Dancing might be tough on the foot. A great deal strain is placed on the foot through the actions of ballet and the demands on the feet are very high. At the professional stage all these demands may be as much as 8 or so hours daily and all which is done in thin unsupportive footwear. The research evidence is that ballet dancers get more foot disorders than the rest of the population. All ballet dancers will probably have their foot care regimens which they do in order to strengthen the foot muscles and look after their feet as well as nails. It requires several years to succeed in ballet and the last thing that they wish to occur is for something to go bad caused by a foot issue.
In an edition of the podiatry related live show, PodChatLive, they had a complete discussion about the foot problems in dancing and the demands placed on the feet. The two experts that the hosts questioned were Sarah Carter and Catherine Crabb that are both teachers in Podiatry at the University of Western Australia in Perth. Before their podiatry work both were ballet dancers at a high level so this joined together experiences and expertise in both podiatry and dancing means that they were both well placed to speak about this issue. The episode talked about if the prevalent issue of hypermobility is essential to be a professional dancer and their reply could possibly have surprised lots of listeners. They talked about the commonest injuries observed in dancers and as 85% of ballet injuries are in the lower leg, it definitely shows the significance of podiatry. In addition they compared the dissimilarities between female and male dancers and the unique injuries noticed. Furthermore they outlined the value of the ballet shoe along with the insane things ballerinas do to them, and the desire for an appropriate ‘pointe assessment’ and just what it may include.
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