Essential Dancer Feet Care

Our family and team at Bella Diva Dance feels blessed as we head into this holiday season and approach a new & exciting year. This past year has been a year of growth, transformation and adventures, all possible because of our incredible team, dedicated students, loyal partners and clients, and everyone who supports us near and far. This is a time of year to give thanks and we couldn’t be more grateful for you! 

Be thankful for your feet and take care of them properly

As dancers, our feet are arguably one of the most complex structures in the body, especially when you consider the purpose it serves for us dancers: support, balance, and propulsion. Much like the musician and his instrument, it is crucial for us dancers that we keep our feet in good working order.
dancing tips

Feet Maintenance for dancer

Here are some considerations for ways to prevent and treat minor injuries, and general care for your feet:

  1. Cut your toenails short and straight across. The nail should be straight across and not curved because curved nails or nails that are too long can lead to ingrown toenails. The length of the nail should be just where the white part begins, with a very small amount of white showing. Use clippers as opposed to scissors to get a clean, straight cut.
  2. Don’t wear toenail polish. Polish prevents you from being able to see under the nail, so you can’t see if you’re developing a problem such as a bruised or ingrown nail. That doesn’t mean you can NEVER wear polish; go ahead and wear it for special events and then take it off before your next class or, wear a clear polish that allows you to see the nail.
  3. If you develop a blister: Blisters are par for the result from skin rubbing in with your shoes. Blisters can occur anywhere on your foot but generally tend to pop up on the surface of the toes, inside or outside border of the metatarsals, or on the heel. Blisters can be painful – even the littlest ones! Below is some advice on how to treat the two main types of blisters:
    • If you develop a clear-colored blister and the skin hasn’t broken, use a sterilized needle to pop the blister and drain out the liquid. Do not remove the loose skin; cover with a Band-Aid and strip of athletic tape. If the skin has begun to tear, use a small pair of scissors to remove any loose skin and cover with a Band-Aid and strip of athletic tape.
    • If you develop a red-colored blister, do not pop it. Blood blisters should be left to heal on their own; cover with a Band-Aid and strip of athletic tape.
    • For painful blisters, you can also cut the center out of a small piece of moleskin to form a donut shape. This prevents the surface of your shoe from rubbing on the blister until it heals. Cut a square or circle that’s bigger than your blister. Fold in half and make a slit. Putting the scissors through the slit, cut an inner circle the size of the blister. Remove the paper covering and stick the moleskin pad to surround the blister.
    • Finally, check the fit of your shoe. Blisters are normal with new shoes, but if you are developing them on a regular basis, you may want to see about a different style that better molds to your foot.

Health tips for dancers

Take Inventory on Your Dance Bag:

Making sure you have everything you need is critical to foot maintenance. Here’s a list of supplies we recommend keeping in your dance bag:

  • Nail clippers
  • Band-Aids
  • Athletic tape
  • Moleskin
  • Extra lamb’s wool or toe pads
  • Needle and thread
  • Small pair of scissors

While these are the essentials, the list of what can appear in a dancer’s bag goes on and on. Over time, as you get to know your feet better, you’ll discover what you really need (and what you should include for rainy day emergencies).

Top 3 Dancer Foot Injuries

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A dancer’s feet sure take a beating. Whether they are crammed into stiff pointe shoes, bare and providing a soft landing from a giant leap, or spinning around in high-heeled ballroom shoes, your feet are the real foundation of every move you make on the dance floor. It’s no wonder that your feet ache at the end of a long day of training. However, when those aches turn into true pain, it’s time to take a step back and give your feet the attention they deserve. The following are three common injuries of the foot and ways to treat them.

1.  Strains and Sprains

Ankle sprains and strains are among the most common types of foot injuries of dancers. Sprains of the ankle occur when the ankle is accidentally turned or rolled outward.
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Sometimes, ligaments of the ankle are torn, resulting in a lateral sprain. These types of sprains range from first- to third-degree injuries.

Symptoms: You know immediately if you sprain your ankle. If you sprain or strain your ankle, you will most likely suffer pain and swelling around the outside of your ankle. You may find it too painful to stand or walk. Your ankle may bruise within a couple of days due to blood rushing to the injured area.

Causes: Improper landings from leaps and jumps are usually the cause of ankle sprains and strains. Some ankle sprains result from a slight roll of the foot due to a sudden loss of balance.

Treatment: The RICE (Rest – Ice – Compression – Elevation)  treatment should be administered immediately following an ankle strain or sprain.

2.  Plantar Fasciitis

Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common causes of heel pain in dancers.

Symptoms: Plantar fasciitis usually causes a stabbing pain in the bottom of your foot near the heel with your first steps in the morning. You may also notice pain after long periods of standing or sitting.

Causes: A few causes of plantar fasciitis in dancers include improper landing of jumps (not using the heels or landing flat-footed) and pushing off the floor incorrectly.

Treatment: Stretching and strengthening exercises may provide pain relief. If the pain is severe, steroid shots are sometimes administered. Properly warming up and cooling down will also help ease the pain in dancers with plantar fasciitis.

3.  Dancer’s Fracture

Dancer’s fracture is the most common acute fracture seen in dancers. This fracture involves the long bone on the outside of the foot where the little toe attaches.

Symptoms: Pain and swelling usually occur immediately after the injury. Walking may be difficult or even impossible.
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Your skin around the injury may bruise over time.

Causes: Dancer’s fracture usually occurs after landing from a jump on a turned-in foot.

Treatment: Treatment involves a period of rest while the injury heals, and sometimes a walking boot may need to be worn. A period of rehab will probably be encouraged in order to rebuild mobility and strength in your foot and ankle.

Do You Dance Barefoot? Here’s How to Take Care of Your Feet

Dancing barefoot is a calling card of modern dance training and has often been the footwear of choice for contemporary dancers on stage and in the studio, regardless of the training. Modern dance founders chose to dance in bare feet because it reflects core values like connection to the body and the representation of earthly or human ideas and emotions. So, if you are a barefoot dancer (or plan to be), here are some tips to help you care for your fantastically unadorned feet.

Callus Care

They aren’t pretty but, as long as they are not painfully thick or too dry, calluses for a barefoot dancer are actually a good thing. They help you turn and slide, yet really feel the floor beneath your feet. If they are mostly even with the surrounding skin, you can leave your calluses alone. Use a pumice stone to shave them down if they start getting too big. Just be careful not to file too far. Soaking feet in Epsom salt or using Vaseline overnight can also help to keep the callus pliable and less likely to crack. If a callus does crack, care is similar to that of our next common barefoot dance concern.

Skin splits

The splits are ordinarily something dancers experience; there’s nothing more painful or annoying than dancing on a paper cut.

Splitting skin in and around the toes is difficult to bandage.
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Therefore, splits often tend to reopen and can deepen, or worse, become infected. For this reason, it’s best to do all you can to avoid it and prevent skin splits from happening in the first place. If you are experiencing a split, be sure the tear and surrounding skin are clean. Then, try to place a bandage (or half of one) across the split like a bridge.
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Use medical tape to hold the bandage in place on the top and on the bottom of your foot, if necessary. At a minimum, change any bandaging daily.
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It is usually a good idea to wear some kind of foot covering until the split is fully healed.

Floor burns

Floor work has been a notable characteristic of modern dance throughout the decades. As contemporary dance requires increasing levels of athleticism, scrapes and burns on the ankles and feet of barefoot dancers become more common – so common that dancers may not think much about caring for these rather tame injuries. It’s worth noting that even abrasions like floor burn should be treated with a topical ointment like Neosporin and covered with a bandage to reduce the chance of infection and bacteria growth. You can relieve a painful floor burn by running cold water over the wound, but don’t use ice or lotions, as these can make it worse.

BareFoot Care for Dancers

What are your favorite ways to care for modern dance feet? What do you love (or hate) about dancing barefoot? Tell us in the comments!

Bella Diva Dance offers belly dance classes in Denver. Our new studio is located in the Glendale Center on E. Mississippi Ave. and Birch St., near Colorado Blvd. Visit us today!