Hey,
I'm requesting any tips you have to lessen strain on knees when dancing 🙂
I'm practicing lots of pivots, e.g. loose legs, and I'm starting to feel some knee pain. For me in this case, I think the pain stems in large part from bad habits. So probably solvable! Knee pain is really scary so I thought I might ask around here for input as I bet its not uncommon. Hope this might help someone else too
Update:
I've noticed that I tend to use my upper leg muscles and relaxing the rest of the leg when pivoting making the leg behave kind of like a string being plucked. While it looks kind of cool it causes a lot of tension on the knees as they take all the force when the leg can't rotate any more during the pivot. If I try and make the movement propagate from my core if feels more controlled and hurts way less. Balance and movement efficiency helps as well 🙂
Hey Pauly! For me, keeping my movements light helps a lot. I do this by staying higher on the balls of my feet, always keeping at least a slight bend to my knees, and avoiding stomping down on the ground too much. Doing a softer style will definitely help you out a lot. Also, dancing on non-sticky floors is essential. When the body moves around with your feet sticking to the floor, it can cause a lot of twisting and stress on your knees. Hope this helps!
Ive been having knee issues for awhile and so I tend not to use the ball of my left foot. What has helped is really good shoes, Jardy recommended the Flyknit 2s, and let me tell you those make a world of difference.
Maybe a slightly different question but very much along the same theme. It appears to be the case that ideally one should remain on the balls of one's feet in order to stay light and allow for quick movement?
It feels like my calf muscles are on fire within a few minutes - is this pretty normal at the start? I generally think of myself as being pretty active but I guess I'm not used to moving in this way. Also, with shoe choice - is shoe weight the primary thing to consider? i.e. the lighter the better?
Depending on what you need. I've danced in a variety of shoes over the years. Lower cuts are much lighter, but some will have ankle support, others will not.
Puma Suedes, Reebok Classics, Air Max 90s, are pretty good choices. It just depends on how much you want to spend and test out their lastability.
We are destined for greater things.
Maybe a slightly different question but very much along the same theme. It appears to be the case that ideally one should remain on the balls of one's feet in order to stay light and allow for quick movement?
It feels like my calf muscles are on fire within a few minutes - is this pretty normal at the start? I generally think of myself as being pretty active but I guess I'm not used to moving in this way. Also, with shoe choice - is shoe weight the primary thing to consider? i.e. the lighter the better?
Pain in your calf muscles is totally normal if you start with House. I have almost never met a Beginner who didn't have this issue. So don't worry, keep dancing 😉
Hey,
I'm requesting any tips you have to lessen strain on knees when dancing 🙂
I'm practicing lots of pivots, e.g. loose legs, and I'm starting to feel some knee pain. For me in this case, I think the pain stems in large part from bad habits. So probably solvable! Knee pain is really scary so I thought I might ask around here for input as I bet its not uncommon. Hope this might help someone else too
Rolling/Stretching out quad/hamstring muscles will help. Tight quads will pull on the and also doing lots of squats is going to balance out the atrophy and strength on the glutes. Being on the balls of your feet bouncing will make you more quad dominant, and we need to address this to avoid injuries.
We are destined for greater things.