Wednesday 17 October 2012

Injuries and rehabilitation

So in my last post I talked about picking up an injury at the shaabi class I did. Sadly, it's still lingering, and it now seems I may have actually torn the oblique, so it's taking much longer to heal and needs a lot of babying.

We're really lucky in our dance community to have a lot of very experienced dancers with a really solid understanding of anatomy and physical therapies. I have picked the brains of all our local ladies, and have benefited from heaps of advice and support.

The last two intensive workshops I've done with my own teacher Dawn have been very focused on therapeutic work, treating existing injuries and working on strength and flexibility to help prevent future damage.

We've played with all sorts of props and toys, including pilates rollers, spiky massage balls and the Rumble Roller, which I hate, but must concede works absolute wonders on knotted up and tight muscles, even if using it on ones glutes and thighs is an exercise in masochism of the worst kind.

The most frustrating part of being injured is not being able to dance for long. I made the mistake the other week of planning a troupe rehearsal right before class, and ended up sitting out almost the entire hour of class because I'd 'used up' my allocation of pain-free hip work for the day. Not great when your class is learning Soheir Zaki style chonks and you're dying to get up and drill.

I'm aiming to be recovered enough to perform at the next 'big' hafla in the area, which is in mid November. And to help speed my recovery, I'm working on a new costume for it...

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