Ballet dancers that have had a stress fracture . . .?

My daughter is an advanced ballet dancer and has been diagnosed with a stress fracture in her foot. Of course the doctor says no dancing for 6 weeks then they'll recheck it. As an advanced dancer, you all know you can't just stop for 6 full weeks without doing any barre or anything. Her ballet school is in the middle of coreography for the Spring performance so she is hoping to at least go and do some work in class so she doesn't lose all of her technique.

Please share your experiences with me:

Did you do limited class during your recovery?

Which parts of class did you do and which parts did you skip?

How long before you were 100% recovered?

Thank you for serious answers only.

Ballet dancers that have had a stress fracture . . .?opera ticket

Hello,

I can sympathize with your daughter. At 22 I was dancing professionally and experienced a stress fracture in my ankle. I will give you the advice that I give all my students whom I suspect may have a stress fracture: DO NOT DANCE ON IT! I know she wants to rehearse and perform, but if you put serious weight on a stress fracture it will not heal properly. Feel free to verify this statement with a doctor. To this day (8 years later) I still have problems with my ankle because I didn't take the proper time off. Her teacher(s) should insist that she not take class for the full six weeks.

It is incredibly important for her to put this in perspective. If she has ambitions to be a professional dancer this could seriously affect her for the next several years. As with all dance injuries, the earlier you catch it and the more TLC you give it, the less likely you are to have problems in the future. Trust me, it's even worse when you can't perform with a paying company because of an injury! Unless she plans to quit dancing after this year, she should take care of it by staying out of class except to observe.

If she would like to stay in shape, then giving herself class in a swimming pool and doing Pilates will be of great help. I hope this message is helpful to you. I also run a website for dancers that has a lot of articles about different aspects of training if you're interested - http://www.strategiesfordancers.com

Best of Luck!

Elona Sherwood

Kansas City Ballet School - Upper Division Instructor

Ballet dancers that have had a stress fracture . . .?pacific theater opera theater

let her do barre without pointing or going on rise on that foot, everything else should be okay, as long as she doesnt use that foot.

im a dancer too and if i couldnt dance for 6 weeks, id be more stressed than if i was.