Dislocations and Subluxations

We have an injury expo coming up in class this Tuesday. My topic of choice is Dislocations and Subluxations. As a dancer with "bad genes" dislocations and subluxations have always been part of my life. Since overextended tendons run in my family, I experienced my first dislocation of the knee at age 11. Ever since then, it has been physical therapy, ice and many many subluxations and dislocations of both the knees and ankles.


Studying this material from a "science-y" perspective has given me a different perspective to the injuries I've experienced the most. Since we have been studying the anatomy of the body, the difference between muscles, joints and ligaments, it has become clear to me, why I have the issues I have.


I have learned that once you dislocate a bone, it hardly goes back to its natural state of alignment. So like my dad, whose a doctor once said, "You dislocated your knee once doing ballet, you better stop or learn how to live with it for the rest of your life."


Dislocations and subluxations can potentially occur in most (if not all) of the joints of the body. They occur when the ligaments and muscles are not strong enough for the support of the joint.  To my disbelief, not only can I potentially get a dislocated knee or ankle; I can subluxate or dislocate  my pelvis, shoulders, elbows, neck, vertebral cord and even the eye! Below is a picture of a subluxated lens that I found at [http://webeye.ophth.uiowa.edu/eyeforum/atlas/pages/subluxated-lens.html] which is an ophthalmology website.

What I learned the most about this assignment is that we, as dancers, should seek prevention rather than treatment. The difference between the two is that one is before and the other after the fact. Ideally, prevention would include excersice to strengthen the muscles so that they are more able to protect the joints and to avoid repetitive motions.

But, if I don't want to stop dancing because of this, what should I do? For me, aspirin, excersice, icing and wearing prenventive braces, has worked. Whether it was on my knees or ankles, I wore protective braces all through high school and whenever I feel the pain coming back in dance class. The good thing about them is that they do not decrease joint mobility (depending on the brace you get) and its protective, so I feel safer. When I have the brace on I feel I limit myself less in different movements. When I did point, there was no way I would dance without ankle braces, otherwise I was too scared.


We have also talked about the issues that "being scared" causes to a lot of people (not only dancers). Like creating a "fake" limp to protect your right knee and in turn ruining your left knee, prevention can only make you feel safer about what you are doing and keeps you away from these other habits that can be heinous for the body.