As teachers of dance to students of all ages. we must have a full understanding of the way the musculoskeletal system works, to provide our students with a safe way of training dance techniques throughout all genres of dance. Whether it is ballet, contemporary, tap or modern in all age groups to prevent injury to the students and provide them with a long dance career or provide them with safety throughout the activity so their bodies remain healthy long into adulthood.
Dance Training at En Pointe Theatre Arts enables our students to gain an understanding of the different musculoskeletal structures not only with the body static but also whilst in motion so they gain a greater understanding of the way their own body works. Each student's skeleton is unique to them and though everyone has a total of 206 bones it does not mean they are constructed in the same way. For example, some students may have tighter hamstrings causing them to struggle in maintaining correcting posture in a seated position however with correct strengthening and lengthening of these muscles this can be improved so that each student is able to achieve their individual goals within dance. As teachers it is important we understand how to do this in a safe manner to avoid potential injuries to the students bodies which could cause lifelong problems.
Today within the dance world we see a lot of overstretching into splits causing potential longterm injuries to students bodies. The impact this has on students acetabulum (hip socket), patella (knee), ligaments, hamstrings, quadriceps.
According to the Health University of UTAH - The pain caused by forcing the body to perform a stretch it was not created for can create long lasting damage to their body by forcing it into static stretches past its range of motion this is often the case with splits and overspills as it places excess pressure onto the muscles, hamstrings, joints and ligaments creating a high potential for injury within athletes.
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