Ankle Pains

ViviDancer

ViviDancer

Member
Hey guys, I have an issue I'd appreciate some help in from you guys, but I think it'll be a lot better to give you all a brief background about me before I raise my issue.

So I dance latin and standard ballroom, roughly 5-6 times a week, 4 hours on Monday, 3 hours on Wednesday, 2 hours on Thursday, 2-3 hours on Friday, 4 hours on Saturday, 5 hours on Sunday. These hours are a combination of lessons and practice sessions.

Recently, in the past few months, I've been feeling sharp pains in my left ankle, especially when doing standard dances with rise and fall like Waltz & Foxtrot, and sometimes in Tango, although it usually only occurs during warm up and rarely after that.

At first I didn't think much of that as I've encountered such pains before when I used to play tennis, but the pain only occurred if I happened to place my foot in an incorrect angle or transfer my weight wrongly so it wasn't much of a trouble then.

However, now I encounter the pain more frequently. An example would be when doing the Waltz Basic (Closed Changes in the form of a box), when I transfer my weight onto my left leg (Left foot forward) on the first count of the Closed Change, I feel a sharp pain at the front joint between my foot and leg.

So my teacher has said it's overwork, but I've tried resting and it still persists. I thought it could possibly be that my footwork wasn't correct or I transfered my body weight wrongly, but I've been working on it and nothing seems to have changes. Recently I started wearing an ankle guard, which reduces the amount of times the pain occurs, but it still persists.

So my question would be, has anyone else encountered something like that before? And if so, what did you do about it? If not, what do you think could be the root cause from your perspective. Any comments or feedback would be greatly appreciated! (:

Vivi
 
I don't think that anyone can specifically answer your question. It seems to me like the best thing for you to do would be to go see a doctor and possibly have some x rays done.
 
You need to first determine whether the problem is with bone, cartilage, or other soft tissue. If it's bone, you're off that ankle for at least six weeks, depending on the nature of the problem. If it's anything else, your doctor will tell you the appropriate next steps.
 
As someone who used to dance close to that many hours, and then got sidlined due to an ankle injury. The one thing I advise is DO NOT WAIT to seek treatment. I danced on my first ankle injury (sounds similar to yours) for a while and had to sit out for 3-4 weeks, my second injury due to a non-dance related fall I didn't seek treatment for a few months and once I did it was three specialists and 5 ankle breaces later that kept me off the dance floor for nearly a year.

So, please, if you love what you do, don't wait to seek treatment.
 
Stagekat said:
As someone who used to dance close to that many hours, and then got sidlined due to an ankle injury. The one thing I advise is DO NOT WAIT to seek treatment. I danced on my first ankle injury (sounds similar to yours) for a while and had to sit out for 3-4 weeks, my second injury due to a non-dance related fall I didn't seek treatment for a few months and once I did it was three specialists and 5 ankle breaces later that kept me off the dance floor for nearly a year.

So, please, if you love what you do, don't wait to seek treatment.
Click to expand...

Completely agree. Please seek treatment. It could possibly be one of those things that need to be fixed by the doctor and maintained by you. I used to have knee pains from latin dancing, so I went to the doctor and "fixed it" with physical therapy, but I still have to maintain my knee joints with proper stretching, stability exercises and ice/heat.

I hope the diagnosis won't be too bad!!! Good luck!!!
 
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