Highland dance exercises

Some suggested exercises. These suggestions have been collated from the highland-dance mailing list.

NB All information in here should be treated as a friend's suggestion - ie while we believe the information to be mainly correct, you should apply common sense about following it. If it hurts, if it looks wrong for you, don't do it*.

• For elevation
• Fitness training
• For high cuts
• For shin splints
• For turn-out
• For turns
• Upper body

For elevation:

• [Posted by Justine Griffith]
  Have them hop for a 6 step fling holding onto a barre. Don't worry about WF, just turn SF out, up on ball, and elevate. 7 hops and a spring. Then, almost straight away have them come to the centre and do the same thing. Then at the end, another 1/2 minute break, and a proper 6 step Fling.

For turn-out:

• [Posted by Emily Murer]
  You can try the froggy-sit. I find it quite comfortable, and it stretches your hips out well. Lie on your tummy, bend your knees, and put the soles of your feet together. Then press down your knees and feet against the floor without letting your hips come off the ground. It's helpful to have someone spot you at first so they can put (gentle) pressure on your feet and/or hips, whichever one is popping up.

  Also, try sitting in the splits (or as close as you can get) and then stretch forward, trying to lie your tummy on the floor. That one just sounds painful, doesn't it? Don't try and stretch too much at one time - turnout is one of those things that comes gradually. If you force it, or turnout from your knees instead of your hips, you could end up really hurting yourself.

• [Posted by Marnie]
  I tell my dancers to work on turn out by imagining they are face to face with a wall and only the insides of their knees can touch the wall. (An extreme idea, but it works for these ones!) Also, sleeping on the tummy if you can with legs and feet in first position.

• [Posted by Debbi Rummery]
  I have a turn-out trick - but I usually make sure I have understanding parents before I suggest it.

  When sitting at the table for dinner etc, and you know how kids wind their legs around the legs of the chair and the parents then tell the kids to sit on the chair properly? - well, that's my trick.

  I hesitate to think how it would look if someone ducked under the table - but, if you do that and then press back using the muscles it is a rather good exercise that you can do that takes no more time than eating your dinner. At each meal you can gradually extend your legs until you have the turnout you want, and it can also be an exercise you can do to promote turnout.

  Good turnout takes time to develop - because not many people have a natural turnout. Don't try to hurry things along as that usually results in injury.

  Many years ago I heard the proverb "Hasten Slowly" which seemed to me to be quite stupid - but, over the years I have learnt the meaning of that.

For turns:

• [Posted by Emily Murer]
  I learned a really strange trick regarding turns last week. It helped me, but I don't know if it will help anyone else. I tend to pull my upper body up and back, and so my teacher figured out that if I lean forward while I turn then I don't get off balance. Plus, it looks like I'm pulling straight up, even though I feel like I'm bowing while I turn!

• [Posted by Marnie]
  I try to show the dancers a spot on the floor and imagine doing the turn on a dime.

For the upper body:

"I have major problems with my upper body and would appreciate any suggestions regarding this. All and any answers are welcome, b/c it drives me crazy, and I can't seem to fix it. Two major and possible related problems are:

1) My hips, particularly my right one, always pop up when I take my foot to 3rd aerial or thereabouts. This then sets my whole upper body wiggling, particularly in backsteps or high-cuts when I'm changing feet a lot. I can see it in the mirror, but I can't find the muscles to pull them down.

2) I can't seem to use my turnout muscles in 3rd aerial or thereabouts without tightening the muscles in my supporting knee. This makes elevation really difficult, so I usually cheat, and only go out to 70 degrees or so, which I can achieve without using muscles. However, I know I should go out to 90, but my knee tightens every time, even if I do it lying on the ground or in the air.

If anyone has any suggestions regarding these or any other ideas for the upper body, particularly in relation to up and down hip wiggling, I would really appreciate it."

• [Posted by Debbi Rummery]
  I don't have a sure fire way to fix your problem. The good thing is that you know what is wrong. I had a dancer with the opposite problem - she used to 'sink' into 2nd position and she used the following exercise in reverse - ie - when her 1st position felt pressure she knew she was O.K.

  Practice in front of the mirror, 2nd, 3rd rear aer, 2nd, 3rd aer, using alternate feet and with arms in 1st. The arms should recognise the movement of the hips and, with lots of practise, you may be able to correct the hip alignment. It may be a case of holding/pushing down the arm in 1st pos while the leg is raised until you get the hang of it and then adjusting the pressure of the arms until the leg is right.

• [Posted by Bill Weaver]
  It's very difficult to tell what is wrong without actually seeing a person dance. Having said that, your explanation was so good that I'm going to take a stab at it. Actually I think the 2 problems may be linked. In regard to your hip raising up. One of the major stabilizers of the hip, but certainly not the only one, is called the gluteus medius. It sounds to me as though you are pulling too hard with this muscle whenever you are shedding, or whatever. This muscle is found on the outside edge of your hip. To figure out what this muscle does, stand in front of a dance bar or chair and hold on for balance with equal weight on both feet. Keeping your knees together, lift your right foot off of the ground and don't let your hips tilt. Now let your right hip drop down. By doing this, you are relaxing the LEFT gluteus medius. Now try to hike your RIGHT hip up. By doing this you are now contracting your LEFT gluteus medius. I would suggest you stand on one foot and practice lowering and raising the opposite hip to get a feel for how to control this muscle. Basically, you need to maintain some contraction of this muscle, but only enough to keep your hips parallel. In my experience, I have found that, almost without exception, dancers tend to under use this muscle. This results in the working hip dropping, usually on each landing from a hop or spring. In your case, it sound as though you are the exception to the rule and are over using the muscle. This may not help with your body as there are many factors involved with "wiggly" bodies.

For high cuts:

• [Posted by Cathie Gibbs]
  The first thing to remember is that the more you practice the better. Working to improve leaps is the best place to start.
  1. assemble, change, leap, leap -repeat 8x-
  2. assemble, leap, high cut, high cut -repeat 8x-remember to keep your upper body still when you high cut, don't lean-
  3. stand with work foot as for a high cut, hop taking the hoping foot out toward 2nd, the working foot isn't important here -do 3x on one foot then change with a leap on the 4th-
  4. do 100 highcuts a day is always good. Yes 100.

"Any tips\hints for making split highcuts easier?"

• [Posted by MaryBeth Miller-Klein]
  
  1. Be sure your regular highcuts are very good before attemping these. If you are unable to control the beating of your highcut...it will only get worse with extensions. Each beat should be a controlled movement, not a rebound.
  2. Holding on: practice leaping and landing on one foot taking working foot to 3rd rear aerial. Control this leg coming in. Glue it on to the leg! (forget the beat right now...just, "leap-hold"
  3. Then Holding on: Practice hoping and executing an extension HC with one foot only. Work slowly so you can control the beat. (hop, leap, hit/hold, beat) Do 8 with R leg and then same thing with L leg. *This is a great time to be working on getting your supporting leg as high as the working leg in the leap position.
  4. Then Holding On; Practice extension HC with controlled beat
  I should mention:

  One of the biggest problems when starting these is that dancers tend to extend the working leg first to prepare and extend for the leap. When working on these... think of your supporting leg being the only leg to leap. Your working leg will naturally go out to 2nd aerial. If you think too much about the working leg extending this leads to poor timing and uneven leaps.

  Another thing.... have patience! These take a long time.

Fitness training:

• [Posted by Bill Weaver]
  The way athletes build their strength and endurance is by employing the "overload" principle. For a muscle to increase it's present strength level, one must force the muscle to do more than it is used to doing. One way is to practice doing 8 step Flings, 4 & 2 Swords, etc. Another method of employing the overload principle is by doing interval training. To do this, you may still only need to do the number of steps you normally do, i.e. a beginner or novice would only do 4 step Flings. The difference is the number of Flings you do and the amount of rest between each Fling. This is based on heart rates during the dance vs. heart rate after a given amount of rest. After the heart rate drops down to a specified rate, you immediately do the dance again. You would repeat this upwards of 6 times. For a Fling, this may take 20 minutes or less to get through. These types of training programs are best done in what would be considered the "off" season or the "pre" season as this is the time when one should work to improve ones physical condition. The time during the actual competitive season is where we should strive to maintain the level of fitness we achieved during the off and pre seasons. A person can "maintain" his or her conditioning easily by performing a program similar to that used in the pre season as little as one day per week. It's important to note that doing one or two, 8 step Flings a week is really not enough to experience any gains in strength or endurance. The same can be said for the interval training method. Yes, you feel as though you did a heck of a lot of work, and you did, just not often enough to improve your conditioning. By the way, there is much more to interval training than what I've explained here, so please don't try this method until you can speak to someone who is knowledgeable in the area. I certainly don't want anyone hurting themselves. Bill.

Treating shin splints

• These exercises were posted to the highland-dance mailing list by Norah Link in response to a request for exercises which can help with shin splints.

  Well, I'm not an expert, and e-mail is a poor medium to relay exercises (wish I could recommend a book!), but I'll try to describe some of the exercises / massage techniques I've learned from my osteopath, yoga instructor ( & massage therapist) and some things Laura Scott did in warmups. I've seen many variations of these exercises on my travels, so I hope I'm not just telling you what you already know.

  Massage

  A squash ball rolled under the foot does a great preliminary massage, and is small enough to get at the small articulations in the foot. Roll it under the heel, the arch (inside & outside), the ball of the foot and the toes. If it hurts, rub gently but do rub: this is the tight area that needs help. (Note: if a few days with the squash ball doesn't help, or if it's not a cramped muscles kind of pain, seek medical advice.)

  With the hands, pull on & separate the toes. Massage through the arch & ball of the foot so you can move each pair of metatarsals back a forth relative to each other. Also each metatarsal has articulations you should be able to manipulate along the length of the foot. Get the top & sides of the ankle (also inner arch on the side of the foot - a muscle that gets used lots for pointing the foot), then into the back of the ankle, achilles and calf. Keep breathing deeply as you massage, and I'm not sure exactly how it works, but the best massages I've received almost always involve changing the foot position as you massage (point/flex of foot or toes, and inner/outer rotation). Rule of thumb: if it feels good, keep doing it. If it hurts like crazy, it may be that it REALLY needs a massage, or you may want to get some expert advice. If you can't tell, I'd recommend the latter: at least if they tell you it just needs a good massage, you know you're heading down a good path. Tight muscles can start pulling things out of alignment, which causes the muscles to work improperly so they get tighter, and it goes in a vicious circle.

  A good orthotic helps to introduce spaces where you need them & have lost them, gives support & a bit of massage as you walk. But you can't just keep using the same orthotic for years: as the problems start to correct themselves, you need to adjust the orthotic to new needs.

  Exercises

  In addition to some of the strengthening exercises that have been mentioned in previous posts on improving a sickled foot, there are some warmups and stretches that help.

  In yoga class, we generally worked the feet while sitting on the floor or lying on our backs. When lying on our backs, we used progressive pelvic tilts (right up to the board position) to lenghten the spine and massage the sacral region first, then worked on extension of the leg from the hip through the heel (with flexed foot, heel pointing to the ceiling with straight leg, other leg bent & if possible supported on a bench or bar) to open the hip & knee joints, then worked on pointing and flexing the foot rolling through the foot (i.e. keeping toes flexed into the point, then pulling them down last). The heel was stretched throughout, and the feeling was one of introducing space through the ankle joint & using all the foot articulations. We also did foot rotations with the leg stretched (this can also be done with knees bent & both feet up, taking care to keep the weight over a flat, stretched back). The thing to watch for is that you aren't moving your legs at all - no rotation from the knees or hips! Think of very loose ankles & lots of space in the joints. If one foot snaps and the other doesn't, try to transfer the feeling of what's working in the good foot to the other one.

  Other exercises included trying to articulate the toes independently of each other. I can do my baby toes and big toes, but not the ones in between. It makes a really nice sequence of stretches, though, to point your big toe while flexing the others, then vice versa.

  In morning warmups, Laura started us out on a chair with our feet flat on the floor. We started by flexing the toes, then laying them out flat and long. Then we rolled the feet side to side, trying to get each toe to down in turn. Then we started to move the feet back to stretch the achilles & alternated this with rolling through the foot up to the ball & point. All before taking any weight on the feet! She also used lots of point & flex exercises in warmups & cool-downs to differentiate between a pointed foot & pointed toes.

  For strengthening, I once had a ballet teacher who did really SLOW releves. We didn't just shoot up onto the balls & stay there for 8 counts: we'd use 8 counts to go from flat to the ball, and 8 counts to come back down. We usually did them turned in to make sure we were mainting proper alignment of the foot to the leg. A series of those and then some plies to stretch out will really work the foot!

  Hope this helps.

  Norah

• [Posted by Bill Weaver]
  

  PREVENTION AND REHABILITATION OF SHIN SPLINTS

  Shin splints is a non-specific term for an overuse syndrome affecting the lower leg. Poorly conditioned and new dancers are especially susceptible to this condition. Usually shin splint pain is found on the inside edge of the lower two thirds of the tibia (shin bone). The pain is commonly attributed to tendonitis of the posterior tibialis tendon and/or other ankle flexor muscle tendons along the tibia. The posterior tibialis muscle is the main supporter of the inside arch, and gets quite a workout in Highland dance. Other conditions that can elicit pain on the shin area are irritation of the sheath around the bones, stress fractures and compartment syndrome.

  PREVENTION

  To prevent or reduce the severity of shin splints, we need have an understanding of the 3 contributing factors so that effective preventive measures can be included in the dancers' overall training program.
  1. Biomechanical: Check for excessive foot pronation (rolling inward while in 1st, for example), excessive turn in and other foot conditions such as flat feet, fallen arches, excessively high or low arches.
  2. Muscular Strength and Flexibility: Often the Achilles is too tight as well as being overdeveloped when compared to other muscles at the front of the lower leg.
  3. The training program (practice sessions and lessons) may be designed so that they are exceeding the physical limitations of the dancer and not allowing him/her to progress at a planned, incremental rate.
  The next steps in a shin splint prevention program include:
  • Flexibility exercises to include the low back, hamstrings and Achilles tendon.
  • Strengthening exercises for the quadriceps, hamstrings, abdominals and anterior muscles of the lower leg.
  • Dance on a "giving" surface as much as possible as opposed to cement.
  • Use non-weight bearing activities such as biking and swimming in the overall training program.
  • Be sure to use proper methods of pre-practice warm up and post-practice cool down.
  • Be aware of the initial signs of shin splints, i.e. generalized pain in the lower inside shin after activity and possible pain in the area of the main arch of the foot.

  REHABILITATION

  After diagnosis by a physician, rehabilitation should start immediately. Modified activity is important. While your dancer is showing signs of shin splints, take time off from dancing. Stationary biking and running (dancing) in water are excellent alternatives. Besides biking and aquatics while not dancing, ice massage, oral anti-inflammatories (if tolerated) and work on correcting the biomechanical problems should be done, i.e. excessive rolling of the feet, too short Achilles tendons.

  Once your dancer's symptoms subside and they do start back to dancing, be sure they start at a level of intensity that is lower than before their injury. Use slow progressive steps to get them back to pre-injury levels gradually. For example, if they practiced 1˝ hours a day pre-injury, start back at 15 to 20 minutes a day for a week. If there are no increases in discomfort then increase by 5 minutes a day each week until you reach the level you want. Also, heat pre-exercise, ice post exercise, stretch (both anterior and posterior lower leg muscles) and strengthen the muscle groups mentioned above, but pay close attention to the anterior muscles of the lower leg.

  As is basic to any overuse type injury, the muscles are unable to handle the stresses placed on them. Although it is a muscular injury we are discussing here, faulty biomechanical factors probably play larger role in this problem than, say, dancing one day on a concrete floor. You may have started feeling the symptoms after dancing on the concrete, but the problem may ultimately lie in a biomechanical fault. Before allowing the dancer to return to competition, the biomechanical and training errors must be corrected. This point cannot be overemphasized. Without proper corrections, the chance of re-injury is very high.

• [Posted by MaryBeth Miller-Klein]
  "Shin splints is a non-specific term for an overuse syndrome affecting the lower leg."

  I'm so glad you stressed this Bill as an overuse syndrome. So many times people refer to shin splints as the muscle tearing away from the bone which only happens in VERY severe cases. Also these severe cases might actually be a tibia/fibula fracture.. so wise to seek medical advice if serious.

  "The next steps in a shin splint prevention program include: Flexibility exercises to include the low back, hamstrings and Achilles tendon."

  and don't forget the calf muscles. Of course if you're working to stretch the achilles, you'll be stretching these as well. Highland dancers work so hard to strengthen the calf, they forget to work the anterior muscles as well. Interesting Bill should mention the lower back after my posting regarding alignment.

  Something else that can be useful in addition to Bill's comments...

  Ice massage and taking 2 aspirins before work out can be helpful. Do this 15-20 min. before class.

  Watch how your student is landing. Are they landing toe-ball or just on the ball? The stress of pounding on the ball can lead to stress on the anterior muscles and ball.

  And I agree, nothing is better than proper warm up and conditioning.

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* In other words - if you follow this advice and get hurt, we're sorry, and that was most certainly not the intention, but we don't accept any legal responsibility. Or to put it yet another way: if you feel like suing, don't. We never forced you to follow this anyway.

Extracted from postings to highland-dance, the highland and scottish step dance mailing list. See http://www.scottishdance.net/highland/.

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