Tag Archives: Injuries
What To Remember When Stretching
Posted on January 5, 2009 in How to.
Stretching is an important part in any athlete or dancers life. Here are a few basic points to remember to keep in mind next time you stretch.
- Always hold stretches for 20-30 seconds, slowly increase to 60 seconds.
- Give your muscles resting time (break for a few seconds in-between stretches).
- Vary your stretching techniques.
- Never bounce in stretches, hold them in a static position and slowly push yourself further.
- It is important to stretch both before and after a workout.
Types Of Stretching
Posted on January 4, 2009 in Misfits.
Ballistic Stretching
This is stretching by using your own body’s momentum (bouncing) to force yourself beyond your normal abilities. This is a very dangerous type of stretching and is not suggested as it does not allow your muscles to adjust in the position they are being stretched and can lead to injuries.
Dynamic Stretching
Dynamic stretching involves slow and controlled torso twists and swinging of your arms and legs to their maximum, which gradually increases your range of movement.
Active Stretching (Static-Active Stretching)
This is when you assume a position and hold it without any help other than the muscle itself eg: holding your leg in the air with no help of your arms or any other body part or instruments to keep it in that position. This kind of stretching doesn’t need to be held for more than 15 seconds.
Passive Stretching (Static-Passive Stretching/ Relaxed Stretching)
This is a more relaxed form of stretching where you use apparatus or other body parts to help you stretch eg: Holding your leg in the air with your hand or sitting in the splits. This is very good kind of stretching to do after a work out to “cool down”. Relaxed stretching is also used to help get into shape after injuries but it is always advised to consult your doctor first before doing any kind of exercise or stretching. Passive stretching can also be a person who is relaxed while some external force (either a person or an apparatus) brings the joint through its range of motion.
Static Stretching
Static Stretching is when one stretches a muscle as far as it can be stretched and then holds it in that position for as long as possible until the muscles then relax again causing the person to stretch further.
Isometric Stretching
Isometric Stretching does not use motion. Isometric Stretching is one of the fastest ways to increase flexibility and strength with the least amount of pain. The most common ways to practice Isometric Stretching is by placing resistance onto oneself, have a partner apply resistance or to make use of apparatus to apply resistance eg: Having a partner hold your leg in the air while you attempt to push it down to the ground.
Isometric Stretches are not recommended for children who are still growing as children are usually still flexible and these kinds of stretches can damage their tendons and connective tissue.
How To Perform Isometric Stretching:
- Assume stretching position for desired muscles to be stretched.
- Resist and tense the muscle against a force (your own body, a partner or apparatus) for 7-15 seconds.
- Relax the muscle that was tensed for 20 seconds
PNF Stretching
Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation [PNF] Stretching is the fastest and most effective way to stretch. PNF Stretching is most effective when performed with a partner to place resistance on the isometric contractions.
The three most common PNF techniques are:
- The Hold-Relax (Contract-Relax)
Once assuming the initial stretch the muscle is tensed for 7-15 seconds and then relaxed for 2-3 seconds then immediately passively stretched which pushed the muscle even further than the initial stretch. This stretch is held for 10-15 seconds and then is relaxed for 20m seconds.
- The Hold-Relax-Contract (Contract-Relax-Contract)
This is similar to the first kind. After the initial stretch the muscle is isometrically contracted for another 7-15 seconds. The muscle is then relaxed and the antagonist ( performs another contraction for a further 7-15 seconds after which the muscles are relaxed for 20 seconds.
Agonist: The muscle that causes movement to occur by contracting, thus creating normal movement in a joint.
Antagonist: A kind of muscle that acts in opposition to the movement caused by the Agonist and is responsible for returning limbs to their initial positions.
- The Hold-Relax-Swing (Hold-Relax-Bounce)
This involves the use of Dynamic or Ballistic Stretches. This is similar to the Hold-Relax-Contract except a Dynamic or Ballistic Stretch replaces the final Passive-Stretch. This is an extremely dangerous form of stretching and is not suggested, even to professionals, without guidance.
Warning: Children whose bones are still growing should not perform PNF Stretching. Ideally PNF Stretching should only be performed once every 36 hours.
“Dare To Dance”
Posted on November 5, 2008 in Misfits.
Well lately I have been a lot quieter (on all fronts) than I usually am. I haven’t even been tweeting much or even considering updating my Facebook status.
This is all because of exams. Not University exams (like the ones I’m meant to be studying for now), but rather dancing exams. The worst part is i didn’t even dance my own exams this year. It was just because of stressing for my students and making sure they are ready. For some reason though my feet are covered in blisters…hmmm.
We have now officially survived 2 out of 3 weekends of exams. Firstly Hip Hop, then Modern and Tap, and this weekend coming up will be Acrobatics. I have also come to realise that most examiners are really nice people and really knowledgeable but some are just truly horrible and condescending. Both our Modern and tap examiners were great women to work with, and at the end of the day we learnt a lot from them. But that Hip Hop examiner, Gosh, lets just hope and pray we never get her again.
I’m specifically not mentioning names because I know that everyone has a reputation to uphold, but that examiner looked and acted like a real witch. I’m sure the kiddies that still believe in witches were scared out of their wits.
So our exams are almost over, which will give us teachers a small part of our lives back. Then there is the end year show, which I can almost say is worse than exams. The stress to get everything done in time, and to make sure everything is perfect…EEEEK!
Honestly the show is always great and always works out at the end of the day, but for me it seems to be nerve wrecking every time I must run up or down those dreadful stairs backstage. Two years ago just at the end of the show, when we were running to be on stage for the prize giving, I went flying down the stairs. I landed up going to hospital at midnight and walking out with my arm in a cast and sling and my leg in a cast too. What was that about the saying “Break a Leg” being good luck?
It was also rather funny as our slogan is ” Dare to Dance”
"Dare To Dance"
Ouch!
Posted on August 4, 2008 in Misfits.
So… I Hurt my foot doing Wings. Fun. Well that was no fun. Wings for those of you who don’t know are a step done in tap dancing. They take a while to master and a lot of practice, sweat and tears – like most things.For more information on wings click here.
I still haven’t been to a physio therapist, which is wrong i know. I have been doing exercises to strengthen my ankle again though. It’s really painful! Does anyone have ideas of how I could possibly lessen the pain and strengthen it quickly? I know things like this take time and if it was one of my students I would tell them to be patient, continue with the exercises and just take it slow for a while, but it’s a lot harder to do than it sounds. How many people take their own advice?
I also just started dancing again after my operation so at the moment I am sick of sitting around and really just want to dance, it’s a disease.
YouTube and Expert Village are really being difficult and not letting me check out any videos, so I can’t suggest any to you but feel free to check out these pages and watch some of the videos so that you can see what wings are if you don’t already know.
Small Gestures
Posted on April 16, 2008 in Misfits.
Today a really good friend of mine found out that she has a cyst on her ovary. She’s 20.
This made me think that there are so many things in life that we take for granted everyday. Wonderful friends, Giving birth (as painful as it is), having warm beds and a roof over our heads, and good medical care. I know these things sound rather normal and everyone has heard that you should be thankful for them, but are we really? Do we really realise how lucky we are?
I always park in the same area at Varsity and the car guard there just went missing the one day. He was gone for about a week. When he came back his foot was all bandaged up and the bandage was covered in a mixture of blood and puss. He had poured boiling water over his foot by accident. He didn’t have painkillers so i took him some along with some food and water. Just the smile on his face was absolutely priceless for me. He was so grateful. That to him was way better than money. Today i walked past and he stopped me to tell me that another guy also wanted to help him. He brought him some detol to wash his foot with and some betadene and clean bandages. Now that made my day. Just knowing that people care and are willing to help him.
At the same time today the younger car guard saw a big bag of smaller individually wrapped packs of tissues in my car and he asked if he could buy one from me. I gave him the whole bag as i wasn’t using them in any case. He was so happy about that.
I know these examples sound insignificant to us but by just acknowledging people ,like these men, as human beings and treating them as equals gives them more pride than you can think. Small gestures can make someones day. Small gestures can make your day. Small gestures can even change your outlook on life.
