Task 4d - Literature

I have found while researching my inquiry a piece of literature which struck my attention made me interested to look into it more. It is titled "Psychology of Dealing with the Injured Dancer" and can be found if you Click Here. 

It begins with stating a few statistics which is what first interested me into the topic. Some of which are;

• 97% of dancers suffer from injuries
• fewer than 50% of dancers injuries are treated by a physician
• 43% of dancers continued training against their physicians advice

These statistics alone show some of the characteristics which are present amongst dancers which prevent them from seeing a physician. I think it opens up some more questions as to what stops dancers from seeking and applying the help required to prevent and improve injuries and what is the psychological and physical impact of this.

Is having a injury normal in the dance world? 

Honestly, I think it is. Dancers are very determined people and often have little 'niggles' during the long hours and tough training that is required in their profession. Being a dancer myself I am guilty of just brushing off a little ache or pain for nothing and just pushing through it and thinking that as dancers we have to put up with with pain as part of our career. In many cases these pains do just fade away to nothing but in some situations they have the risk of leading to long term or even career-threatening injuries. 

So why as dancers do we allow that risk?

There are many pressures for dancers not to be injured and unless you really can't move sometimes it doesn't feel worth it to take time off for an injury. Being injured or taking time off can mean, falling back on training, missing out on a performance experience and in certain professional situations it can mean not being able to work or losing a job. Knowing myself and most other dancers, we will push through the pain in order not to lose these opportunities. From my experience the social culture of the dance world means we always question what doctors say. Being very in touch with our bodies means we can feel and understand what is going on and I often notice that people who do see someone for an injury questions their physicians judgement as there is maybe a lack of communication or understanding which put dancers off going to the doctor. Also as we push our bodies to the extremes some of the recovery exercises seem trivial in comparison to our regular training which causes a dancer to ignore the advice given.

What are the physical barriers preventing dancers seeking help?

Firstly most dancers may struggle financially and if there current work/training place does not supply medical help it means going out to pursue help for yourself which may be costly. Also dancers require special help and finding doctors with experience and an understanding in dancers and the way they use their bodies can be difficult which can be hard. These specialist doctors are hard to find and are often not found on the nhs therefore they have to be sought out and are often more expensive treatments. As most of dancers injuries are from overuse they are rarely treated as an emergency therefore they can often be on long waiting lists to get treatment which is disagreeable with a dancers schedule.

I think this article really made me think about how myself and people around me thought about injuries and it has really made me think about what I would do if coming across and injury in the future. I think as a group we are a bit stuck in our ways with the way we think about injuries but if we are made more aware of them maybe we could prevent them from becoming more threatening.

I hope this helps people