Hyperextended Knees
Dancing Smart Newsletter
August 5, 2005
Announcements
Happy August
Where did the summer go? When August rolls around it seems to be rolling quickly towards preparation of school and studios starting back up in a few short weeks. As encouragement to keep our stress levels down through a balanced lifestyle of good nutrition, restful sleep and exercise, I'd like to summarize some research that was conducted over a 6-year period at McGill University at the Laboratory of Human Stress Research. They were studying the effects of cortisol, which is the stress hormone. They found that long-term stress may impair the learning ability of young people and weakened the memory of older people. I am certainly aware that higher stress levels often go hand in hand with the responsibilities of adulthood, but am currently more aware (perhaps by having 3 teenagers) that the stress levels of our students seems higher than it was during my student years. More pressure to succeed, more pressure to get in the right college, etc. Let's make dance class the place they come to de-stress, get healthy and let them feed their souls with their desires to be dancers. AND – do it in a way that maintains a healthy body and self-image!
I'm working hard to upgrade the look of the newsletter while keeping it within my computer skill level. If any of you encounter problems with opening up the newsletter please feel free to let me know so I can work on getting out as many of the glitches as possible. I appreciate your patience during this process.
Question of the Week
I am enjoying your wonderful enlightening newsletter here in Paris, France. Recently, I am very confused regarding when knees can be defined as hyperextended.
As an adult ballet student, my teachers anywhere, in Germany as well as in New York City as well as in Paris, frequently tell me to stretch my legs more, meaning from behind the knees. Especially during floor barre class, for example when lying on my back with my leg raised en avant. Recently, one of my very anatomically correct teachers even urged me to stretch a little harder; according to her I could risk to do that since my knees were not hyperextended.
A few months ago, I began a Pilates Teachers Certification Program. My trainers there all tell me to unlock and release my knees a little, since according to them my knees are hyperextended.
According to my own assessment, I feel unable to lock my knees, and when standing up straight, my knees feel relaxed. During ballet class I frequently have to remind myself to pull the patella up to stabilize the knee joint...
What I do know is that I have tibial torsion, but that of course is an entirely different subject....
Thank you for any insight you might have on this. And do you think your book Tune Up Your Turn Out might be available via amazon.com sometime in the future? It would be easier to order it from Europe with them.
Merci encore – Oriane
Deb's Answer
It is definitely challenging to work with hyperextended knees in standing. To stand with your knees in neutral requires the hyperextended dancer to be able to balance in a position that initially feels unstable is hard. A very simple test for hyperextension is lying down on your back and straighten your legs. How high off the ground does your heel come? The more hyperextended your knees are the farther off the floor your heel is. (Pictures of this are in Tune Up Your Turnout on pages 45-46)
So often dancers work to get a specific look to their legs, and let's face it, hyperextended knees have that 'look'. So what to do about this situation? I think some compromising and negotiating is in order to allow for correct muscle usage without losing the aesthetic line that is so pleasing. Here are my thoughts on how to do that.
First, when your leg is the gesture leg, in an arabesque or some other form of extension, you can allow your leg to lengthen into a hyperextended position. The line is more visually pleasing, and pressure on the kneecap and joint is minimal as compared to weight bearing. Injuries due to hyperextension generally occur when you are weight bearing, not when the leg is in the air. So lengthen your leg as much as you like. Lengthen is the important word here. When you think of lengthening instead of straightening the body thinks of elongating. Different words can create different responses in the body so be aware of what messages you are sending your muscles.
When you stand in a first position, I would ask that your heels be almost touching. This will help prevent your knees going into hyperextension. You will notice that the more hyperextended a dancer is, the wider apart their feet are in first position. I realize that you may not feel like your knees are straight when your feet are closer together. Focus on allowing your weight to press gently through your feet as you lengthen the pelvis away from the floor. Keeping equal energy going in both directions will automatically keep you from locking back into the joint and dropping your weight into your heels.
Try not to 'hold' your positions. Keep your movement fluid and flowing, even if you are standing in a seemingly unmovable position such as first. I find balancing on one leg to be very helpful with this. Practice standing in coupé, breathing, elongating, lengthening the standing leg, this will help the knee understand where center is. You will find that when you allow the standing leg to go into hyperextension you will feel the pelvis drop its weight. It does this by tucking the pelvis under slightly, and shifting forward over the front of the foot. If someone were watching the dancer from the side they would see them get shorter in a subtle but visible way. By continuing to lift and lengthen away from the floor it automatically helps the knee from dropping into hyperextension – without thinking and focusing on the knees so much. The quadriceps will lift the kneecap when necessary because you haven't dropped back into the joint.
I enjoy working on the Pilates reformer as you can easily monitor the pelvic placement in relationship to your knees. This is a little harder in just a floor barre where you don't have anything to press against as you do when you are standing. Working with the knees in neutral you will initially feel as if you aren't working hard enough, that your knees feel soft. In time this will change as you lay down new patterning. I have had dancers who made the shift from hyperextending their knees in standing and now feel the discomfort it causes if they allow the weight to drop back into the knees as they used to.
As far getting Tune Up Your Turnout to Europe, I have been sending the book Global Priority Mail. If you are interested, please go to my website and order through the secure server. I'll have it in the mail the very next day (often the same day!)
Looking forward to seeing some of you in New York this weekend!
Warm regards,
Deborah