Overcoming an Injury - Why do Dance Injuries Scare us so much?
Hi Guys
This week I have really been focusing on some of the deeper aspects of all of my client's rehabilitation that really help them in overcoming an injury.
I notice so many things going on during the course of treatment, but most dramatically, I notice the point where a client goes from being devastated, despondent, or upset about their injury, to actually being excited about their rehab, curious about the anatomy, and really embracing the whole learning experience, and taking on my challenge to them of getting back to class even better than before they were injured.
This is the same process, whether we are dealing with an old injury that they have “learned to live with” or a new acute injury that has come just at the wrong time.
With old injures often both our mind and our body give up on healing fully at some point, leaving us with feelings of vulnerability, fear of “going full out” and fear of it getting worse. New injuries, especially quite serious ones, or ones that are hard to diagnose, are often fueled by the dreaded fear of “Will I ever dance again?”
This is a question that we hear CONSTANTLY and thankfully due to the body’s amazing capacity to heal (when given the right conditions), the answer is usually YES!!!
One huge factor in finding that psychological tipping point with a client is actually finding and dispelling these fears, and being able to give them all of the information they need to really take ownership of the injury.
This is also really important when trying to get dancers to look after their injury properly, as because we are so passionate about what we do, we want to get back to it as soon as possible. However, returning to dance too soon can have a major impact on the true resolution of an injury.
We are trying to compile a list of a dancer's greatest fears when an injury occurs, so that we can help all our online readers in this area, rather than just our one-on-one clients.
Some of the major ones seem to be:
- I’m worried that I will never dance again
- Will it be like this forever?
- I’m scared of losing my place in the troup/company
- Someone else will replace me…
- I’m worried I will get really out of shape if I take time off
- I don’t want the teachers to think I am lazy
- I don’t want to wear a ‘boot’ because that means its a bad injury
- I feel so left out…
- What will I do if I don’t dance?
We would love to hear from anyone who has had an injury and experienced any of these, or other fears. Please leave a comment below if you have had either a great experience with overcoming an injury, or a bad one, and any fears or breakthroughs you had along the way.
