to the legalso influence our eye. The amountof flexibility at the ankle joint will change the overall look of the leg.
That being said, when you are sitting on the floor with yourlegs straight, you will notice that the kneecap, which is also called thepatella, rises above the rest of the leg. When you are standing the MIDDLE of the knee should be in line with themiddle of the ankle and hip joints, not the front, as many dancers are temptedto create. You will notice youngdancers who are very stiff will have trouble straightening their legs as theyare sitting. This is a clear signof tightness that is getting in their way of their alignment. They will either hunch over becausethey can't sit up on a neutral pelvis, or their knees will lift away from thefloor. These are obvious signs oftightness, but often the older dancer isn't quite so obvious, especially ifthey are in a growth spurt. Duringgrowth spurts muscles can become tighter because bone grows faster than musclesand creates temporary muscle stiffness.
If there are muscular reasons that are getting in the way ofstraightening your knees we need to look at the quadriceps which extend theknee, and the hamstrings and gastrocnemius muscles, which flex the knee, andlook at the balance between them.
It is unusual that I find dancers with weakness of thequadriceps muscles. When I do, itis usually the dancers with extremely hyperextended knees who test weak, andthey aren't the ones getting the corrections about straightening their knees.
More often, I find dancers with tight hamstrings or tightgastrocnemius muscles being the cause for less than straight legs. Both muscles cross the knee joint andflex it. First, I would check thelength of the hamstring muscles, especially if they are in a growth spurt. The way to do that is to have them liedown on their backs, and you will lift one leg slowly and gently off the flooruntil the knee begins to bend. Thedancer must stay relaxed and not try to keep the leg straight; otherwise yourtest is flawed. Dancers who havetight hamstring muscles will try to keep the leg straight as they are beingtested which will rotate the pelvis, lifting it off the floor, instead ofbending the knee.
As the person testing you want to be very aware of theweight of the leg as you are testing. Dancers tend to be control freaks and have a hard time giving up anyarea of their body. I know becauseI was (am) still guilty of this. (Along with the majority of dancers that I have worked with over thelast 25 years!) The way I getaround that is I hold their leg and gently move it up and down in a small rangeof motion until I feel them beginning to release the weight into my hands.
Another quick and dirty way to check for tight hamstrings isto have the dancer sitting on the floor with both legs straight and together infront of them. Are they easilyable to sit all the way up on their pelvis? If they are rolled onto the back of their pelvis you can suspecttheir hamstrings are tight.
Secondarily, you want to check out the tightness of theirgastrocnemius muscle. That is thetop layer of calf muscles. Itcrosses the knee and the ankle, and works very hard when you rise into arelevè. A dancer with a tightgastroc muscle will want to walk in a very turned out position because theywon't need to roll through the foot.
Have any of you seen basketball players who almost seem tobounce as they walk with their heels lifting off as soon as they transfer theweight forward onto the ball of the foot? Tight calf muscles. Watchyour dancers doing a demi pliè in parallel and notice how deep of a pliè theyattain. The demi pliè is a verygood test for a deeper calf muscle, called the soleus, but when the gastroc isvery tight, it will also limit the amount of pliè they can attain. Dotheyhave a tendency to shiftforward onto the front of the foot? Could be poor movement patterns, butit could also be tight calfmuscles.
The solution for both tight hamstrings and calf muscles isslow and consistent stretching. Ifavor hamstring stretches that are not on the floor. I like to have my dancers stretch one leg at a time, puttingtheir foot on a chair or lower table. If their hamstrings are really tight the barre is too high of a surfaceto be effective.
Consistency and passivity are very important elements inyour stretching. I often have mydancers holding their stretches for upwards of 1-3 minutes, breathing easilywhile they release muscle tension and drop more into their stretch.
Calf stretching can be done sitting with a theraband aroundthe foot, or in the classic lunge position. Caution your dancers to stretch with awareness. They will get much better results fromtheir stretching, and they can chat with their friends afterwards.
Warmest regards,
Deborah