For young dancers the journey to keep dancing through their high school years or becoming a professional dancer can be exciting — but dancers have a high risk of overuse injuries and all it takes is a small, nagging pain to turn into a larger injury that can sideline that dream.
Meet Monreau, she is a 12 year old dancer living here in the DFW area. She trains for 20 plus hours a week and started to notice slight pain in her knee and a tightness trying to force her turn out during ballet class. Her mother is aware of the potential injury risk of overuse training and began a search to find her a physical therapist.
After many sessions with a physical therapist, she wanted to find a dance physical therapist who specialized in a dancer's body that would help keep her safe and support her development as a dancer.
“As her mom, I didn't want her to be constantly worried about comparing herself to others and being hurt.” I was looking for a dance specific physical therapist that would focus on equivalent movements of ballet.” In her search, she found AAPT and read about the patented dry needling method developed by Dr. Cody Johnson, DPT for dancers and the incredible results with it, for over fifteen years.”
“Working with competitive dancers, pre-professional and professional dancers, I see first hand how dysfunctional movement patterns can affect the body.,” says Dr. Johnson.
Recently we interviewed our patient, Haley Beck, a current student dancer at Julliard in NYC and asked her about her path to AAPT. “Beginning in eighth grade, I developed pain in my hips while dancing. Because I was so young, I did not voice my pain and thought every dancer experienced it.,” said Haley.
Haley ended up having hip surgery on both her right and left hips (one at a time) to repair a misshapen femoral head, torn labrums, torn cartilage, and damaged ligaments and received surgical rehabilitation with both surgeries from AAPT. We asked her, “What do you think you have learned from coming to AAPT?” I learned how connected the body is and that where you are feeling pain most often is not the route of the problem. Also, the importance of rolling out with the lacrosse ball, even just 5 minutes a day can make a difference!”
It has only been a few weeks since Monreau has been implementing the Dance Physical Therapy Reset Method, but both Monreau and Mom finally feel like they are in the right place, they are beginning to understand the importance of movement awareness. “Dr. Johnson explained movement in a way that was completely new to us. But the biggest thing is preventing injuries, which is the most important.”
Listen to Haley... we think she is pretty smart!
“Do not be afraid to speak up for yourself, because a small solution can quickly turn into a month, to a year-long recovery. Even if you’re experiencing some discomfort in your movements, call AAPT before it becomes extremely painful. Be your own advocate because you know your body better than anyone.”
- Haley Beck Student at Juilliard
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