Here Comes The Break

He Goes:

I recently left a dance venue with Spoon and another dancer (of whom more later) at the end of an evening. Spoon and I were headed for our respective buses, our companion was on his bike. I'm a fairly keen cyclist too, but Spoon - despite the advantages of cycling in London - was dubious. 

"What if I get in an accident and have to take time off dancing?" she pointed out.

Well, good point. But if you're a dancer there's already something you're doing a lot of that's likely to end up with you seriously injured and having to take time off - dancing itself. At the moment I am nursing three injuries, two of which are definitely dance-related: I tweaked something in my right wrist turning a follow in from a right-to-left hold, and I tore something in the middle toe of my right foot by stepping on it wrong styling a close hold.

That's right. The middle toe. The most protected one. I still have no idea how it happened.

The last injury is probably dance-related too: I'm unable to kneel on my left knee - not on a hard surface, anyway. That came on completely by surprise one morning, but it was after a night of hard dancing so I suspect dance is the culprit there too.

It's at the point where only one of your limbs works entirely correctly that you start to think: Hmm, is this just me getting old, or am I dancing wrong?

Three hours of dancing is pretty serious exercise. Three hours of waltzing is hard enough, but three hours of Lindy Hop? That's hard work on the body, and over the last year or so I've slowly (too slowly perhaps) started to work out that it isn't enough to just do the dance itself if you want to survive. I have to start taking extraordinary steps before and after dancing.

I used to get mad cramps. I mean, just crazily unbelievable leg cramps. The sort of thing that would wake me up in the middle of the night and have me paralysed for ten minutes while I tried to work through the agony to shuffle into a position where I could begin to gently put weight on the leg and stretch out the muscle. After putting up with this for far too long I started to look around and discovered that the advice on dealing with cramps was a bit of a minefield. Long muscle cramps, apparently, can be due to too much water. Or too little water. Or too much salt. Or too little salt. Or sleeping under a heavy duvet. Drinking a bunch of water wasn't helping, so I scienced it out and discovered that after I came home from my usual dance venue I could stave off the cramps if I ate some salt and washed it down with a pint of water...

...also, poking my feet out from under the duvet (while cold) does sort of help. Weird.

I'm still not sure what I could have done to avoid my knee and foot injuries, but I've been doing some things to help prevent other problems. Falling injuries can be guarded against somewhat if your upper body is strong, so I've been doing the 100 Pushups program (I also do the 200 Squats one, but that's more for jumping ability) I've been trying to work out how to practise breakfalls at home without injuring myself ironically, in case I trip. And I've made a one-month resolution for February to limber up at least my ankles and hips before any dancing.

Ironically, the only picture of me injured is actually a biking injury...

She Goes:

I have been forced to take the last week off dancing due to seriously bruised knees.

It's kind of a dance related injury; I slipped on tiled flooring while rushing to hear results of a Jack and Jill comp. (I won two shiners on my knees but no chocolate, alas)

I landed hard on my left left knee, square on, and on the inside of my right knee. 8 days later and the bruises are still blossoming in shades of purple and racing green. Ouchy.

What am I doing about it? Slathering arnica gel on myself like its going out of fashion, upping my intake of supplement for my joints, stuffing 'shock absorbing' insoles in my favourite shoes and NOT DANCING. No lessons, no socials, no walking up escalators, or stairs if I can avoid it and sleeping on my side with a little cushion between my knees to keep my hips happy too. (As some impact clearly travelled north as they ached for a few days afterwards too. That's an image for you!)

But this is all in response to said injury. Certainly as I put myself on the Lindy-loving front line, I have recognised I need to be taking better care of my body, both before and after swinging-the-flip-out.

Obviously there'll be different strokes for different folks, but I think we can all recognise in some form the benefits of stretching. I think it's useful pre-dance as it means you can just get straight in there and find your groove quicker as you're already loosey-goosey. Stretching post-dance is nice because it massages, kind of, all your achey bits. (Assuming they ache from being a ninja and not from bodily neglect!)

Warm up routines are something that I like the idea of, like the equivalent of singers warming up with scales and arpeggios. Plus it can't hurt to have your feet fully functioning and all dance-synapses firing!

I'll mention briefly how important the change from any-old-shoe to actual dance shoes was for me. (Very!) but I did get achey knees for a bit when I started dancing in heels more regularly. Every stomp left an echo it seemed! My response was to stomp less. Hardly rocket science although initially, easier said than done.

Diet comes into this too. I've got dietary requirements that put me firmly in the pain-in-the-ass-to-cook-for camp, but regardless of what you can/can't/won't eat, I know that the 6 Ps come very firmly into this; Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. (One of the few things I learnt at uni, even if it was from the women's rugby club socials!) AKA Tupperware is your friend :)

I don't like to dance on a full stomach, oof, but if I don't have something in the tank before I get started then I dip quite quickly in lessons or socials. I've been experimenting with protein shakes (and currently have settled with one during the day of dancing and one soon after dancing), and I've started bringing a piece of fruit or two for chomping on about halfway through the night. I still crave carbs like a fiend afterwards, but these things really help my levels of focus throughout the night. I can make it to the end without flaking out and feeling guilty for being a poor follow.

Also, hydration is key. KEY! Dehydration is not your friend. Having to cross your legs desperately for the journey home is favourable over cramps and headaches. (Let that be a lesson- you should have gone before you left, even if you didn't need it!!)

I've also decided to take up more non-Lindy physical activities. Yoga is probably going to be the winner for that, but that's because I used to be into it in a big way.

Essentially I think if you start doing anything that's physically demanding on a regular basis then you should be aware that you will also need physical maintenance. You don't need to bring a full on picnic hamper with you but chances are if you're reading this you'll have a bag with yor dance stuff in! Make time to chuck some nuts in your bag. Remember to fill your water bottle for the journey home. Your body will thank you for it.

There is an excellent facebook group championing body-responsible dancers - set up by Duncan, the cyclist Keith mentioned at the beginning of his section: I don't want dancing to f**k my knees/back/ankles. As a community it's a great opportunity for us all to share best practice, tips, and thoughts on what works for you. Get involved!

Dance With Us:

In case you don't already know us in real life and are interested in coming for a dance, or you do know us and want to marvel at how often Spoon is dancing, we've added a calendar to the side-bar which we'll try to keep updated with when and where we're dancing. Come along! Ask us for a dance!