SPECIALIST CONSULTATIONS FOR DANCE MEDICINE

As a specialist for dance medicine, I offer consultations especially for dancers. I aim to enhance the healing process after musculoskeletal disorders and also to prevent such injuries. I have been a keen dancer myself since I was a child and have trained in Modern Dance, Jazz Dance, Standard and Latin Ballroom dancing, rhythmic gymnastics and ballet. Currently, I’m practising at the ballet school “La Dance” in Düsseldorf-Niederkassel. Due to my dancing experience and my competence in Orthopedics, trauma surgery, osteopathy, sports medicine and foot surgery I’m in a position to provide you with very professional guidance and support. I’m also a member of the Association for Dance Medicine ta.med (www.tamed.eu) and have an excellent network to help with all types of issues and cooperate with various physiotherapists.

In our practice we offer a very comprehensive range of diagnostic tools and therapies in order to analyse your movement patterns, to optimize them and to prevent injuries and strains of the musculoskeletal system. This will help you to be successful and prolong your sport activities as long as possible.

We offer;

• Modern diagnostic tools in case of injuries
• Check-up for dance medicine – these check-ups are based on sports medicine and physical performance assessments with an individual training schedule at the end (partially covered by the National Health System) 
• Modern digital movement and gait analyses and muscle function diagnosis
• Manual therapy, osteopathy, Chirotherapy
• Acupuncture and neural therapy
• Shock wave therapy
• Regenerative cartilage therapy PRP
• Kinesiology taping
• Surgery (foot surgery, arthroscopy of the ankles and knees)
• Nutrition counselling (also BIA measurement).

I will certainly do my part to make sure you can practise your favourite sport as long as possible without any injuries!

Typical issues with the musculoskeletal system due to dancing

The hip

The hip is a joint which causes problems for a lot of professional dancers. The movements in the hip are controlled and stabilized by a fine-tuned system consisting of; the bony parts (socket at the pelvis and the neck of the femur), the cartilage (in the socket), the joint capsule and the surrounding muscles and ligaments. Malpositions and overstraining can severely harm this fine-tuned system and can lead to long-lasting problems such as arthrosis of the hip (coxarthrosis) if the cartilage is damaged. There are also many other contributing factors. Some dancers have problems because they suffer from a congenital hip dysplasia, i.e. the hip socket does not sufficiently cover the femoral head. Usually, this condition is detected during the ultrasonic check of newborn babies. However, also an unphysiological (inappropriate)  training which took place too early, say in childhood, can lead to damage of the hip.

Impingement (femoroacetabular impingement)

We differentiate between the CAM impingement and the Pincer impingement. The femoral head “knocks” on the hip socket damaging the cartilage and the acetabular labrum.

Arthrosis of the hip (coxarthrosis)

A severe damage of the cartilage will lead to pain and a restricted range of movement.

Problems with the Achilles tendon

Due to wrong techniques or overstraining of the feet, dancers often suffer from problems with the Achilles tendon or other ligaments in their feet.

Problems with your feet

The feet have to bear the brunt during dancing, not least because of the special shoes.

What can we do?

To start with, it is important to have a thorough look at the musculoskeletal system as a whole. We use modern methods for our analyses like muscle function measurement and digital movement analysis. A fitness check is also very important because a lack of fitness leads to a higher risk for injuries. Based on the result of the analysis, we can pinpoint the problem areas and set up your personal training schedule and therapy plan. We offer a wide range of conservative therapy methods without surgery.

This means that together we will modify the training methods and set up a training programme to compensate for the problem areas.

Naturally, we also provide guidance and support when surgery is needed and are there for you after the surgery. In our clinic we carry out arthroscopic operations of the knee like torn meniscus or of the ankle joint (e.g. when the cartilage is damaged) and we also do operations of the feet.

Because dancing is a lot of fun and a healthy sport as well ….

Your orthopedist

Dr. Eva Wörenkämper