P.R.I.C.E - Dance Injury Prevention

The importance of warming up before dance and cooling down after dance has never been more relevant. Dance professionals and students now know more about dance, the body's anatomy and the injuries that can occur than ever before, as well as how to treat them when they do occur, and even how to prevent them. For many years dance teachers drilled R.I.C.E into their students for when an injury occurred: REST, ICE, COMPRESSION, ELEVATION. These steps were applied in order to treat an injury and ensure fast recovery through applying those actions to the injured part of the body (usually from the waist down). Doctors and physiotherapists went on to prescribe heat as an injury healer, especially for muscle trouble, and even alternating the application of heat and ice to the injured area. It is now common practice, or at least when young dancers are learning about the potential injuries that their body can suffer from through dance, to maintain P.R.I.C.E as a set of recovery procedures. PREVENTION, REST, ICE, COMPRESSION, ELEVATION (P.R.I.C.E.): it seems that teaching dancers how to prevent their injuries is the best medicine, in addition to the fact that it teaches much about the construction of the body and how it works for dance. Warming up and cooling down are therefore essential parts of the prevention process, giving injury less chance to strike if the muscles are cared for and used correctly. Warming up raises the heart rate and gets blood moving around the body to aid the use of the muscles so they are not cold and stiff when class begins. Similarly, cooling down is also imperative in that it slows the heart rate to its usual pace and gives muscles less chance of seizing up once the body leaves the dance studio. Keep up to date with Dancewear Central's collection of warm up wear and remember prevention is better than cure!