Expert: Dianne M. Buxton - 1/20/2008

Question
why is it that i always have an injury in the ankle? is it because of the wrong technique in plie?

Answer
Hi Crimson. Ankle injuries can occur for various reasons - advancing too quickly with not enough strength and accuracy of technique in place; weak foot muscles and therefore lack of control; hypermobility in the joints, lack of strength and control, and more.

Please see a chiropractor if you can. You will have the injury assessed, treated, and you will learn why it occured. If you are a minor, ask your parents to call a few chiropractors in your area, or if you are in the US try looking at www.activator.com for a practitioner in your area. Recurring injuries need to be treated by a pro. Chiropractors can treat you with physiotherapy as well.

Hopefully this injury will get assessed and healed.

In the meantime, I can recommend a wonderful book for home practise and education on building strength and accuracy, with many aspects of basic technique addressed, including injury prevention. The author is a dance medicine specialist and she includes charts for your progress, photos and lots of anatomical information. A dancer's dream, literally! The link to her book is
http://www.linkbrander.com/go/54727 She asks US $47.77 for the manual, and you will use it as long as you study ballet.

And, yes your ankle injury could be from an inaccurate demi plie.

In fact, I just wrote an article this morning on perfecting the demi plie and a slow motion rise - you'll find it at http://www.theballetstore.com with lots of other analytical articles on ballet exercises. All the finer details are there. If you get a user ID and log in, you can access the collection of articles on the blog. (This is all for free).

I hope you'll let me know how this goes! All the best, Dianne.