Overuse Injuries and Cross-Training

By Kate Feinberg Robins

Did you know?

Overuse is the most common cause of injury in classically trained ballet dancers. Ballet training emphasizes the use of smaller muscles such as inner thighs, deep hip rotators, and intrinsic foot muscles. For recreational ballet students, developing these smaller muscles helps maintain stability, strength, and balance as we age. 

Professionally trained ballet dancers, however, need to incorporate exercises in internal hip rotation and foot plantar flexion, and to develop larger muscles such as glutes and quadriceps. This kind of cross-training can prevent or correct joint and tendon issues that accumulate from overuse. Luckily, if we catch these issues early and address them through the right exercises, we don't have to stop dancing! 

At Find Your Center, we offer several forms of cross-training and personalized exercise options. Contact Kate to find out what kind of training package would be right for you. 


Attitude Derrière Sur les Pointes uses inner thighs and deep external hip rotators.

Squats are great cross-training for ballet dancers to work the larger glute muscles and internal hip rotators.
Location: Redlands, CA, USA

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