For most dancers, an injury
can almost seem like a death sentence. Though many of us have come to the point
where we can identify the difference between major injuries and those that we
deem we can work through, we still stress out about the very thought that we are injured. For us, being sidelined is a black hole of
frustration. The sheer helplessness and
physical inability that comes along
with a serious or accute injury (and the accompanying pain) goes against every bit of the
dance training we’ve ever had!
There is of course, the valid fear of losing income
by being unable to perform or teach- and because most of us are self-employed
independent contractors, there’s no way of getting Workman’s Comp. Also- shudder the thought- there is the very
real possibility that once you have
recovered, your body will never be the same as it was before you were injured, which
on its own is a horrible idea but made even more so by the fact that it can
potentially reduce our earning power.
Pain provokes a veritable
grocery list of emotions in everyone who experiences it. With pain from a recent
injury, but especially chronic pain, the individual suffering is likely to experience
stress, frustration, irritability (which often manifests as anger directed towards
those around you) anxiety and depression. Anyone in pain is not a happy camper...especially if they're a dancer.
Something many doctors neglect discuss with
their patients is that pain can potentially create a vicious circle that involves
the emotions and psyche. When you are in
pain, your discomfort level is often so high that it often prevents sleep, or
at least quality sleep. Without sufficient restorative REM sleep, our
bodies simply cannot repair themselves, which in turn creates more pain…and
more anxiety, which leads to even less sleep, exacerbating the initial problem!
This can lead to chronic pain, which
is usually diagnosed as any pain that lingers after the point of projected
recovery, or any pain that lasts longer then three to six months. This includes
the low-grade, constant pain of an RSI or Repetitive Stress Injury- something
that many dancers suffer from, caused by our repeated actions in rehearsals,
classes and shows. Way too many of us
are over-achievers who try to work through RSIs without giving our bodies a
sufficient recovery period. But even if
you try to soldier through your agony and act like everything’s normal (which
it totally isn’t) your pain is always in the forefront of your mind, affecting
everything you do- or can’t do.
All of this is magnified for
dancers, because in addition to experiencing the pain itself and the
accompanying psychological response to it, there are extremely legitimate reasons to feel stress and
anxiety. For non-dancers, or anyone who doesn’t lead an athletic lifestyle,
although the paint in fact hurts, it’s typically a temporary
inconvenience. For dancers, it seems
like The End. Period.
I myself didn’t realize any of this until 2009, when I sustained a serious car accident
that resulted in a sideways whiplash and seven herniated discs- and intense chronic
pain that lasted almost four years.
After the initial period of rest, I went through three separate courses
of physical therapy, and still didn’t feel any better. A few “concerned parties” suggested that
maybe it was time I gave up dancing… I wouldn’t hear of it! Since I wasn’t healing up in the projected
time frame for my injuries, I cautiously (and with my doctor’s permission) went
back to work teaching and performing, gritting my teeth when I hurt- who was pretty
much all the time. One day, while
writing in my journal, I looked at a sentence that I’d just completed and it
really shocked me cause it was just so…wrong.
“I’m really sad that I’m so stressed out
all the time!”
A light bulb went off in my head, and I
googled “pain and depression”, and fell down a rabbit hole of reading about the
emotional and mental ramifications of pain.
Once I realized that what I was experiencing was a legitimate chemical
reaction to my own pain and I wasn’t going crazy, I stopped seeing my clueless
“mainstream” physician, who not only never made the connection between pain, sleeplessness
and anxiety, but who literally threw opiates at me while wondering out loud how
I could be so physically flexible while claiming I was so sore.
I went proactive
immediately, booking standing twice a week appointments with my chiropractor
-who did discuss the emotional and mental
side effects of pain- I got regular massages and acupuncture, bought a new bed
(and my own TENs machine) did Pilates and completely changed my diet. And
though I never used anti-depressants, I took comfort in knowing that if I
needed them, they would be available to help me get through this. It was a long road to recovery, but by sheer will- and everything I mentioned
above- I made it. Though once in a while I’ll experience pain where my injuries
occurred and it’s doubtful I’ll ever be able to do a backbend again, my life
has pretty much returned to normal.
The tips for the physical,
mental and emotional recovery I’m about to give you definitely helped me get through
that very rough period in my life, and I hope they can help you.
Consult Your
Doctor
Duh…this is obvious; if you’re seriously
hurt, of course you are seeing your doctor pretty regularly! However, if you
are experiencing disrupted sleep because of your pain, or are starting to feel
depressed, it’s definitely time to
talk to your doctor again.
Like I said, I didn’t take anti-depressants,
but I knew I could if I needed to.
What really helped me immensely was prescription sleep medication. I’m not
advocating sleeping pills for everyone, and there is quite a real danger of
them becoming habit forming. I took Ambien four nights in a row- and finally after months of dreamless,
restless slumber, getting a few
nights of actual restorative sleep- I
felt like a new person. Once that initial sleeping “re-set” happened, I found I only needed to
take the pills maybe once a week, if that. Seriously, it was like a miracle. It not only made my body feel better, it
helped my mood and calmed my pain-related anxiety.
If you are wary of taking prescription meds, try
an over the counter medication for a couple of nights. If f you are anti-drug,
try some herbal supplements, such as valerian or melatonin. Chamomile is also great; chamomile tea
tastes nice and it has a soothing effect. You can also try a number of proven
“sleep hacks” that don’t involve drugs at all, such as not watching
television or staying on any device (cellular phones, tablets or computers) for
at least an hour before bedtime. Using a white-noise machine or listening to a recording of something
like ocean waves might help too, as does removing any sources of light from
your bedroom. Taking a long bath is always good to induce drowsiness, or even
having some warm mikl might do the trick, too. As I said before, massage and acupuncture can help with your pain, which in turn will aid you in sleeping better, too.
Strengthen Your
Body
Once you’ve been passed the acute phase of
your injury, with your doctor’s ok, you need to start strengthening and
rehabilitating your injury. If you’ve
been prescribed a course of physical therapy, attend the sessions, and follow
your homework exercise regimen to the letter.
You can also try yoga or Pilates, which was actually designed as a
strengthening program to help dancers rehabilitate from injury. Yoga will help you stay limber and toned, Pilates will strengthen the areas around your injuries as well as make you stronger in general.
In either discipline, look for an instructor
in either of these practices who is certified, and make sure they know that you are
injured. Start out simple, and basic;
if you have pain from any movements, don’t do them yet… and no matter what,
don’t push yourself too hard, at least at first, because you certainly don't want to aggravate
your injury. Walking is a terrific and low- impact aerobic way of keeping fit,
and often a brisk walk (or as brisk as you can take it while recovering) will
lower your physical feelings of discomfort.
Stay
Connected With Dancing In Non-Physical Ways
There are many things you can do to keep
learning and to help you feel as though you are progressing, even if you can’t actually
dance yet. Ask your instructor(s) if you
can audit their dance classes- often you can gain insight and learn technique
just by watching and taking notes. Same
goes for viewing dance videos; analyze the styles or technique you are seeing,
and observe more subtle things like
stage presence, emotional connection to the music, and the costuming the
performing is wearing.
Of course, you can also use
your down time for dance-related things, like
costume repair, learning and analyzing music you’d like to use in the
future, writing choreographies and planning up-coming dance projects. Once when I was sidelined for n injury,
which occurred years before the one I mentioned before, I wrote the entire
script for my Belly Dance And Balance:
The Art Of Sword And Shamadan DVD.
The silver lining to that injury was that if I’d been performing and teaching
during that particular period, I probably wouldn’t have had the time to devote
to planning that DVD at all, let alone
getting the material all written out.
Get
Back In The Game Slowly
Once you’ve been green-lighted to return to
dancing, start off gradually. Even just
being out for a few days can make a difference in your stamina level or
muscular condition and control. Take it easy, and do not push yourself. Work up your strength gradually, warm up
thoroughly and baby yourself a little.
Remember, you’ve been sitting around for a while dying to get back to
classes and shows, and while your enthusiasm is terrific, you don't want to
re-inure yourself by “making up for lost time”. Your body is different now. Your injury has changed your physical being… even if it’s just temporary. As you
test the waters, take things gradually and see what you are capable of. Your
strength and command will probably take a bit of time to build up again.
Make Adjustments As Necessary
If your injury has changed your
body permanently, but you still have
the ability to dance, you will need to make necessary adjustments to your
dancing. In my own case, after that
major car accident, my back was so damaged that it will never, ever be the
same. I actually had to sign a legal document
at the time of my settlement, which stated exactly that; my spine was
changed irrevocably. My neck alone was
so messed up that I doubted I’d ever be able to do sword balancing again, and
it had been a specialty of mine for years.
I also haven’t done a backbend since the accident… used to be able
to get my hands down to the floor from
a standing position. Am I bummed about the lack of backbends? At first I was-
but then I started looking upon them as a nice part of my past, kind of like an
old boyfriend. I loved doing them at the time, bit I was leading a different
life then… they just didn’t fit in anymore.
As for the sword balancing, I was determined. It took over three years –
and a lot of work- to get up to speed again, but by golly, I worked up to it,
and can now do everything I was able to do with a sword that I used to.
I’ve also helped many other dancers re-think they’re
dancing to disguise their injuries
and limitations. One woman I worked with had been burned badly in a fire- the
fingers on her left hand were completely fused together. Together, we devised
hand and arm movements that would make her hands look uniform with each other
as well as not distracting to the audience.
When she dances onstage nobody notices that her left hand isn’t
flexible. Another dancer I worked with
had a metal plate in her spine, and couldn’t raise her arms above shoulder
level. We worked on a series of movements and gestures that would make her arms appear to be changing levels “normally”.
We used arm pathways, lines and angles and even facial gestures and head
movements to create the illusion of
varied arm positions. To She worked her
butt off practicing, and again, not a single person in the audience notices her
limited range of motion.
Think Positively
Sounds trite and clichéd, but your emotions really can have an affect on
your healing. Remaining optimistic and having the will to recover will really help with your physical recovery! Stay away from naysayers and negative
people. During the recovery from my car
accident, I can’t tell you how many trolls had the nerve to blithely say the dreaded words ‘Maybe It’s time for you to retire…’ Color me
crazy or chalk it up to my punk rock past, but my reaction to this “helpful advice” was mostly composed of four
letter words! Some idiots actually delight
in the misery of others, and someone who is injured is a prime target for that
sort of negativity. Haters always want
to hate…so turn a deaf ear to their malicious glee, or just outright cut them
from your life- at least temporarily. You have enough on your plate right now physically;
you don’t need any more mental or emotional feelings than you’re already
dealing with. Don’t let anyone bring you
down!
Dancing is a gift, one that many of us almost take for granted because we do it
so often…until we are injured. Being injured
is horrible, but as far as life lessons go, it makes us realize just how precious
dancing truly is. Be grateful for your
dancing, be respectful of your gift,
have faith in your recovery process, and
use your time on the sidelines to find out just how strong you truly are.
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| Photo and graphics by Maharet Hughes |
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