Injury Prevention: Why I am Concerned about the Quality of My Movement Patterns

Now most of you will probably know by now but I'm an injury prevention and preventative care advocate for every and all athletes. Although bettering oneself and pushing yourself can come with some risks, knowingly putting yourself at a mathematical disadvantage when it comes to injuries is something I will not support.

"If you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes."

Let's be real. There is nothing safe or natural about POLE.

But there are mechanisms I use to measure my risk and then decide what is the best course of action for my body. That may look different for other people but as much as I try to be open minded that every body is different, there are common sense mantras I live by.

Rule #1: Personally, I tend to be against the philosophy of attempting a move you are not cleared to be trying to do without a spotter. Although it's easy as a dancer to attempt anything at any time AND EVEN IF YOU just so happen to nail this move (not cleanly but you didn't die) I think that this person willingly put themselves in unnecessary danger for no logical reason other than "I wanted to do this move since forever so..."

Yeah respectfully, heavily DISAGREE.

Rule #2: If there is pain discontinue immediately. For me that's a one way ticket of DO NOT ATTEMPT AGAIN until an objective opinion looks at your form and technique. Because 65% of the time it is a technique issue, and 30% motor control issue that can be corrected with conditioning and 5% biological component that needs a professional to assist.

And if I even have the inkling that I am unsure whether I am safe to attempt a movement I ask a qualified instructor if I am able to attempt it by myself with a mat, would need spotted instruction, or even a regression. EGO DANCE IS NOT WORTH SPINE INJURIES. This is not something you may see in my Instagram but behind the scenes I am always getting proper spotting or consulting an instructor on attempting a variation of a move I have been taught in class. This is a non-negotiable for me. I do not want to F around and find out. Because again...

"If you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes."

As the studio has explained many times. The level of the class is not a measurement of the dancer's skill and ability but strictly the level of the material that is being covered in the course. So I could be cleared to do something in the air but still want to work on it from an upright position in an intermediate class. That doesn't mean I'm hurt or regressing. I am just choosing to work on a specific part of my training. And most likely because my body is too fatigued to safely be upside down so I'm focusing on a specific skill, technique, or something that probably won't injure me that day.

All I have done over the past 7 months is work on the most optimal spine health and mobility for an aerial dancer. Am I up to snuff yet? No. Am I more careful because I am training parts of my body that just a measly few months ago weren't moving at all? Yep. So why would I injure a part of my body that is vulnerable because I want to progress quicker? Nope. That isn't my goal.

I have no rush NOR need to progress any quicker or slower than my body will allow me. It's because my priority is my ABILITY as an athlete to activate the muscles required to do a movement at the right time with consistency and maximum power output, the MOBILITY to do whatever I need to in the air freely without restriction, my core's ability to brace as well as breathing techniques to maximize core stability mid-performance, my adaptability to outside stimulus so that I am buoyant and can handle "what ifs" while performing, and the stability in the joints required for pole so that I am in full-control of what my body is doing at every phase of my performance. This matters to me 1000x more than getting a specific move as quickly as possible.

We say this at the studio a lot, "Listen to your body." What that means is being able to know when it is a good time or bad time to attempt something. For a dancer there needs to be a mental as well as physical preparedness to attempt a move. If a person is not mentally ready to go upside down for example, the fight or flight response is going to kick in and mid-movement, it is likely the muscles will "lock up" in response. So if the ability to invert takes a fluid movement with multiple muscle groups working simultaneously and all of a sudden your brain sends motor neurons to the muscles so that they stop or start contracting at the wrong time to protect you from perceived threats; well now the movement is no longer fluid and this can severely impact the quality of execution along with greatly increasing the injury risk for the person executing the movement.

Here is a short list of things that I ask myself before I do a specific technique in pole:

1) Which muscles are sore/stiff today which may limit my range of motion and ability to maintain isometric contraction in the air?

2) How are the common joints used in pole feeling today? (Shoulders, Ankles, Knees, Hips) and how much load could they handle?

3) How is my grip strength today? Are my forearms and biceps too tired to maintain a strong push in my bracket holds?

4) Which parts of my spine are vulnerable to injury at this time and what moves are off limits until my spine rests up?

5) How is my core's ability to brace while doing basic inversions and shoulder mounts. Should we focus on movements that take less bracing to control?

6) How much cumulative fatigue have I already built up today before coming to the studio to train?

That is why gymnasts as well as aerial dancers have natural progressions put in place to drill common sticking points. That is why accessory movements exist. That is why regressions exist. It is not because "you suck." Actually the contrary. It is the recognition of decades of exercise science research and it's saying directly to you, "slow and steady wins the race." Something WE ALL KNOW as children being read The Tortoise and the Hare.. This is designed to mentally and physically prepare the body for movement patterns. Otherwise known as conditioning. OH HEY that word I've hear a million times in the studio! Yep. Conditioning.

Quality is WAY MORE IMPORTANT than quantity. Is it fun to have variety? Oh yeah it's hella fun. But for an example when I almost fell 12 ft. in the air at dress rehearsal a month ago, my mind went to things I know I could do safely and well because I KNOW that it's better to do something clean while performing than risk it all. Some of you may not know but that outside leg hang prone to shoulder dismount was because I needed to get down safely when I MISSED MY LEG hooking the pole coming out of falling star. Yeah it was terrifying but I also train for these moments so I could stay calm and just focus on one movement at a time. And other than my instructor and my partner NO ONE knew that I almost fell.

Falling is a part of learning in my sport, but there is a way to fall safely and that has everything to do with how you train and your quality of movement. So why skip the movement quality portion and go straight to the flippy-do's and don'ts?

"If you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes."

BE SAFE OUT THERE.