Avoid injuries when dancing

Dancing is a discipline that involves effort and perseverance, and many times our desire to be perfect leads us to over demand ourselves, overloading not only our physical state but also our mental state; as a dancer you must be aware that your body is your work tool, therefore you must take maximum care of it, making sure that each part works correctly and respecting your limits. Nobody is exempt from getting hurt, either because you overhearsed or because you performed an inappropriate technique; however, today I bring you 5 tips that will help you avoid dancing injuries, because prevention is better than regret.

1. Listen to your body

The key factor is to know your body very well, learn to listen to it, because your body gives you clear signals, when it does not feel well, when it lacks energy, when you need to rest, when you are tense and many more things. If you have the ability to perceive those signals, you can control your dance movements.

2. Good posture

If we have a proper posture we will avoid putting pressure on our bones and joints as we look more stylized. What few people know is that a bad position of our body, aside from generating muscle discomfort, can also damage our digestive, respiratory and excretory systems. In order to stabilize our body we have to know that when it comes to dancing we are transferring our weight from one side to the other, therefore we must stay well aligned so that our steps have greater fluidity. A tip for you to get a better posture is to do pilates, this will allow you to balance your body, improve your flexibility and help you control your breathing. If you want you can watch this Stepflix class, there you will find the bases to execute Pilates exercises correctly.

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3. Warm up and stretching

This prepares your body for the techniques and steps that you will perform later. The point of heating up and conditioning your muscles is that they move more easily. A tip for your warm-up session to be effective is to perform exercises gradually, start by performing simple exercises that do not require much effort such as turning your shoulders backwards and continue dosing the intensity of those movements. Include exercises that cover all areas of your body. You can take as an example this Stepflix warm-up routine that will help you condition your body and manage your weight correctly. Think of your body as an elastic band, the more you stretch it the more it will give in. Another tip is to take a chance to go to the sauna, it is scientifically proven that the sauna helps our muscles relax, releasing tensions, it is also useful to thermoregulate our bodies, better dissipating heat and avoiding fatigue.

Also read: Get the most out of your workouts

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4. Rest and relax:

Everything in life requires balance, overdoing is not good and just as you spend time rehearsing your dance techniques you must also take a time to rest and renew yourself. It is not only about getting 8 hours of sleep, you also need to have a moment of calm where you can reflect, because it is important to pay attention to our mind, avoid stress and worries, when you release everything that afflicts you give yourself a chance to better express your movements. In addition, concentration is key when dancing for avoiding injuries, so if while you dance your mind is focused you will be more likely to coordinate your steps, preventing any trip. Getting a massage is ideal to loosen all the rigidity of your body and get rid of any anguish.

5. Perform the appropriate techniques

It’s okay if you want to experiment with new steps and movements but try at least to know the basics of the style you are going to dance so that the combinations come out without any failure. Before taking an overly complex step, find out a little more about it or talk to a professional to show you the proper technique. From time to time it is good to take dance classes, even when you already know how to dance, because practice makes masters, and learning to dance a new style will help you improve the technique of the styles you already dominate. Think of dance as languages, the more you know the easier it is for you to learn a new one.

We know that dancing is what you love, so for you to do it for the rest of your life you must be careful and have balance in your life, if you have already suffered any dancing injuries give yourself time to recover and do not pressure yourself, remember that everything that is forced is broken.