Thecatsmother Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Your feet are relaxed even when they look pointed to a non dancer. I see a specialist pain physio but he just does not get this and keeps telling me to relax my feet when his idea of relaxed is a position that would make them tense. He is threatening to add to his blog on this issue so I need help to defend dancers' (excuse the pun) 'position'. I did not tell him I also sleep with leg in passé position as more comfortable. He gets hyper mobility but not the relaxed/pointed feet issue. Anyone else got examples of what seems so normal in one world but alien to a non dancer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulip Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 My daughter sit comfortably in froggy or natural a sort of box splits position. She's a blooming trip hazard to the rest of us, her legs are so long he he. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I, too, often sleep on my back in retiré. Seems to me that if just felt if there was downward pressure in your toes when he thinks they are pointed - and if could feel that they were relaxed - that would resolve the issue? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happymum Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I have an opposite example. Training with some definately non-dancers ( one architect and one driver) I ask them to relax their feet and they are assuring me their feet are completely relaxed when their heels are pushed out and toes up (flexed foot). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thecatsmother Posted March 17, 2014 Author Share Posted March 17, 2014 He seems to see that there is range of movement way beyond my relaxed position but just does not get that bit. I think he is v good otherwise but would love to find something written about this to prove I am not just a random specimen:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 I think most people (non-dancer) types don't spend a lot of time looking at their feet - or the feet of others. A dancer's foot, especially if it has a high-ish arch, as it relaxes, is going to look pointed to a person who is not as aware of what a really fully engaged pointed foot looks like. If you ask a person who is not a dancer to pointe his/her foot - they will almost automatically scrunch the toes in the effort to pointe. The concept of pointing the foot and not scrunching the toes is a difficult one. Of the three physios with whom I worked in recovering from back surgery (plus a couple in the hospital), I found that though they were knowledgeable - I really wasn't that impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thecatsmother Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 I think you are right Anjuli. I am seeing him for a specialism which makes it so great that there are an increasing number of physios who know more specifically about dancers than there used to be. Let's hope this continues. In the meantime I think I need to give him a ballet DVD or link him in with some dance physios for his own CPD. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Hard skin on the soles of the feet - we went to the doctor recently after dd bruised her foot and it was really painful. The doctor casually suggested a bit of rest, ice, paracetamol etc for that, but then told dd she really ought to get rid of all the hard skin on her feet by using a pumice stone and then applying loads of moisturiser to make her feet nice and soft. We'd just spent some time telling him she was a dancer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Those calluses - areas of hardened skin - on a dancer's feet are important! However, if one has areas of hardened skin on one's palms - that is probably from holding the barre too tightly. So -hardened skin on feet - good....while hardened skin on palms - not good. I found when I was working with physios - they didn't seem to understand where balance ocuurs - how the weight is aligned (forward) or from where the lift/rise emanates (where the ribs "split" in the front and how to engage the abdomen for balance). They also only work in parallell - but there is an entirely different dynamic if one is even slightly turned out. Also they seemed to not realize how the dancer keeps track of other parts of the body. For instance, when they asked me to stand on one foot, I automatically tucked the other foot behind the standing ankle. Feeling it neatly tucked there is how the dancer keeps track of what the other leg is doing - rather than having it swing around without real control or direction. When that lifted foot touches something - like the standing ankle - I know where it is - and that allows the dancer to concentrate on others things. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimi66 Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 when I had a mini disc hernia condition, I complained to the specialist doctor that I could not bend forward as much as I normally can. He made me try - I bent forward and my finger tips touched the floor. Lo, and behold, the doctor and the nurses present seemed so very impressed that a woman past 30 can retain that much flexibility. I got so annoyed and told them that normally I can get palms of my hand and bend my elbow easily. Then they decided I was hyper-mobile.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimi66 Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 sorry the above comment was just a moan! I supporse the medical prefession needs to be a bit more open-minded about the human body, I guess. Perhaps through more exposure to various physical activities.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLAEI Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Exactly the same when I had prolapsed disc. They looked at core strength by balancing on one leg, and flex by touching toes, both of which were great according to them, but no mine 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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