Within the dance world, flexibility is commonly celebrated as an indication of expertise. Lengthy strains, deep arches, excessive extensions, and seemingly easy contortions are praised, photographed and rewarded. For a lot of dancers, hypermobility is what first attracts consideration to them in a studio. Lecturers discover it. Choreographers use it. Audiences admire it.
However behind the great thing about excessive vary of movement is a quieter actuality that many dancers solely uncover after years of coaching: hypermobility is not only a present. It’s a biologic trait that carries actual dangers.
Hypermobility refers to joints that transfer past the standard vary anticipated for a given joint. Some individuals are versatile due to coaching. Others are versatile due to their connective tissue. In dancers with generalized joint hypermobility or underlying connective tissue issues reminiscent of hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) or associated hypermobility spectrum issues (HSD), the ligaments that stabilize joints are inherently extra elastic. This permits extraordinary vary, however usually at the price of stability.
Early in coaching, this distinction may be refined. A younger dancer could merely seem “naturally versatile.” They could progress rapidly. They could be chosen for superior courses or featured roles. However as coaching intensifies, the results of poor joint stability usually start to look.
One of many first challenges hypermobile dancers face is harm that doesn’t match the same old patterns. As an alternative of a single traumatic occasion, they develop recurrent strains, tendon ache, joint subluxations, or stress accidents that appear out of proportion to the workload. Ankles roll repeatedly. Hips really feel unstable. Knees ache after class. Shoulders slip. Low again ache turns into continual.
These should not failures of effort or conditioning. They’re the predictable results of a physique that strikes too simply and stabilizes too poorly.
In a non-hypermobile dancer, ligaments present a passive restraint. Muscular tissues fine-tune motion. In a hypermobile dancer, ligaments do much less of the restraining, and muscle mass should work continuously to compensate. This results in early fatigue, altered motion patterns, and overuse of small stabilizing muscle mass that have been by no means designed to hold the total load.
Over time, this will create a cycle: instability results in muscle guarding, guarding results in ache and altered mechanics, altered mechanics result in additional harm.
One other problem is proprioception – the mind’s capability to sense the place a joint is in house. Many hypermobile dancers have lowered joint place sense. They could look lovely in a mirror, however internally they’re much less conscious of how far a joint has traveled or when it has crossed into an unsafe vary. This makes them extra susceptible to microtrauma, particularly in repetitive coaching.
The tradition of dance can unintentionally amplify these dangers. Hypermobile dancers are sometimes inspired to push deeper into ranges that already exceed regular limits. Stretching is praised. Excessive positions are normalized. Ache is minimized. Stability work is commonly uncared for.
For a hypermobile dancer, that is the other of what the physique wants. A very powerful shift for these dancers is studying that stability issues greater than flexibility. This doesn’t imply abandoning vary of movement. It means constructing a basis that may help it.
Efficient coaching for hypermobile dancers emphasizes:
- Deep core energy
- Hip and pelvic stability
- Scapular and shoulder girdle management
- Foot and ankle intrinsic muscle energy
- Gradual, managed motion by vary
- Proprioceptive and steadiness coaching
It additionally means being cautious with aggressive stretching, particularly lengthy passive holds that additional lengthen already lax ligaments.
One other vital idea is that hypermobility usually extends past the joints. Many hypermobile dancers – notably these with acknowledged connective tissue issues reminiscent of Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes – additionally expertise options reminiscent of dysautonomia, gastrointestinal dysmotility, continual ache syndromes or fatigue. These systemic options can have an effect on restoration, endurance, hydration and harm therapeutic in methods which can be usually misunderstood.
When a dancer struggles with unexplained fatigue, dizziness, gradual restoration or widespread ache, the difficulty will not be motivation or resilience. It might be biology.
Early recognition issues enormously. When hypermobility is recognized early, coaching may be tailored. Damage patterns may be anticipated. Careers may be protected quite than prematurely shortened.
Sadly, many dancers should not acknowledged as hypermobile till they’re already injured, burned out or leaving the career. Maybe the toughest half is the identification shift this requires.
For years, a dancer could have been praised for what their physique might do. Then they’re advised that the identical trait that made them distinctive can be putting them in danger. This could really feel like a betrayal of their very own physique.
However in actuality, hypermobility doesn’t should be a career-ending trait. It merely requires a distinct relationship with coaching.
A number of the most profitable long-term dancers with hypermobility are those that study to:
- Respect their limits
- Practice stability as critically as artistry
- Relaxation earlier than harm forces relaxation
- Select longevity over extremes
In the long run, the aim is to not make hypermobile dancers much less expressive or much less distinctive. It’s to assist them construct our bodies that may maintain the artwork they love.
Flexibility could open the door to bounce. Stability is what retains you dancing.
By Linda Bluestein, MD, of Hypermobility MD.
Dr. Linda Bluestein, MD, is a doctor, former ballet dancer, and internationally acknowledged skilled in hypermobility issues. By her medical follow, Hypermobility MD, and her instructional work, she makes a speciality of serving to dancers and athletes navigate the challenges of hypermobility, harm, continual ache, and profession longevity.
Dr. Bluestein is the founder and host of the podcast Flexible Our bodies with the Hypermobility MD, the place she repeatedly options dancers, clinicians, and researchers discussing hypermobility and efficiency well being. She serves on a number of dance and medical advisory boards, together with the Dance Wholesome Alliance of Canada and the Bridge Dance Mission, and is a frequent lecturer on hypermobility within the performing arts.
A lifelong advocate for dancer well being, Dr. Bluestein combines her private expertise in ballet along with her medical experience to assist dancers practice safely, cut back harm danger, and maintain lengthy, wholesome careers. Study extra at www.hypermobilitymd.com.
