Physiotherapy for Dancers

Our practitioners have either had specific dance training or are dancers themselves. We provide physiotherapy services directly to classical ballet, contemporary and jazz dance schools and we work with all levels from beginners and recreational dancers through to pre professional and professional dancers.

Dance Treatments involve teaching the dancers about their injury, including the cause of it and how to manage their load and technique to reduce injury recurrence, promote and improve technique and make dance enjoyable.

Pre-pointe Assessment/Functional Assessment
Safe effective
Enjoyment of class / dance

The Process

The best practise is to start the preparation process six months prior to starting en pointe. The first step is to decide that you want to take this step – and discuss this with parents / teachers and whether it is a viable option and how far they want to take their dancing.

The second step is to have a pre-pointe assessment which determines a dancer’s physical readiness for progression to pointe. This includes a comprehensive movement analysis of the dancer and tests for flexibility, core function, dynamic control, power, and balance.

After assessment, your physio will prescribe a specifically tailored programme, typically most dancers require their programme to be progressed three times as they get stronger. Each programme is about 4-6 weeks, requiring 3-4 follow up sessions, taking the process to around 6 months.

The assessment process is intended to highlight areas of dysfunction that may impact a safe transition to pointe work and also to determine the short-term goals for her exercise program to work on at home to ensure their progression to pointe work is safe and successful.

Follow up appointments with the physiotherapist will ensure the strengthening exercises prescribed are updated to match the dancer’s progression on pointe.