When you see a dance performance, you see the grace of the dancers and their artistry. You don't see the pain, sweat, and hard work before the performance. Injuries are a reality of a ballet dancer. Most of the time, people are not 100%. Dancers are always have aches and pains. Part of the job is taking care of the body because our body is our instrument. If our instrument is not in tune, it will not work the way we want and our performance will lack. Pacing ourselves in rehearsals as dancers is so key.
Recently, I have been feeling some pain in the top of my ankles and especially on my left ankle. I have been able to dance without being inhibited to do my movements. A week ago, I landed hard from a jump which shocked my ankle and it was hard to walk on it for a little bit. I was decommissioned from dancing for a few days. Luckily, I had no rehearsals so I was able to just rest but it was still scary none the less.
I needed to get some clarity on what has been happening to my ankles the last few weeks and how I can stop the pain. I set up a doctor's appointment and got some x-rays done on my foot. My bones were totally fine which is really good because one of the possibilities of what my injury could be is an extra bone or a bone spur on the front of my ankle. That would have required surgery to remove or shave of the extra bone. You always want to avoid surgery (RULE 68). So if it isn't bone, what the heck is wrong with my ankle. The doc said that I have soft tissue built up in the front of my ankle which impinges on the front of my ankle creating pain. The treatment is really not bad! I need my ankle to get worked on by a physical therapist, take a lot of ibuprofen, and ice. I have to modify some of my activity, but for the most part, I can continue to rehearse and take class as normal. The doc said that I should be fully healed which was encouraging to know that I can get better if I take care of it.
As I was talking about in my last post, I need to start thinking about my career as a whole not today. It is not worth pushing a small pain for rehearsal today if I won't be able to dance for tomorrow (RULE 69). I have to PACE MYSELF (RULE 70). With any injury, I have to change my mindset. Even though I cannot do everything full out, I can now take the time to work on other aspects of dancing for example, stretching. If I have to sit out of the jumping section in class, I can use that time to stretch and take care of my muscles. It is not worth being mad about an injury because you could be using that time to make yourself better (RULE 71).
I have an upcoming performance in early November, so it is imperative that I keep my body protected and healthy.