Bad Floors
Dancing Smart Newsletter
December 9, 2005
Announcements
The end of the year time crunch is upon us! I remind myself that even though my schedule is very full, I have the choice of my perspective – which makes all the difference to my physical and emotional health, and I chose not to feel overwhelmed!
I'm working hard on developing ways to increase the quality and quantity of information to share with you. Stay tune for more info – hopefully by the end of this year!
If you are interested in the new posters that are up on the website – don't delay. I haven't decided whether to keep them on as a regular product or a one time special offer.
Question of the Week
I love your book and your newsletter! You have helped me so much with my teaching! You do not need to publish this question in your newsletter as I understand it is probably rather uncommon, but I must ask because of my pain recently.
I began dancing at 2 years old because I had a congenitally dislocated hip, and the doctors suggested dance as therapy. I continued through college and rarely had problems with my hip. I am now 24 and teach dance on a military base in Okinawa Japan. I teach on a very unforgiving floor... pure concrete with tiles over the top. I am looking into purchasing a spring floor, but am having cost and shipping issues. Anyway, my hip and lower back have been bothering me immensely... I can hardly sleep through the night because of the pain. I'm not sure if the floor is to blame or if I actually injured something in my hip or lower back. Do you have any suggestions? I am considering trying to see a chiropractor, but as you can imagine, there aren't any dance specialists on the military base.
Thanks in advance for your help,
Sandee
And another floor question…
What would you say could be the effects on the body of dancing on a floor that is warped, uneven, sloping, hard in spots, and lumpy? The floor I have been taking class on is not level in any direction for more than a few inches. You do a tendu and suddenly your toe is off the floor, because the floor is no longer there. You step out and the floor is either lower or higher than you expect it to be. I have been noticing a lot of new aches and pains and some old stuff returning. There could be several other factors, but I am beginning to suspect that this floor is at least exacerbating my problems. What do you think?
Susan
Deb's Answer
There is no doubt that an uneven floor and concrete floors can have quite an impact on our bodies. The uneven floor that Susan describes is a dancer's worst nightmare. Have any of you walked down stairs in dim light and expected there to be another step and felt jolted? Your nervous system prepares your muscles to respond as if the ground is stable – and when it isn't, your nervous system has to do some quick responding in order to keep you on balance and your joints in alignment.
I'm not sure that I would take much more than a simple barre in a studio such as the one described. I imagine as one goes across the floor with a ballet combination, that your brain, nervous system, and muscles would all be yelling "danger – stay alert now – hold on – bumpy floor ahead!" While I am exaggerating slightly how your body might be communicating with itself, I have no doubt that there is much more muscle work happening than is ideal.
Onto concrete floors…
Sandee's situation of dancing on tile over concrete floors isn't uncommon. Many teachers have taught in a room in the church or community center, or in a school classroom that has a hard tile floor.
We know that when you run your foot takes an impact that is 2.5 times the weight of your body. Runners wear shoes that help to cushion their impact. Every year the material they use for increasing a shoes shock absorption gets better and better.
Dance sneakers come closest in addressing the hardness of the floor – but are obviously unacceptable for a ballet class. (Although I have seen ballet teachers teaching in them) It may be possible to experiment with using an inexpensive gel insole, either just a heel cushion, or a full foot insole that you could shorten at the base of the toes. If there is just no way around dancing barefoot or you don't want to try putting heel cushions in your ballet shoes, then I would focus on the time spent on your feet outside of class and make sure that you are in the best shoes that you can find. No flip-flops, no heeled fashion shoes.
My advice to you Sandee, as you have clearly irritated your back and hip is to follow the general rules for muscle strains. You want to de-inflame first and foremost. This would mean using ice on your back or hip at least 3 times a day, certainly after teaching a class. You may want to take an anti inflammatory dosage of ibuprofen. That is typically 800 mgs, 3 times a day with food. (Disclaimer – check with your doctor first) Taking an anti inflammatory to calm down the irritated tissues whether that is nerve or muscle is your first line of defense. If you do not want to or cannot take ibuprofen you may want to try reducing the inflammation through more natural means. I do keep MSM in my kitchen cupboard. You can look at http://www.loudzen.com/canary/supplements/anti-inflammatories.html for more information on natural aids.
What else can you do? When anyone has an issue with his or her lower back or hip I always check out whether the iliopsoas may be involved. If I find that it is tight on the affected side, I would encourage gentle stretching. Instead of doing the runners lunge, lay on a diagonal on your bed and allow the leg to gently hang off the edge while holding underneath the other knee to keep the back lengthened and at rest. You should feel this stretch at the front of the hip, not in your back. If this irritates your back or hip, stop immediately.
Your back may also feel better lying in inversion. To create your own inexpensive inversion table you would take a strong board, perhaps a foot or more wide and 3 feet in length and place one end up about 6 inches. (Perhaps on a thick book, or the bottom step of stairs) Lie on your back on the board, head on the low end, with your knees bent and feet on the ground. You could also go to the gym and just rest on the incline board that may be there for sit ups – although I would never encourage you to use the incline board for sit ups as they aren't very good for strengthening abdominals. Resting for 5 minutes as you imagine your spine lengthening and decompressing has helped many a dancer with lower back pain. Inversion tables, gravity boots (remember those?), traction tables are all designed to do the same thing, but are just more expensive. Be creative and see what you can come up with.
A good massage may be helpful for decreasing the overall tension of the area and it may be easier to find a massage practitioner over a dance medicine specialist in Japan. If I were in your situation and after some time working on my own wasn't getting anywhere I would find out who the best acupuncturist or local Chinese/Japanese doctor that everyone goes to for challenging situations. The traditional medical model in the east is based on thousands of years of observation into the relationships of the body and offer much to those who want a more holistic viewpoint.
Best wishes, Sandee. Let me know how you do!
Warm regards,
Deborah