Anterior Pelvic Tilt in Dancers

Correct alignment is crucial to dance technique. A common alignment issue in dancers is an exaggerated anterior pelvic tilt - tilting the the pelvis forward. No two individuals will have identical spinal and pelvic alignment, and so it is perhaps useful to think of there being an  range that can be considered optimal rather than one set alignment that is perfect. The anterior pelvic tilt pulls the body out of correct alignment (outwith the optimal range), resulting in flawed technique and impaired performance. Your lower abdomen will protrude and your backside will stick out. Over and above the artistic flaw, anterior pelvic tilt impairs turnout and prevents proper muscle recruitment, can cause hip pain, back pain, knee pain and flat feet.

The hip flexors connect the femur to the hip and lower back; tight, short hip flexors cause the hip to pull forward. Any misalignment of the hips will effect the back, and anterior pelvic tilt will give a pronounced curvature of the thoracic spine. This in turn may then produce upper back pain, shoulder and neck pain, headaches and migraine.

Healthy hips are essential in dance, the turnout and all subsequent movement of the lower body originates here. While pelvic motion is central to many of the basic movements of dance (for example the battement de vant, a la seconde and derrière all display differing degrees of pelvic motion), the body should have a neutral home alignment. The internal rotation of the hip displayed with APT goes on to effect the lower limbs, producing subsequent internal rotation of both the femur and tibia, reducing turnout. This can cause or exaggerate existing over-pronation of the feet, causing foot, ankle and knee pain. Incorrect alignment further predisposes the dancer to injury.

Nutrition - Protein

It is essential when following a low calorie diet, as many dancers are, that nutrient intake is monitored and you ensure you are providing your body with adequate provision of carbs, protein and fat. Protein is an essential macronutrient that contributes to the formation and repair of muscle and other tissues. It is also required for metabolic processes, formation of antibodies making it crucial to the immune system, hormone synthesis, and even functioning as an energy source when carbohydrate and fat stores are depleted (i.e. in cases of starvation, exhaustion or extreme endurance exercise).

Dietary protein has additional benefits including increased feelings of satiety (making you feel fuller), higher thermic effect during metabolism than fats or carbs (meaning consumption of dietary protein may increase your metabolic rate) and increased protein turnover (regeneration of body tissue). Protein contains nitrogen, enabling it to form amino acids. There are 20 amino acids that the adult body needs, classified as either essential or non-essential amino acids. The 9 essential amino acids cannot be made in the body and therefore must be provided for through protein sources in our diet. So protein does one hell of a lot for us, and we need to ensure that even when controlling energy intake in low calorie diets, we are meeting our bodies' requirements.

Research Update: Warm Up & Stretching

A new study has been published in the Journal of Dance Medicine and Science looking at the effect of varying stretching protocols during warm-up on dance performance. Warm-up is a much neglected are of dance research and it's great to see work being conducted in this area.

Nutrition and Injury Recovery

I'm currently typing this one-handed, sitting banged up at home with my first serious injury in about 4 years. I dislocated my elbow at the start of the week and will be spending the foreseeable future in the world's least stylish full-arm cast and not lifting anything heavier than a teacup. Awesome. So it seems as good a time as any to discuss options for injury rehab, recovery nutrition and finding some way to not just bow down and give up for several weeks.

Overtraining

Overtraining or burnout refer to a condition where athletes or dancers note a marked decrease in physical performance for no apparent physical or medical reason, suffer from prolonged fatigue and display behavioral and emotional changes. Symptoms of overtraining will vary from individual to individual, the most common symptoms include:

• Increased perception of effort during exercise
• Excessive sweating
• Frequent upper respiratory tract infections
• Breakdown of technique
• Muscle soreness
• Sleep disturbance
• Lack of concentration
• Loss of appetite
• Mood disturbances
• Signs of depression
• Decreased interest in training and performance
• Decreased self-confidence

Physiological Considerations with Children

Most dancers work with children at some point, whether it's on a daily basis or once or twice a year; through teaching, outreach or company workshops almost all of us will work with young people on and off throughout our careers. In developing the skills of young dancers it's helpful to have an understanding of the implications of various growth stages on their physical performance.

The rules of supplemental training

Supplemental training will make you a better dancer. There's no question about it. Being stronger, faster, more agile, more powerful, more flexible, generally fitter... all of it will improve your dance performance. But it's no good deciding you're going to push yourself and develop outside of the dance studio if you don't do it sensibly. There are some incredibly simple rules you need to follow if you're ever going to make progress in additional areas you're training, otherwise you're just going to waste your time.

Sleep more

Finally one thing that no one in their right mind can complain about with training. You need sleep. Lots of it. For most people 5 hours a night isn't going to be enough, most of us can do pretty well on 7-8 hours a night, some people need 8+. If you wake up feeling crappy every morning, with your muscles feeling weak and you feeling foggy-headed, you either need to tone down the drinking, or you're not getting enough sleep.

Strength Training - a note on pas de deux and partnering

This isn't specific to ballet - this is for anyone whose dance style incorporates lifts of any type, whether it's ballet, street, contemporary or lindy hop, ANY style where you are taking someone's weight increases your risk of hurting yourself if you're not careful. It should be pretty self evident that if you're lifting a person, you're going to need the strength to take their weight. You won't get that strength from practicing the lift a few times in rehearsal, you'll get it from strength training outside of the studio.

Aside from the concerns about bulking up, too many female dancers obsess over their weight, at the risk of their health, and avoid weight training themselves due to the worry that it will make them gain weight. Staying at 45kg isn't healthy for the average woman, ballet dancer or not. Too many female dancers control their weight through diet restriction. Get your body fat tested and despite being a size 4, you might be surprised to find it sitting around 20%. Average BF % for female ballet dancers is 17%, for contemporary dancers it's 20%. Compare that with female gymnasts (13%) and runners (14%); the reason it's higher on dancers than other athletes is the lack of strength training and the lack of adequate nutrition.

Strength training and dance

Okay it's a long one, but it's important so bare with me - strength training is probably one of the most important aspects of preventing dance injury. Dance injuries have two main causes - some are due to flawed technique, some are due to a lack of strength, and some are due to flaws in technique that stem from a lack of strength.

Traditionally dancers, especially females, and especially in ballet, wouldn't consider strength training as a part of their essential dance training or education. Whether that's due to the believe that dance is an art, and therefore not requiring the same physical preparation of other athletic pursuits, or the fear of deviating from the perceived sylph-like ideal, any dancer not participating in some form of strength training is not only going to limit their body's physical capabilities, but more importantly expose themselves to higher risk of injury. Research has proven numerous times that dancers who supplement their dance training with strength training suffer less injuries.

Before we go any further, first let's address the most common fear raised by women (whether dancers or not) who avoid strength training:

You will not bulk up if you lift weights.

The Ballerina Body

I don't like skinny ballet dancers. I said it and I'll say it again. I don't like watching skeletons dance around the stage looking like they're going to collapse the minute they get into the wings. Thin is one thing, slim is another, some people are just naturally petite. Fine - if it's natural.

I would always rather watch an athlete hurl themselves across the stage with complete control over what their body is doing than a cadavernous shadow that looks like one more grande jeté may break them. Dance is a tough career path, why compromise the one tool you have? I'm glad the status quo of the emaciated ballerina has started to crumble in recent years, it can only be a good thing for the art form as a whole to promote well trained athletes at the forefront of modern ballet.

Vitamin D and training in winter

So vitamin D is pretty much my favourite thing in the world to talk about right now. Seriously. 

Without going into a full thesis on the reasons you need it (and probably a lot more of it than you're getting) if you work inside, train inside, rehearse inside or live anywhere above 40 degrees north of the equator (that's most of Europe and about half of the USA) you're likely to have insufficient levels of it. A huge number of people, even those living in countries with long hours of sunlight have been shown to have insufficient, if not deficient levels. You're more likely to be at risk if you have a low calorie intake and low levels of body fat, so it won't come as a surprise that 70% of dancers tested have been shown to have below acceptable levels.