Dancing for Life, Part Three: Stretchin’ Away the Pain

Injuries are a super-bummer for anyone - and for a dancer, it could limit how long they can enjoy dancing. Since most dance-related injuries occur from a tight area being over-extended, we need to stretch these areas to improve our 'range of motion'.

From our conversation with Noel Miller, we learned that stretching is the best thing we can do as individuals to protect ourselves, and developing our body awareness helps us identify where we need it the most. But the journey doesn't end there.

In today's video, we cover the various kinds of stretches out there, so you can choose the best ones for you. We also look at some general tips you may not have thought of, which help improve your stretching enormously.

CAVEAT: I'm talking about stretching areas which are tight and at risk of injury. I'm NOT talking about areas that are already injured - stretching these areas could aggravate the problem. Consult a health professional for any chronic or acute pain.

Transcript:

Hi guys! My name is Ian Crewe. I'm an instructor at the Joy of Dance Center in Toronto, Ontario, and the creator of Social Ballroom Dance, where you can learn your dance, at your place, on your schedule.

If we accept that range of motion is referring to how far we can move different parts of our body without hurting ourselves, then it becomes a little easier to understand why taking up a more physical activity like dancing can make us more prone to injury.

We are moving our body in a way that we're not used to, and we may be overextending or rolling beyond that range of motion for certain muscle groups.

Fortunately using what we've learned from body awareness or the last two videos we can begin to spot these tight or painful areas and stretch them out before they become a bigger problem.

There's a lot of great material online about different kinds of stretches you can use, but a very good idea is to sort out all the information there, so we can get a sense of what kinds of stretches we want to use and which ones we'd rather avoid.

Breaking it down into about six basic types of stretches the first one that I want to talk about is ballistic stretching.

This is one where we're using momentum to send parts of our body beyond their normal range of motion. You might see certain athletes do this kind of action with their arms for their stretching (swings arms in front of body, then out to side).

This is NOT a recommended form of stretching, because we don't really get an opportunity to relax into the stretch, so it's not as effective, and there's quite a bit of risk for injury with all that motion beyond your body's normal range.

Next you have what's called dynamic movement. This is using more slow controlled movements that gradually increase the speed and flexibility of different movements.

This is better because it's more low-impact, though it's still not recommended for anyone who is coming out of a very tired day and when they're they've been overworked.

Then you have your active or static active. These kinds of stretches involve using the muscles of one part of your body, to hold that part in a position that will stretch an opposing group of muscles.

Let me explain that a little better. If I was to lift up my leg (in front of me) here, I'm basically using the muscles on the tops of my legs like the quads and my hip flexors to lift the leg.

I'm using this to stretch the muscles along the backs of my leg - in this case the calves and the hamstrings. Because they are on the opposing side of that limb, this would be an example of an active stretch.

Then you have your passive or static stretches. This is a similar idea, except we're using muscles to stretch a non-opposing group of muscles.

Going back to that leg analogy, if I then held this leg up with my arms, I'm now using my arm muscles to stretch my leg, not my leg muscles to stretch my leg. Because I'm using different muscles it becomes more of a static or passive stretch.

The active stretches can be a little more difficult, so it's not recommended that you try and hold those for longer than about 10 to 15 seconds per set.

The static or passive stretches because of their lower impact, are great for people who are a little bit more prone to injury, if you're a little bit older, or if you're just coming down from a particularly intense bit of dancing. Those are all good options for that latter type of stretch.

Next there's isometric stretches. These are when we hold our body in a passive stretch and we have a controlled tightening of the muscle.  So this isn't like we use our muscles to move our body - we're toning or tightening up our muscles in place.

This will help to increase your strength and flexibility. However it's not recommended for children or for adolescents whose bones are still forming; there's a risk that there can be damage to the tendons if you do that at that age.

And finally we have, and I'm going to try and say this correctly: proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (applause), also called PNF stretching for short.

This is a more advanced form of stretching by which we hold our body in a passive stretch, and we resist the gentle pressure of someone else who's pushing on that area.

Because this is a more advanced form of stretch, it's recommended that you have a fitness coach or somebody help you with this, somebody who has that experience. But it is considered one of the best stretches to help you increase your range of motion.

Now that we have an idea of some of the different kinds of stretches that are out there, what are some general tips that we can apply, no matter what kind of stretching we're using?

First of all it's always a good idea to warm up your body with some light exercise before you begin any stretching. Your muscles are able to stretch further and they're less likely to get damaged throughout a stretch. 

Make sure that you're holding a neutral position. A good example would be if I was stretching my back, I would want to check in the mirror to make sure that I'm not subconsciously slouching or arching my back. I'm keeping what's called a "neutral spine", and that way I can get more out of this stretch and again, I'm less prone to injury.

When you're stretching, make sure that you're breathing slowly and that you're relaxing into the stretch. Imagine your muscles are softening or melting into the stretch.

Finally, be aware that sometimes our bodies NEED to have tight muscles in certain places, in order to stabilize the bones and joints in the surrounding areas.

So if you are new to stretching, you probably want to err on the side of stretching less rather than more, and if you get any pain - especially if you feel like it's joint pain after stretching - you should consult a professional.

So these are the main things you need to know about stretching in a safe way, so that you can enjoy dancing for longer.

I hope you found this helpful and if you have any questions, as always please message me on my Facebook fan page, Ballroom Dancers Anonymous, or you can email me at ian@socialballroom.dance.

Next week, we're going to wrap up this series with a look at how we can move in a way that's a little bit lower impact, still follows correct dance technique, but just adjusting it so that we're not forcing anything, so we can enjoy dancing and look good for that much longer.

I look forward to seeing you then, and happy dancing!