If you're planning to enroll for adult beginner ballet classes, there are two very safe stretches that you can do before you learn anything about ballet. You can do these every day and continue them once you start ballet lessons. Even if you never carry through with dance classes, learn these anyway as they will help to avoid back pain. And if you dance, get some fabulous and easy to learn muscle stretching exercises with The Ultimate Stretching Guide!
Why is back pain so common among adults? Even among adults with no history of injury or back strain, low back pain especially can become a chronic problem, mild or severe.
As you age, your flexibility decreases. Your long muscles that allow a certain range of motion, get shorter. Your joints begin to lose their range of motion, and the ligaments that hold bone to bone begin to lose their strength. Similar to an elastic band aging and getting less elastic. However, your ligaments and muscles will not just fall apart one day like an old elastic band.
However, you will start to feel pain as you continue to try and move and do all the things you are used to doing. You depend on the muscles at the front of your body, the muscles across your chest and shoulders, and the muscles at the front of your spine and hips, for a lot of every day motions. You particularly lose flexibility in these muscles from sitting at a desk, typing and staring at a computer monitor, or similar sedentary inactivity.
Loosening up these muscles is all you need to do. Ligaments do not need to be stretched - in fact, joint stability depends on their integrity.
So here are two easy stretches that will help you avoid back pain.
Done correctly, you may find some aches and pains that you already have will disappear. Healthy muscles are relaxed, and can stretch when you need them to, for daily activities.
My chiropractor calls this 'the doorway stretch'. Standing in a doorway, place the palm of your hand against the door jamb, above shoulder level, so that your arm is bent at a 90-degree angle, and your armpit is right against the door jamb. Press your hand and arm into it. Slowly press forward increasing the stretch, not to a point of any pain, just a stretchy feeling. Hold for about a ten count. Repeat with the other arm.
You are stretching muscles that routinely tense, especially if you are not sitting with your hips against the back of your chair, your spine upright in its natural curve, head held straight, neck relaxed. And of course your monitor, keyboard, mouse, arm rests are all ergonomically placed perfectly. I know! Who sits like that?
Allowing these muscles to retain more and more tension without relief, will pull on your neck muscles, upper back muscles and lead to headaches and neck and shoulder pain. Now you can reverse that trend.
For your low back and hip area: stand with feet together, and take a long step forward. Keep your hips and low back upright, and place your hands on your hips so you can feel it if your posture changes.
Bend your back leg slowly, lowering into a runner's lunge, not uncomfortably deep. You will feel the stretch at the front of your hips. The posture muscles at the front of your spine will get this stretch as well, and also the front of your back thigh. Hold for a 10 count, and switch legs.
You will be more able to stretch after a hot bath or shower. If you do any kind of exercise class, do after class while you're warm.
In a dance studio, before a class, you will see dancers sitting on the floor in stretch positions, or maybe with their legs on the barre in a stretched ballet position. They are not really stretching, they are just checking their positions and loosening up a little. So don't copy what ballet dancers do before class. You'll see them really go at it after a 45 minute barre, or at the end of a class.
For those who have had an injury or who are experiencing any sharp or burning back muscle pains, see your health care practitioner before trying these exercises.
If you try ballet as an adult beginner and later opt for another style of workout, keep up these two very healthy exercises. And get your copy of The Ultimate Stretching Guide for muscle stretching exercises.
Showing posts with label back pain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label back pain. Show all posts
A Chiropractor's Role With Neck Pain and Stiffness in Ballet Training
Ballet training can bring on pain and stiffness that does not go away in the muscle recovery period, which is rarely sufficient. Once a pattern of tension is established, a ballet dancer must follow a specific routine to reverse the harmful trend before arthritis sets in. Neck pain, back pain, and unresolved muscle tension will lead to ballet injuries if left untreated.
When a ballet dancer's core muscles are weak, or when a dancer is working an intense schedule without enough recovery time, where does the strain go? Often to the neck and shoulders.
Ballet dancers (and other style dancers) will typically work with increasing tension and strain, aching muscles, and mild pain, until the condition develops to the point of an acute and sharp neck pain. They will start to feel an extreme stiffness of their neck, having difficulty moving it in any direction. When the pain reaches its worst level, it might be accompanied by shooting pain down into both shoulders and perhaps even to the elbows.
This kind of discomfort may develop very gradually, so there is not necessarily personal neglect involved. Usually the pain is less in the morning, although the stiffness is noticeable. With additional time and attention given to warming up the neck and upper back, a good part of a heavy rehearsal day, starting with class, could be danced well with tolerance of the discomfort. Most likely, however, as the day goes on, the pain increases, often described as a "stabbing pain", with certain movements. The neck stiffness can return despite the dancer being warmed up. The strain becomes visible to others, watching or coaching.
At this point a dancer will be forced to take time out to seek professional help. Upon examination by a chiropractor, for example, it will be found that the back of the neck and mid back muscles are in tight spasm. The muscles under the chin may be in spasm as well, holding the head at a downward angle. The dancer easily understands that he/she has made this condition worse by working with the head not centered over the shoulders. (When the postural plumb line is violated in any way, extra muscle gripping will show up, as the body always finds a way to compensate and "balance" itself).
What is alarming is that, by viewing an x-ray of this kind of neck, it can be seen that the normal curve is not only decreased, but has reversed! And, quite distressing news to a young ballet dancer, the front of the middle neck bones may be severely degenerated, because of the chronic pressure on the front of them.
This curve reversal is all too common among classically trained dancers. Traditional ballet positions demand that the neck appear tall and straight. Although no harm is intended, the muscles along the front of the neck get stronger and stronger. This development straightens the neck bones, and continues through the years of training, until the normal curve reverses. The front of the neck bones actually start to grind, and gradually arthritis sets in.
The goal of chiropractic care would be to re-mobilize the neck bones that are locked in spasm, along with releasing the chronic tension of the shoulder and upper back muscles. Early treatment can prevent the development of the reversed curve, and eventual arthritis. The tight neck muscles can be relaxed and stretched, relieving the compression that reduces the natural curve. Massage, machine traction and a supportive pillow for sleeping can all contribute to chiropractic treatment, countering the harmful tendencies that have become a habit for the ballet dancer.
The neck of a ballet dancer can be held in a tall and slightly straightened position without leading to harm. All ballet students need to understand how to relax and stretch properly, as well as how to strengthen the core muscles to prevent neck strain and back pain. Education will prevent ballet dance injuries.
Take advantage of the available dance education and prevent dance injuries. There is so much information! Dance smart!
Deborah Vogel has posted more about this topic. Click here, click on the blog button at the top, and find the post - it is illustrated and you'll see a straight dancer's neck. If corrected, this neck will not proceed to the reverse curve condition.
When a ballet dancer's core muscles are weak, or when a dancer is working an intense schedule without enough recovery time, where does the strain go? Often to the neck and shoulders.
Ballet dancers (and other style dancers) will typically work with increasing tension and strain, aching muscles, and mild pain, until the condition develops to the point of an acute and sharp neck pain. They will start to feel an extreme stiffness of their neck, having difficulty moving it in any direction. When the pain reaches its worst level, it might be accompanied by shooting pain down into both shoulders and perhaps even to the elbows.
This kind of discomfort may develop very gradually, so there is not necessarily personal neglect involved. Usually the pain is less in the morning, although the stiffness is noticeable. With additional time and attention given to warming up the neck and upper back, a good part of a heavy rehearsal day, starting with class, could be danced well with tolerance of the discomfort. Most likely, however, as the day goes on, the pain increases, often described as a "stabbing pain", with certain movements. The neck stiffness can return despite the dancer being warmed up. The strain becomes visible to others, watching or coaching.
At this point a dancer will be forced to take time out to seek professional help. Upon examination by a chiropractor, for example, it will be found that the back of the neck and mid back muscles are in tight spasm. The muscles under the chin may be in spasm as well, holding the head at a downward angle. The dancer easily understands that he/she has made this condition worse by working with the head not centered over the shoulders. (When the postural plumb line is violated in any way, extra muscle gripping will show up, as the body always finds a way to compensate and "balance" itself).
What is alarming is that, by viewing an x-ray of this kind of neck, it can be seen that the normal curve is not only decreased, but has reversed! And, quite distressing news to a young ballet dancer, the front of the middle neck bones may be severely degenerated, because of the chronic pressure on the front of them.
This curve reversal is all too common among classically trained dancers. Traditional ballet positions demand that the neck appear tall and straight. Although no harm is intended, the muscles along the front of the neck get stronger and stronger. This development straightens the neck bones, and continues through the years of training, until the normal curve reverses. The front of the neck bones actually start to grind, and gradually arthritis sets in.
The goal of chiropractic care would be to re-mobilize the neck bones that are locked in spasm, along with releasing the chronic tension of the shoulder and upper back muscles. Early treatment can prevent the development of the reversed curve, and eventual arthritis. The tight neck muscles can be relaxed and stretched, relieving the compression that reduces the natural curve. Massage, machine traction and a supportive pillow for sleeping can all contribute to chiropractic treatment, countering the harmful tendencies that have become a habit for the ballet dancer.
The neck of a ballet dancer can be held in a tall and slightly straightened position without leading to harm. All ballet students need to understand how to relax and stretch properly, as well as how to strengthen the core muscles to prevent neck strain and back pain. Education will prevent ballet dance injuries.
Take advantage of the available dance education and prevent dance injuries. There is so much information! Dance smart!
Deborah Vogel has posted more about this topic. Click here, click on the blog button at the top, and find the post - it is illustrated and you'll see a straight dancer's neck. If corrected, this neck will not proceed to the reverse curve condition.
Labels:
back pain,
ballet,
ballet dancers,
muscle recovery,
neck pain
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
