Injuries: RICE Method

Injuries: Unfortunately, they are a regular part of a dancer’s life. To be entirely blunt, they stink. No matter how many positive spins someone can put on it, they still stink. “It’s an advantage to take some much needed rest,” or “You get to go to brunch everyday now!” are common phrases thrown at the newly injured colleague in an effort to make them feel better. However, as soon as you are on the other side of the injured line you want nothing more than to be healthy again.

This past fall I started feeling pain in my Achilles and FHL tendon (this runs from your big toe all the way up to the upper calf). For most of the fall and winter, and through Nutcracker season, the pain, although intense, was pretty manageable, mostly because I was just not interested in missing any of the ballets that we were performing in our action packed Winter Season. I was only interested in injury maintenance to keep me on my feet without having to slack off in rehearsals or miss any shows. 

Although, I’m aware this might not have been the most highly recommended path, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a performer that will be willing give in to an injury that can be treated or maintained without complete rest. Also, I ended up having to actually  rest for the last two weeks of season after I managed to fall on stage and strain my other leg too. Sometimes, I'm a real klutz.

Although my injuries were specific to the lower legs, the treatments I used to recover are universally beneficial to most chronic ailments. Most importantly, and most commonly preached to any athlete, is the regular use of the RICE Method to rid the body of inflammation and lessen pain. If you're sore or injured, do it! It actually kept me alive:

• Rest: Rest and protect the injured area by stopping or limiting painful activity. Okay, Okay I didn’t really do this, but I did limit steps that blatantly aggravated my foot, like jumping.

• Ice: Apply an ice pack for 10-20 minutes post exercise to reduce swelling and minimize pain. Ice became my best friend this past winter, especially ice massages where you take an ice cube and rub it on the injured area for about 10 minutes—actual life saver.

• Compression: Wrap the injured area with an Ace bandage to reduce swelling and give support. Also compression sleeves and socks, like runners use, are amazing. More on them below.

• Elevation: Keep the affected area at or above the level of your heart whenever sitting or lying down to minimize swelling. Walk into the theater at any time of day and find a whole slew of dancers lying like this:

The RICE method is truly the best way to minimize pain and prevent an injury from worsening so you can keep at it. My nightly routine post-show involved dinner, then icing, compression socks and elevating in bed. Let’s just say that more than once I woke up around 3 am with my feet still on the wall and an ice pack MIA in my bed.

Now about those compression socks: Worn by the elderly for ages, runners more recently, and now dancers too! Some researchers believe them to be more of a cult thing than a scientific one, but, regardless, they have definitely helped me. They are said to increase blood circulation, which improves lactate clearance so you feel less sore and your body recovers faster post exercise. Sleeping in the socks helped reduce inflammation overnight allowing my legs to wake refreshed. Also, I wore compression sleeves (pictured above) in rehearsal so I could jump and really go for it since the snugness helped support my calves and prevent further muscle damage. Even though I'm mostly healed now, I still wear them after hard rehearsal days so my legs don't feel stiff or like lead! Obviously, I am biased to the benefits of compression socks but here is some real supporting proof.

CEP Compression Socks

Although I am not promoting continual training or exercise while in pain or injured, some athletes or dancers cannot completely stop whenever they start to feel pain. If you are able to completely rest, then do that! Please! The sooner you take care of an injury completely, the sooner it will be a thing of the past. However, I just know that sometimes, despite aches and pains, you want or need to push through a little bit for yourself or for your job. I posted these tips to help keep your body protected and feeling as good as possible while dealing with an injury, not to endorse or promote activities that are harmful to your body! Be smart!