How to Prevent Common Ballet Injuries

Ballet is a physically strenuous activity and injuries are common. If you dance quite a bit you're likely going to injure yourself at one point or another. However, by taking some preventative measures you can greatly reduce your risk of injury.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. The most common ballet injury is an ankle sprain. Since dancers use their feet for everything and rely so heavily on them it is easy to land a jump incorrectly or fall out of a turn and roll an ankle. To prevent an ankle sprain be sure to do lots of plies, releves and eleves. These will help train your feet to land correctly (toe, ball, heel) and strengthen your ankles to prevent falling out of turns.

2. Knee injuries are also common due to the amount of pressure put on the knees daily. To prevent knee injuries you should once again perfect your plies but also be sure that your turn out is coming from your hips, not by forcing your knees to turn out, this will lead to meniscus tears.

3. Hamstring injuries are extremely common. Ballerinas use their legs for everything so the hamstrings are constantly engaged. Thus overuse or overextension can lead to hamstring pulls, strains and tears. The best thing to do to prevent these injuries is to remember the importance of stretching. You have to stretch every time before you dance. Failure to do so will likely lead to injuries. Also, if you feel too tight or it's painful when you perform certain movements know your limits, don't push your body further than it's willing to go right away.

4. Another common injury is broken and sprained toes. Dancing on pointe is extremely hard on your toes. Thus you must protect them. Wrapping them properly with medical tape, stuffing with lambs wool and even using toe spacers will assure that your toes are secure in your shoes and will this enable you to dance better.

Tips & Warnings

• Always stretch before dancing.
• Don't push yourself if your body is in pain