Dealing With Injuries: How to Make the Most of Recovery Time and Come Back Stronger
by
Cynthia
Randriamanohisoa
Many dancers face injuries at some point in their training or careers, and they are never easy to deal with.
Although an injury can be frustrating in the moment, it can be helpful to use the downtime to reflect as a dancer, and learn a few things along the way.
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Staying motivated
When an injury occurs, it can be dreadful to think about what will happen next and what the impact on your training or career will be. However, if you’re really committed to dancing, you can get back to your previous level, even if you have to stop dancing for several months.
In my first few years of training in ballet, I dislocated my kneecap, which put me out of dancing for three months. During the first few weeks after the injury, I was wondering if I would continue to do ballet. It was a pretty serious injury and I would not be able to dance for a while, so I thought maybe it’d be easiest for me just to give up.
One thing that helped me was the support from my physicians. Instead of telling me to stay away from dancing, they told me the goal for me was not just to heal, but also to get back to my previous level of dancing. They said I would need to do more conditioning, to prevent the injury from happening again, but they were really supportive in helping me get back to dancing like before.
This helped me stay motivated through the healing process and trust that I would be able to dance as much as I used to. In fact, I strengthened other areas in my body while going through physical therapy and when I came back to ballet classes, some exercises felt easier than before the injury!
Staying productive while recovering
When you’re used to taking a lot of dance classes every week and you suddenly have to take a long break, you may not know what to do with all the extra time. You can use the time to focus on non-dance-related things, like trying a new hobby, but you can also do quite a few things that will help with your dancing, even while being injured.
For instance, you may be able to do more conditioning for the areas of your body that are not injured, and build strength in those areas. Or you could use this time to watch dance videos, read articles about dance, or catch up on some dance events happening in your local community. These are a great way to stay connected with the dance world and spend more time on the non-“technical” aspect, which can be neglected when you have a busy dance schedule.
If you’re training at a dance school, you can ask your teachers what things you can do and they should be able to help and guide you. Sometimes, you may even be able to continue going to class and start with working on some exercises on the side, then do part of the class until you can do the entire class again.
Learning about your body
Injuries usually teach us (the hard way!) what our limits are, and how our bodies are working. I began having issues with my ankles when I started taking up to five classes a week and doing more pointe work. I went through physical therapy for both this and my knee injury. Both times were great opportunities for me to learn about how my muscles, joints, etc. were connected and how I needed to strengthen them.
One thing I learned was how much I needed to strengthen some specific parts of my body, to prevent overuse in other areas. For instance, a lot of my physical therapy exercises were designed to strengthen my core and upper leg muscles to prevent overuse in my ankles when doing pointe work. Going through this process also helped me become more aware of my own limits and weak spots. I now know more which of my muscles need extra warm-up before a class or which ones need more conditioning in general, and I have adapted my training based on that.
Being patient
Last but not least, don’t rush the process and make sure to take the time you need to recover. It’s hard to stay patient while being injured and it can be really frustrating to see your peers continue dancing, while you have to rest. However, trying to go back to dancing too early will only hinder your progress in the long run, as it will either slow down your recovery or worse, get you injured again.
Something that helped me stay patient through my injuries was to focus on the things I could still do. As I mentioned before, there are probably other areas that you can work on to improve your dancing, such as conditioning. After some time, I started getting back to dancing progressively, doing just barre in ballet classes initially, then adding a bit of center work, and finally going back to pointe work. It was a long process, but it was actually motivating to gradually do more and more things and see my progress.
All these things have helped me handle injuries better and stay motivated through the recovery. Injuries are never fun, but when they happen, it’s important to make the most of the recovery time and use the learnings along the way to become a better dancer over time.