Have you seen the Black Swan movie yet? She really needs a podiatrist!
Don't worry...I'm not going to ruin the movie for anyone but the Black Swan dancers really need a podiatrist! I was surprised at how much screen time was given to their feet with close-ups of foot injuries, stretching, warm-ups, and the dancers' foot deformities. Here's a little recap of what I'm talking about:
Injuries:
1. Lacerated nail bed: While spinning on pointe, the main dancer injures her toenail of her big toe, leaving it cracked vertically and bleeding. Most likely it would need to be removed, cleansed, and possibly treated with antibiotics for infection control/prevention.
2. Sprained ankle: Dancers and many other athletes (especially basketball players) fall and twist their ankles, leading to ankle sprains or even foot or ankle fractures. The key to this injury (if there are no fractures) is early treatment such as the 'RICE' treatment which consists of rest, ice, compression wrapping, and elevation of the injured foot.
3. Achilles tendonitis: A pain in the back of the heel area where the Achilles tendon attaches to the heel bone, especially when there is a bump in the tender area along the tendon, is probably Achilles tendonitis (inflammation of the Achilles tendon) or a partial tear of the Achilles tendon (With a complete rupture of the Achilles tendon, the patient would not be able to walk.) Early treatment is also important with these injuries to prevent a partial tear or inflammation of the tendon from becoming a complete rupture.
Stretching & Warm-ups:
1. Heel cord stretching: Dancer's heel (plantar fascitis) is a common occurrence when the heel cord tightens so heel cord stretching and warm-ups are essential for injury prevention.
2. Physical therapy: In the movie, the trainer is shown giving adjustments to the dancer to correct for tight diaphragm muscles and tight ankle joints. When adjusting the ankle, you can hear an audible click which sounds painful but really just feels like a release (like when you crack your own knuckles or your neck).
Foot Deformities:
1. Hammertoes: With the use of classical ballet pointe shoes, the toes are put through tremendous forces supporting the body and for this reason most dancers do not begin to dance en pointe until after age 12. Even that is not enough to prevent deformities such as hammertoes, bunions, and bunionetttes (Tailors bunion).
2. Syndactyly: This is not a dance deformity, but it was shown in the movie. Syndactyly is the fusion of two or more toes. In the movie, the first and second toes are fused together as one extra wide toe, and the fourth and fifth toes are also fused together in one scene. In reality, these are congenital defects that can be corrected with surgery.
Of course, there are many other "dancers' injuries," "dancers' warm-ups" and "dancers' foot deformites" to discuss such as sesamoiditis, corns and calluses, blisters, bursitits, but these are the ones shown in 'Black Swan.'
For other foot and ankle questions regarding dancers or dance, please contact my office directly.
3503 Lexington Ave, El Monte, CA 91731 (626) 442-1223
