.
Note: Private consultations for dance,
sports and Olympic development programs (incl. Equestrian Rider Development)
are available at Stephen M. Apatow's Dancescience Development Center at the
Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts in Torrington, CT.
Contact Stephen for additional information.
--------------------------------------------
Updated: 3 September 2011
Contact: Stephen M. Apatow
Founder, Director of Research & Development
Sports Medicine & Science Institute
Humanitarian University Consortium
Graduate Studies Center for Medicine,
Veterinary Medicine & Law
Phone: 203-668-0282
Email: s.m.apatow@esportsmedicine.org
Url: www.esportsmedicine.org
International Dancescience Development Program
Internet: www.edancescience.org
Child Safety, Injury Prevention and Performance
Optimization
Classical ballet training is the most advanced
technical movement mechanics training in the world, providing the foundation
for all styles of dance, sports and Olympic development programs.
Nothing is more disturbing than teaching an international ballet development
program, with a cross section of U.S. and international students, with
95 percent unable to stand in a parallel position and execute a simple plie
with correct alignment.
One of the first objectives in classical ballet training is learning
how to stand with correct posture. The parallel position of the feet encompasses
distribution of weight, heel aligned with the center line of the foot (1st/2nd
metatarsal head). As the knees bend in a simple plie position, [1]
alignment is maintained with the knee cap tracking directly through this
center line of the ankle/foot complex (preparing for eventual work on pointe).
As training progresses, the student eventually learns how to work in
turnout (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th positions), or alignment positions where
the foot externally rotates, while maintaining correct knee, ankle, foot
alignment.
The classical ballet mechanical ideal: heel behind centerline of
foot, knee cap tracking over the center line of ankle and foot. In the
plie position, the hip complex and kneecap must track through this
line. This alignment is maintained through demi-pointe and in the
most advanced training, on pointe.
In Eastern Bloc development programs, a selection process is used to
identify students best suited for participation in dance or sports (Olympic)
development programs. In Romania, pre-gymnastics training encompasses 6
days a week, 45 minutes per day of classical ballet based choreography training,
to develop fundamental movement mechanics prior to the introduction of sports
specific movement. In the late 90's, Geza Pozar, Romanian National
Team coach/choreographer for Nadia Comăneci [2] shared with me the importance
of this work for all participants in for the USA Gymnastics National Team
Coaches Education Programs.
Stephen M. Apatow, [3] Founder, Director of Research and Development
for the Sports Medicine & Science Institute teaching a gymnastics a
coaches development program at the Gymnastics Training Center in Rochester,
NY. in 1998. Gymnastics coaches in this photo include Maria Filotova,
a member of the 1976 and '80 Soviet Union Olympic teams, and Sasha
Kourbatov, former member of the Russian international team.
[4]
Here in the United States, all children are allowed to participate,
irregardless of their physical limitations. We progress directly
into sports specific training, while we skip the fundamental movement mechanics
(classical ballet based choreography training), and don't integrate accentuated
flexibility training to better enable the functional capacity of the students.
The dilemma, there is no time, too many children in the programs, and
it doesn't fit into the business model.
In the classical ballet world, Eastern Bloc teachers, trained at the
worlds top training schools understand the meaning of technically correct
and if such a standard was upheld, that there would be very few students
working in 5th position. In reality, if correct alignment was the rule,
they would be working in a modified 5th or a 3rd position. But Eastern
Bloc ballet and Olympic coaches, many times remain silent, because these
are unpopular topics.
Excellence vs Mediocrity
The challenge with mainstream classical ballet training, pre-ballet
to professional level, is insufficient classical ballet specific stretch
and flexibility training, that prepares the students for the demands of
the development program. The consequences of this oversight, is repetitive
movement mechanics that load the spine or extremities with incorrect alignment.
The result being adaptive joint deformation and many times permanent
stabilization.
Can you take a young child and adapt them to a deformed or malaligned
position without pain ? In many cases, yes, at least until the non-symptomatic
stressed alignment progresses into a full blown injury.
Joint deformation challenges from forced turnout, include
compensatory stabilization in articular development of the foot/ankle
complex, knee complex, hip complex and spine. The entire body is
interconnected, head to toe. Any incorrect alignment variable causes
a compensatory adjustment to accommodate function.
Typical alignment challenges at the barre. Line A represents
the ideal line that a correct foot would track through. The mechanical
ideal would encompasses the knee cap tracking through the center of the
ankle/foot complex or Line A. Line B represents the true degree of
hip turnout possessed by the student, that would require internal rotation
of the foot so that correct parallel knee, ankle, foot alignment would be
maintained in a turned out position.
Orthopedics: The Classical Ballet Mechanical
Ideal
In the field of medicine, including the specialized field of orthopedics,
the topic of correct postural alignment is a missing focus of study. In
the absence of a mechanical postural alignment ideal, there exists no reference
point to address the mechanism of joint stress and injury. In the
late 80's, Stephen M. Apatow [3] took his studies in sports medicine and
exercise physiology into the study of classical ballet, as an athlete training
for international competition in the sports of cross country skiing and rowing.
As a result of this work, he was asked to develop a specialized program for
optimization of the elite ballet dancer preparing for the Lausanne International
Ballet Competition. [4]. Analysis was based on the mechanical ideal
in classical ballet training, correction of spine and extremity articular
variables associated with stabilization/deformation and then retraining in
the fundamentals.
The success of this work yielded immediate results and served as a starting
point for the integration of this work into all levels of the pedagogical
program at Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts. In the early 90's the Sports
Medicine and Science Institute was formed and biomechanical analysis,
correction and retraining programs were developed for athletes in Olympic
and sports development programs that include professional football, national
level gymnastics, wrestling, martial arts hockey, skiing, figure skating,
equestrian rider development [5] and Armed Forces Development Programs. [6]
At the request of the medical community, this work has been integrated into
orthopedic applications for cases that include entrapment neuropathies,
scoliosis, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, fibromyalgia, friedreich ataxia,
multiple sclerosis [7] and veterinary cases [8] (canine, equine):
Loma Fowler: Dressage scholarship recipient for rider biomechanical
analysis, correction and retraining. -- BalletEquestria: Rider & Equine
Development Programs. [9]
Today, the Sports Medicine & Science Institute and International Dancescience
Development Program emphasizes the importance of postural analysis, based
on the classical ballet mechanical ideal. Any deviation from the
correct classical ballet based alignment ideal, corresponds with a limitation
of potential performance, joint stress and injury. If postural alignment
is neglected, then analysis, diagnosis and treatment, that targets the mechanism
of injury is compromised and contributes to the widespread overuse of pharmaceuticals
and unnecessary surgical procedures in the treatment of more than 10 million sports injuries each year in the United States. [10] Typical challenges in
ballet include:
Accessory Bone Pain: Aka Accessory Bone Pain,
Painful Accessory Bones, Os Trigonum Syndrome, Os Trigonum, Accessory Tarsal
Navicular. -- Family Practice Notebook. [11]
Education initiatives associated with classical ballet based biomechanics
and accentuated stretch and flexibility need to be integrated into
all dance and sports development programs. The International Dancescience
Development Program advocates the incorporation of this work into every
technique class and rehearsal, to optimize the progress of every student
in the classical ballet development program. These same principles apply
to sports and Olympic development programs.
The following introductory distance education and certification course
was developed for students, parents, dance instructors, physicians and
therapists associated with dance, sports and Olympic development programs:
For additional information, visit the International Dancescience Development
Program web site at: www.edancescience.org
References:
1. Plie: ABT Dictionary. Url: www.abt.org/education/dictionary/terms/plie.html
2. Nadia Comăneci: Wickpedia. Url: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia_Com%C4%83neci
3. Stephen M. Apatow: Sports Medicine & Science Institute
and International Dancescience Development Program. Url: www.apatow.org
4. 1998 Gymnastics Coaches Workshop: GTC Gymnastics Training Center
in Rochester, NY. Url: www.esportsmedicine.org/sportscience/gtcworkshop.html
4. Regimen Changes Body: Linda Boultinghouse, Register Citizen,
Torrington, Connecticut. Url: www.esportsmedicine.org/rcb.html
5. JudoSport International: Url: www.judosport.org
6. Armed Forces Development Programs: See: Special Protective
Forces for Humanitarian Operations. Url: www.unarts.org/H-II/ref/spf_deopressoliber.html
7. Sports Medicine & Science Institute: Url: www.esportsmedicine.org
8. Pathobiologics International: Url: www.pathobiologics.org
9. BalletEquestria: Rider & Equine Development Programs. Url:
www.balletequestria.org
10. The Merck Manual - Home Edition, Sec.
5, Ch. 57, Sports Injuries: Url: www.merckmanuals.com/mmanual_home/sec5/57.htm
11. Accessory Bone Pain: Family Practice Notebook.Url: www.fpnotebook.com/Ortho/Foot/AcsryBnPn.htm
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