People tease me about my big calf muscles. While they may be big, they are very strong!! They allow me to do jumps (like you see in the pic to the left!) Without my calf muscles, I would not be able to dance.
Well, a couple weeks ago I tore my calf muscle while dancing. I accidentally slipped in my shoe and my tight calves were forced to help my body break the fall, (and possibly protect against spraining my ankle), and tore where the Achilles attaches to the calf. Saying it was painful is an understatement.
This is probably one of the worst injuries I’ve had in my dance career. Your calf is a vital muscle to every move. I use this muscle to walk, lift up to my tippy-toes, come down from a jump or leap, and so much more. My doctor wanted me to take 6 weeks off of work, and I said NO WAY. He said, ok, give me at least 2 weeks, and do EXACTLY as I say. So I said ok. He informed that if I didn’t take this seriously, I could end up with a larger tear and in a boot. I pictured myself hobbling around in an oversized boot with unshaven legs and no mobility – Heck no!! So I promised him 2 weeks completely off my leg – which was still a hard promise to make since I would be missing games and work.
It was the straw that broke the camel’s back kind of injury. I had been abusing (yep, that’s the word my doctor used) this muscle without properly strengthening or stretching it, and now it finally gave up. On top of dancing professionally, I also teach dance cardio classes where I am constantly on the balls of my toes. Doing this means my calf muscle is constantly contracted, and it never works eccentrically. When I slipped in my shoe while I was dancing, my calf muscle was too tight to handle me rolling down from the ball of my foot to my heel, so when I slipped in my shoe while coming down off a jump, it wasn’t strong enough or lengthened enough to hold the fall, and alas, it tore.
My doctor recommended I do hamstring curls and squats. I’m thinking “I’m pretty strong, I’m a dancer, I don’t need to do squats.” I listened anyways. I went to the gym and tried out the hamstring curl machine….HOLY COW! It was so hard!! I liked the challenge afterall. I liked the way it made the back of legs feel too! It activates your inner thighs and makes your butt feel lifted. I’m definitely going to incorporate this into my regular workout regimen.
When I work out in my classes I focus on all the intrinsic muscles – the muscles closest to the bone, which has a ton of benefits for women. But as a dancer, I need to remember to cross-train. I don’t’ work on the big muscles, like your hamstrings, or glut max, because they are pedestrian muscles, which I don’t normally use. . I use ballerina muscles, but I have to remember to keep my body balanced.
My new leg regimine:
- Foam roll – alleviates scar tissue and tightness
- Ice – reduces swelling
- Stretch on stairs
- Roll my foot and calf out with a tennis ball
- Hamstring Curls
- Squats – I’m up to 100lbs J
- Raise up to my toes, and slowly roll down off releve with one foot
- Wore kenisis tape as often as I could
- Wore my compression sleeve over my calf
This injury was luckily something I could get through, but it still humbled me. I knew it was something more serious, something that could make me stop dancing forever, so I had to take it seriously by letting it rest – which is really hard for me to do. I had only been sleeping 4 hours a night, which caused me to be fatigued and have poor brain function. I always think I can just get by, but not anymore. I can’t pretend that I’m invincible anymore. It’s been good to me all these years and I need to be good to it. So listen to your body and give it the respect it deserves. Stretch, feed it properly, and strengthen it.
Lessons Learned:
- Keep our bodies balanced
- We’re not invincible
- Rest
