Scottish Country Dancing and Physiotherapy

Our physiotherapist Jason Lee recently learnt more about Scottish Dancing and injury prevention with the Stonington Country Dancers.

With so much time spent dancing on their toes and forefoot, Scottish dancers most commonly experience calf and Achilles issues.  In order to reduce the likelihood of injury, our physiotherapists have designed an appropriate Scottish Country Dancing specific warm up and cool down.

Warm up:

1. Walking around the room x 6
2. Walking around the room side to side for one minute
3. Repeat walking side to side in opposite direction for one minute
4. Squat with feet shoulder width – bending the knees slightly
5. Squat with feet together with toes pointed outwards – aim knees towards second toe
6. Heel raises – standing feet shoulder width apart gradually raise up onto toes
7. Hip turn outs – standing on one leg. Bend the opposite knee towards chest, outwards and gently back down
8. Lunges – Step forwards with one leg and gently bend the back knee

Cool down:

1. Shoulder stretch – arm across chest, use opposite arm to hug elbow into chest
2. Calf stretch – one foot in front of another, keeping back heel and back knee straight, gently lean forward
3. Achilles stretch – similar to calf stretch but gently bend the back knee
4. Hamstring stretch – one leg forward with knee straight, gently lean towards foot
5. Shoulder rolls – forwards and backwards 12 x each direction

Both warm up and cool down should be pain free.  If dancers have any injury concerns it is important to seek help from your health professional.  The sooner an injury is addressed, the quicker the recovery and less time (if any) off dancing is required.