Ankle alignment and joint proprioception

Good alignment on the Demi-Pointe

One of my ballet teachers this week noticed that my ankles are very hypermobile. This has not been pointed out before, as such. She noticed that my left ankle is at a very peculiar and at a 'lethal' angle, medially when I am on the demi-pointe and is not in a straight line, (bone stacked on bone) which it should be. She took immediate steps (no pun intended) in order to stop me doing pirouettes. She asked if I could feel that I was in the wrong place, which of course (being hypermobile) I could not. She had me looking at myself in the mirror in order to improve the alignment and asked me if I was doing foot strengthening exercises since she noticed my feet are much weaker in the centre, without the barre. I confirmed that I am.

One of the problems with people with JHS and EHS is that we lack proprioception - or an awareness of our joints in space and the end range of movements that our joints get into - this is partly why we get into the trouble that we do and are unaware of how 'bad' our alignment looks because we cannot sense it.

For more on proprioception visit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception

One of the things that might be important for people with JHS is to improve their sense of proprioception through, for example, use of wobble boards. Important also is to increase muscle strength and support around each vulnerable joint.