Advice needed please! weak hips - Knee pain

BusyDancemum · December 8, 2021

My DD has been having knee pain for the past couple of years on and off and I finally got round to taking her to a physio who said it stems from weak hips, she hardly has any strength or resistance in her right side which cause tightness in the IT Band (?) and the knee cap to lean in therefore causing knee pain. Said it can be sorted with strengthening exercises. She is 13 and tall and the physio said it can be to do with growing fast. Does anyone have any advice other than the excercises? I wondered if pilates or similar would help i've seen some good online classes. Thank you.

Anna C · December 8, 2021

Hi busydancemum, the best exercises will be what the Physio prescribes, which probably include glute strengthening exercises. Using a foam roller along the IT bands should also help.

Pilates is always helpful but if your dd hasn’t done it before, a supervised session to show her which muscles to engage and how to do that would be vital. A Physio should be able to show her.

Ruby Foo · December 8, 2021

Growth spurts from 13-15 yrs can cause real issues. Building strength with the supplementary exercises is important but so too, is working properly in class. It’s no use building up the correct muscles if it’s not transposed into working correctly in class. This usually means stripping everything back to the basics for a while to allow full focus on particular muscles. Not sure what the situation is re teaching? Are the teachers aware of the issues and willing to support?
London based Luke Abnett www.dancephysio. com. is an ex classical dancer/physio who can guide on what specifically needs to be corrected in class. He runs all sorts of workshops + online and works from Danceworks and Pinneapple.

I would also recommend some sports massage to keep on top of any tightness and stress in those areas which will be exacerbating the problems. None of this is cheap but once you get to the bottom of the issues, you can self treat.

taxi4ballet · December 9, 2021

I second other suggestions that a specialist dance physio would be your best bet. Either that or sports physios used to dealing with adolescent elite athletes and/or a pilates teacher used to working with dancers. There are a few around.

glowlight · December 9, 2021

I love pilates, and it can be absolutely fantastic for injury rehabilitation, but I would only go down this route if you can get either 1 to 1 or small group lessons with an experienced teacher. Make sure the teacher is aware of the weakness/injury and of any advice the physio has given as they may need to tailor the exercises to your DD's needs.

For injury rehabilitation I would steer away large group sessions in gyms and online because the instructor won't have time to focus on the individual needs.

drdance · December 9, 2021

The exercises from the physio should be sufficient. A lot of the strength needed for dance doesn't actually come from dance and if you do general joint strengthening exercises there will be a cross-over. The best things include squats, lunges, deadlifts (all different types - single leg, two leg, split stance etc). Some of the PBT exercises would also be beneficial.