Physio Update

I had a physio update with K today. I wasn't feeling very positive:

Unfortunately things haven't been very good again over the past few weeks since I last saw you at clinic. My calves have often been painful, and have at times been keeping me awake at night, particularly the left leg (the stronger one). My back has also had a number of flare ups resulting in my needing to take painkillers at night. My legs are now often sore and tender regardless of whether I dance, or not. I haven't actually had any incidents as such, but since I last saw you my alignment and hypermobility has increased. Whatever happened in that Feldenkrais session has now gone. I have noticed that my balance has gone again in vertical positions, but I seem to manage much better in more challenging positions such as arabesque and attitude. I think this might be because I can bring my weight further forwards in such poses. I am still managing to do a little bit of allegro and pirouettes, but the amount I manage depends on what I did the day before, and whether my muscles have recovered (DOMS).

I feel quite frustrated because it seemed I had this beautiful window of freedom from the hypermobility in my knees - or at least a reduction. I think the hardest thing to manage is my pelvic alignment which is changeable depending on how lax my knees are - this seems to change and I seem to fight a losing battle at times - even with gluts, hamstrings and adductors. My proprioception has also deterioated because my end range has increased. T gave me a correction in ballet and I had to look at my foot to see - she asked me not to look but to sense what was happening, but I couldn't manage to do this. Kinesthetic awareness is really key for me - I need to "feel" it to understand.

In pilates M and I were quite surprised by how much weaker my right hamstring is - so much so that she had to help me in lowering my leg - (leg attached to springs to lower). However after doing all this extra hamstring work my legs felt stronger and I was less inclined to go into my end range hyper-extension. I therefore think the way forward is lots and lots of hamstring work. I rarely have a sense of them engaging my hamstrings unless someone presses them (e.g. a teacher), so I get very poor sensory feedback from them. Additionally because they are tight, my pelvis is pulled down by them and my sitting posture is very poor - I don't sit on my sitting bones at all - but somewhere in my sacrum.

My right pelvis (probably in greater trochanter - not specifically sure) there is clicking in certain positions and to left knee anteriorly. I am not overly concerned about this - but thought would add this to the melting pot.

Finally I think I might be interested in exploring concentration as a predisoposing factor to injury. I have noticed that mine is often quite poor and I can be easily distracted in class. I have observed the same look of "being all over the place" in other JHS dancers - but only anecdotally.