Spine/hip issues in retired ballet dancers

[ebgt]

I wondered if anyone could help me. My partner was at an arts ed school doing full time ballet from the age of about 7-16. Unfortunately a knee injury forced her to stop dancing and she moved into other areas of performance - specialising in physical theatre. However, she has retained many of the physical characteristics of a ballet dancer: very strong legs, feet and back etc

 

She's now about 50 yrs old and over the last year has started to experience chronic pain in her lower lumbar area, some sciatica and pain in the groin - it seems to move around.

 

Now, of course, this may have nothing to do with the ballet she did. She's also been diagnosed with an overactive thyroid - so that may have some bearing. But the medics we've seen seem to be totally bemused. And certainly can't connect hyper-thyroidism to lumbar pain.

 

i was wondering of anyone out there had heard of any other ex-ballet dancers having similar issues (as they lose muscle tone & posture shifts?) And of so, if they know of medics who specialise in dancers injuries.

 

Thanks for your time...

 

 

[Jan McNulty]

Hello Ebgt and welcome to the Forum.  I have moved your post to the more appropriate "Doing Dance" Forum where you are more likely to get suggestions for practitioners.

[invisiblecircus]

I'm a former professional dancer and have some herniated discs in my spine. I also had terrible sciatica during my third pregnancy and it has occasionally re-surfaced since I had the baby 2 years ago. The herniated discs were diagnosed with an MRI scan. My doctor can't say whether dance was the cause, but he said it's something that occurs over a long period of time. I was also told that the sciatica is something I am more susceptible to because of the herniated discs.

 

Has your partner had any scans of the spine?

 

It doesn't sound as if the thyroid problem is connected to the back pain but I'm not a doctor. I have autoimmune hypothyroidism for which I take thyroxine every day, but it isn't connected to the problem with my back.

[Tutu24]

Sorry to hear about your partner's problems. Hope she feels better soon.

[LinMM]

Although only at amateur level have done a lot of dancing over the years.

I have narrowing at Lumbar five and moderate arthritis in the left hip mild arthritis in the right hip!

But I am 70 and still dancing though my lower back does get very stiff ....never really loosens up for long.

Doing scaravelli yoga and Pilates has helped a lot as well as regular massage and very occasional trips to the Osteopath.

 

Luckily my Pilates teacher and masseuse have both done a lot of dance in the past albeit contemporary rather than ballet.

I have no doubt that eventually I may need a hip replacement on the left side at least but just carry on and do strengthening exercises and hoping for the best! Rather scaringly I recently learned that things don't always progresss at a nice slow even rate and can suddenly deteriorate rapidly .....like a friend of mine with moderate impairment who woke up one morning and couldn't get out of bed!! 

 

I do know some excellent people who work with dance and sports injuries but not over specifically trained in these areas. 

I prefer working with people who see the body as a holistic whole and how it's all very closely connected together.

One of the people I have been lucky enough to work with told me that she once worked with a famous golfer( she didn't name him of course but in USA)  and started working on the opposite shoulder to the injured one initially ....which he was not best pleased with at first!! And said "you've got the wrong shoulder"  But of course she hadn't ....the two are closely connected .....he was very happy with the results in the end though! 

She worked on a hip flexor injury of mine and was fantastic......the progress made in just a few treatments after I had been struggling with it for months!! ....however she is not a Dance Specialist etc etc.

 

If there is pain in the groin this could be hip related too. Has she had any X Ray's? This is a must I think if in a lot of pain.

The Psoas muscle is a tricky one too and goes through the groin area .....But it could be a disc problem too restricting movement etc.

 

In an indirect way the thyroid could be connected to any pain in the bones....not specifically the back though... as its directly involved in the formation/ destruction of bone process ....but this is a distant memory of exactly what the process is and its interaction with calcium and other minerals etc....a Doctor could tell you this!! 

 

Incidentally invisible circus what were your symptoms with your hypothyroidism....I'm always borderline in tests and am often asked to retake the blood test but then it's normal again!  it does run on my father's side of the family...two aunties and two cousins take thyroxine daily.