Injury Prevention Series Part 1: Warming-up and cooling down

Let’s face it, injuries are inevitable if you are a dancer. While traumatic injuries (falling, slipping, and external forces) are out of our control, science shows that only around 20% of all dancers’ injuries are traumatic. That being said, the majority of injuries in the dance field (80%) occur from overuse or misuse. Stress fractures, for example, happen when repetitive forces, improper technique, and overuse occur on the same body area, which then leads to micro cracks in the bone. Tendinitis is caused by the same thing and results in the inflammation of a tendon. What if I told you that both of these injuries (and a lot more) can be prevented? Keep on reading to find out how.

I know that you have all heard that you need to warm-up and cool down before and after class, but do you know why? The science behind warming-up goes way beyond just breaking a sweat and feeling more ready for class. When you warm-up, you increase your heart rate, muscle flexibility, and blood flow/oxygen. These things combined make your muscles, ligaments, and tendons more malleable and elastic. As a result, this helps prevent muscle pulls/tears, tendinitis, sprains, misaligned joints, and more. You also increase your coordination due to neural pathways activating and firing on. A warm-up routine can take as little as 10 minutes and get you in the right mental space before class. My favorite warm-up includes light cardio (jumping jacks/jogging), activation exercises (core, upper body, and leg exercises), and dynamic stretching.

What if I told you that cooling down was just as important as warming up? Most dancers have heard this, but they don’t really know why it’s so important. The main purpose of cooling down after dancing is to bring your heart rate back to a normal, safe level. By doing this, your body is able to recover better and help prevent muscle soreness. The light stretching will help improve your flexibility and get rid of tightness. You will also be preventing blood pooling in your muscles along with relaxing your nervous system. Think of cooling down as a way to reset your body after class or rehearsals. A good cool down will consist of deep breathing while doing roll-downs and other light, controlled movements. It is also good to do some stretching, holding each stretch for no longer than 20 seconds. On an intense day, I really recommend doing some self-massages or using a foam roller to roll out your muscles. When doing this routine, it will also give you a chance to look back at your day and reflect on your dancing.

It can be hard arriving to class early and staying later to do a proper warm-up and cool down, but you know what is even harder? Sitting out of class due to an injury that could have been easily prevented. I strongly urge all dancers to stay ahead of their injuries and take care of their bodies. This week we covered warming up and cooling down, but that is just the start of it. Injury prevention is truly so much more than that and there are many other topics to cover. Stay tuned for next week as we dive into the nutrition side of injury prevention!



Sobrino, F. J., de la Cuadra, C., & Guillén, P. (2015, June 26). Overuse injuries in professional ballet: Injury-based differences among ballet disciplines. Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4622371/ 


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