Bow Legs
Dancing Smart Newsletter
June 24, 2005
Summer has arrived! I love reading the research that talks about the importance of Vitamin Dand it's connection in cancer prevention, alleviating depression, and improvinga whole host of ailments. The bestpart is that being out in the sun on a daily basis is the best way for yourbody to manufacture Vitamin D. That's a good reason for everyone to take a quick break from work and gooutside and enjoy the sun!
Onto the question of the week from Claire:
I know that forcing myself to turn out will hurt my ankleand knee, but will it cause my leg to become bow shaped too? (I mean the bone from the knee to theankle is not in a straight line.) I ask because when I was a child, before I learned ballet, I didn't havebow legs, but after a few years, my calf shape has changed. Lately my teacher is telling me that Iuse the wrong muscle to turn out. I'm scared that I have hurt my leg because I have used the wrong methodto turnout for such a long time. Ihave a sickled foot problem, too. Does the bowed leg problem make me have a sickled foot? It bothers me a lot because no matterhow I try to make myself turn out, it still looks like it is sickled. As a result I can't perform well onpointe. I am supposed to take theAdvanced 1 exam next year. How canI improve? What can I do to curemy leg?
Thanks, Claire
Let me try and sort through some of your concerns. First, I want to put your mind at restthat you created the bowing of your legs from turning out incorrectly. You didn't. As children grow they can appear to be more or less bowlegged during growth spurts, so the amount of bowing that you have now, you maynot have had always. Bow legs is astructural problem. You aregenetically predisposed to having bow legs. There are a few stray situations where it can develop inother ways, rickets, for one. Butthat disorder is very rare in this day and age.
What I read into your comment that your teacher has informedyou that you are using the wrong muscle to turn out, I'm assuming that you wererotating the foot more than what the hip could tolerate. This may create some tibial torsion oroutward rotation of the shin bone, and create some knee and ankle problems, butwon't create bow legs.
If you do have the bowing of the shin bone (called the tibia),then when you point your feet and follow the line of the bone, it will appearthat your foot is sickled. So theanswer to whether bow legs and sickled feet can go hand in hand is yes. I would encourage your to strengthenall the muscles around the ankle to better control the tendency to sickle. Tryputting your foot in a theraband and doing large ankle circles, slowly and thenmore quickly. Rotate your foot inboth directions. It won't takevery many of the ankle circles to feel some fatigue around your anklejoint. Don't over do, but slowlyincrease the amount of circles you are doing. Start with ten in each direction, and then work up totwenty.
To work towards pointe, you can do slow relevé³s standing onthe bottom step of a stairs. Monitor carefully that when you are risingonto the demi pointe that the weight is placed between the second and third toes,which is the middle of thefoot. When you are sickling theweight would be towards the little toe side of the foot, and when you are pronatingit would be primarily over the big toe. You want to be right in the centerof the foot,
You didn't mention whether you have hyperextendedknees. If you do, and are allowingyourself to drop back into your hyperextension, then your legs will lookbowed. If that is the reason foryour bow legs, then the correction would be to stop going into hyperextension,at least when you are standing on your feet. In the air, you can hyperextend the knees without beingconcerned.
Hope that helped, Claire, and good luck with your advancedexam!
PS: You maywant to purchase my new book, Tune Up Your Turnout, which goes into more detailabout tibial torsion and hyperextension and their influence on turnout. There are lots of good exercises towork with your turnout in it as well. It's available online at www.thebodyseries.com
Warm regards,
Deborah