What is Dance Medicine?
Dance Medicine is a specialized area of physical therapy that treats the unique challenges dancers face in their art. Dancers put themselves through rigorous training to move their bodies through extreme flexibility with grace and elegance. If training is pushed too far or too fast, the dancers can create compensatory movements that could result in injury or compromise their longevity on the stage.
Our physical therapists have specialized dance training to help you prevent injury, rehabilitate an injury, and boost your performance. These specialists aim to promote dancers’ health, well-being, and quality of life.
How can physical therapy help my dance injury?
Dance medicine physical therapists specialize in dance and have the experience and expertise to create customized exercise programs for dancers. Through their keen evaluation skills, dance knowledge, and extensive personal dance experience, their goal is to treat and guide their dancers through injury prevention and performances. Their goal isn’t to just return their dancers to their prior level, but to improve their physical potential.
Whether for an injury, pain or limitation with dance movements, or injury prevention, all dancers of varying ages and levels can benefit from a physical therapy assessment.
Dance Medicine Offerings
On-Site Physical Therapy
Overview: Our On-Site Physical Therapy services prioritize active injury prevention right at your dance studio, ensuring dancers stay healthy and perform at their best.
Key Features:
- Injury Screening: Physical therapists assess dancers for potential injuries and movement inefficiencies.
- Hands-On Treatment: Immediate treatment for minor issues helps prevent chronic injuries.
- Health Consultation: Dancers can consult with therapists to optimize their health and well-being.
- Class Observation: Therapists observe classes and rehearsals to design personalized exercises that enhance dance performance.
- Acute Injury Management: In the event of an injury, our therapists provide rapid triage and guidance on managing acute injuries. Quick access to healthcare can significantly expedite recovery times.
Availability: Flexible hours to accommodate your studio’s needs.
Backstage Physical Therapy
Overview: Our Backstage Physical Therapy services are designed to support dancers during performances and competitions, addressing the physical demands of live events.
Key Features:
- Manual Therapy: Hands-on techniques to alleviate tension and prepare the body for performance.
- Taping Services: Supportive taping to protect vulnerable areas and enhance stability.
- Neuromotor Corrections: Techniques to optimize body mechanics and improve performance readiness.
- Acute Injury Management: Immediate care for injuries that may occur during the event.
Availability: Services can be tailored to fit your performance schedule.
Dance Physical Readiness Screenings
Overview: Our Dance Physical Readiness Screenings evaluate dancers' physical readiness for upcoming challenges, ensuring they are prepared for various dance endeavors.
Key Features:
- Comprehensive Assessments: Evaluates cardiorespiratory fitness, strength, flexibility, coordination, and balance.
- Targeted for Key Phases: Ideal for pre-pointe, pre-season, pre-summer intensive, and during competition season.
- Individual and Group Options: Screenings can be conducted for individuals or groups, either at our clinic or at your studio.
What should I expect at my dance medicine physical therapy visit?
You will meet with the dance specialist to first talk about your medical history, your current dancing lifestyle, and your future goals. Then, your physical therapist will watch how you move and test your strength and mobility. They may ask you to perform the difficult or painful dance movements so they can assess your ability and make suggestions on how to modify the movement to improve your performance.
Finally, your physical therapist will discuss their findings and work with you to build a personalized plan of care, which may involve exercise, education, and movement modifications.
Do you offer educational courses for dance teachers?
Yes! We believe that preventing and caring for dance injuries starts in the studio. We don’t want to just see dancers after they have already incurred an injury, but we want to help dancers and dance teachers better understand how to prevent injuries through education. See below for more information regarding our workshops and coffee chats!