The Healthy Dancer announces its First Contest!!

In honor of National Eating Disorder Awareness Week in February, The Healthy Dancer will be holding a contest/giveaway.  Nancy Clark, internationally known sports nutritionist, weight coach and nutrition author, has graciously donated a copy of her book, Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook, for our contest.

Here are all the rules you'll need to know:

1.          To enter, add a comment on any of The Healthy Dancer’s blog posts posted between January 23, 2012 and February 29, 2012
2.     Each time you comment, you will be entered to win.  However, only one comment per 24 hour period will qualify as a valid entry.
3.     The contest begins at 12:01 AM, EST on January 24, 2012 and ends on February 29, 2012 at 11:59 PM, EST.  Comments posted before or after that time span will not be considered eligible entries.
4.     You must subscribe to our email list, as winners will be announced through this blog via email. 
5.     The winner will receive a copy of Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook.
6.             Due to shipping restrictions, winners can only be selected from those with a valid shipping address in the Continental United States and Canada.
7.     The winner will be chosen in a random drawing and announced through an email via The Healthy Dancer and on the blog.
8.            The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the email to claim the prize and submit a shipping address.  If the winner fails to respond within the 48 hours, another winner will be randomly chosen.
9.     By entering this contest, you agree to the above terms and confirm that you have a valid shipping address in the Continental United States or Canada.

Why Dancers May Be At Risk for Stress Fractures and Osteoporosis

"Movement is life. Life is a process. Improve the quality of the process and you improve the quality of life itself." – Moshe Feldenkrais

            Dancers exercise daily. They are constantly on their feet.  They jump, they turn and they constantly apply additional stress to their bones.  The skeleton knows how to respond to this stress, it grows, or models, more bone to support it.  However, studies of ballet dancers have found that they are at risk for stress fractures and that their bone mass measurements, or bone mineral density scores, are equal to or below that of their inactive peers.  How can this be true?  Why isn’t the body doing its job?

            The answer is that the body can only do its job or respond properly if it’s given the right tools and cues.

            Dancers tend to be thin and even underweight.  Less weight means there is less stress put on the bones on a daily basis.  Therefore, even though classes and rehearsals include weight-bearing exercises, the stress on the skeleton is still less than it would be for someone who falls into the ideal or average weight bracket.

            Dancers are known to restrict the amount of food they eat.  There is a constant pressure in the dance community to eat less and look thinner.  Additionally, dancers spend an enormous amount of time doing physical activity.  Large amounts of physical activity burn large amounts of calories.  When that factor is combined with a low or restricted caloric intake, the body is burning more fuel than it is receiving and an energy deficit is created.  Research has linked energy deficits to lower bone mineral density values.

            Restricting food can also lead to diets that are low in nutritional value and high in caffeine.  Diets lacking in nutritional value tend to be low in calcium, which is necessary for bone growth and development.  When you add that caffeine interferes with the body’s ability to absorb calcium, a recipe for a calcium deficit is created.

            Moreover, studies have shown that poor diets can lead to disruptions in the reproductive system.  Research has shown that female dancers go through adolescence and get their first period, or menarche, later than their peers.  This delay in adolescence means there are lower levels of estrogen in the body, and estrogen plays a big role in making sure that the body can absorb the calcium that is eaten.

            Since it is important for the body to create and “stock up” on as much bone as possible during the teen years to avoid fragile bones, it is easy to see why dancers might be at risk for developing osteoporosis.  The good news is that dancers, when armed with some knowledge, can change that.

            Additional weight-bearing exercises can be added to a dancer’s life - weight training and walking can easily be added into a training schedule.  Knowing how to properly fuel the body is important for everyone, but it is especially important for dancers and athletes.  Our next post will help you figure out how to do just that!

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Dancers & Bone Health

“The harder the demand placed upon the structure, the stronger the foundation must be.” Our bones – they protect our organs, they manufacture red blood cells, they store calcium, they provide a place for muscles to connect, they permit movement and they provide the framework for our bodies.  Without our skeletal system, we could not exist, yet we rarely think about how our bones develop or bone health. Although our bones appear sedentary, bone tissue is very active and each week 5-7% of our bone mass is recycled, or remodeled.  The outer surface of our bones is compact bone, which is composed of a web of proteins that hardens into a tough structure.  The inside of our skeletons is made of spongy bones with spaces in between the bone cells. Our bones grow from the outside in.  Specialized cells called osteoblasts build bone by travelling to the surface of the bones and depositing collagen molecules between the structural cells to form a matrix and that hardens into layers of compact bone. Meanwhile, other cells called osteoclasts resorb, or breakdown, the mineralized matrix from the inside.  The bottom most layer is dissolved and calcium is released into the bloodstream. This process serves to renew our bones and occurs in a balanced manner most of the time.  During growth spurts, and especially during adolescence, the creation, or modeling, of new bone occurs in addition to the remodeling process, resulting in a surplus of new bone. It is also important to know that osteoblasts (the builders) respond to increased loads that are placed upon the bones such as weight training or weight bearing activities like walking, running and jumping.  When the body recognizes an increased load, or stress, on the skeleton, the osteoblasts are called in for overtime and begin to model more new bone to protect the body against the increased strain. Bone cells grow old like any other cells, and, unfortunately, osteoblasts (the builders) age quicker than the osteoclasts (the dissolvers).  Between the ages of 30 and 40, the osteoblasts begin to slow down while the osteoclasts continue to resorb bone tissue.  A deficit of bone mass is naturally created which can lead to osteoporosis.  People with osteoporosis have brittle, fragile bones which can fracture easily. The best defense against osteoporosis is encouraging the body to create as much bone mass as possible during the formative years and to stimulate the osteoblasts with weight bearing physical activity. Since dance is a weight bearing activity, it would seem that dancers have nothing to worry about, right?  Next week’s post will explain why dancers have to be concerned.

Caring for the Dancer’s Body During the Holiday Break

To keep the body in good health is a duty... ~Buddha

     As the holidays grow closer, Nutcracker productions come to an end, dance schools close for a few weeks, students take a break from dance classes and everyone looks forward to some much deserved rest.  There is no doubt that our bodies benefit from rest and that our muscles need time to repair themselves after working strenuously, yet, I always hear dancers lament that as soon as Nutcracker season comes to an end, they become sick. 

     Why?

     Exercise over a prolonged period of time has been shown to have a positive effect on the body’s immune system.  Moderate exercise stimulates T-cells which are produced by the thymus gland.  These cells seek out invading infectious cells and kill them off. 

However, bouts of intense exercise encourage the body to produce stress hormones (cortisol and adrenaline) that temporarily suppress the immune system.  A full run of Nutcracker would certainly fall into this category.

     When most dance students are on vacation, they tend to abandon all physical activity.  Since moderate continuous exercise stimulates the immune system, that benefit is lost.

     During the holidays, we also tend to eat more foods that are higher in sugar content than we normally consume.  Sugar interferes with the human body’s ability to absorb vitamin C which plays a big role in helping us fight disease.

 

     So….yes, dancers’ bodies deserve a rest from class, but dancers can stay healthy if they continue to exercise on some level each day.  A simple walk each morning, a yoga class or a Pilates class will keep the immune system stimulated.   It’s also helpful to think about how much sugar you might be consuming……but don’t go overboard!  If those Christmas cookies look good and smell good then you should definitely have some!  The holiday season, after all, only comes once a year.

Happy 2012

 May it be a year filled with healthy, intelligent dancers!

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Dance With Special Populations

    "People dance because dance can change things.  Dance can give hope."
                                                     - Adam Sevani (from the movie Step Up 3-D)      

           Dance can change the shape of our muscles.  Dance can change the nervous system.  Can dance change lives?

            A group of parents of special needs children in the Milford, Connecticut area would say yes.  Each week in the fall their children attend a dance class run by Debra Marchese through the City of Milford’s Adaptive Arts Program.  These children are either on the autism spectrum, have Down Syndrome or have been diagnosed with other disabilities.  As the weeks progress, the classes evolve into rehearsals for a very special production of  The Nutcracker.

            During the class the students are mentored by students from New England Ballet.  Some dance along side the students, some mirror the movements for the students, some provide verbal cues and others provide actual hands-on tactile instruction, guiding a foot to the perfect tendu or arms to the perfect fifth position.

            Not all of the students rush to the barre immediately.  Some hide under tables until coaxed out, and others prefer to continue to talk about the costumes they have been allowed to try on in preparation for the performance.  However, everyone’s excitement is evident through giggles and shouts of, “Is today my special day?”

            As Debra announces that it’s time for Snow, the students rush to the right side of the space to prepare for their entrances.  They are accompanied by their mentors and other members of New England Ballet’s Company.  The New England dancers will act as their co-dancers and their guides, once again providing either verbal, visual or tactile cues which culminate in a beautiful dance.

            The story is shorter than that of the traditional Nutcracker, and the choreography is less complex, but the contagious excitement is there as is the pride of the performers.  This year’s Sugar Plum Fairy pays careful attention to the position of her hands and fingers as she delicately flicks her wrists to the strains of Tchaikovsky’s score while grinning from ear to ear.

            New England Ballet will present the Adaptive Nutcracker Suite for the second year on Friday, December 16, at the Parsons Government Center in Milford at 7 pm. The Milford students will be joined on stage by students from similar classes held in Southport and Trumbull.

            The performance will, undoubtedly, bring tears to the eyes of the audience members, parents, teachers and mentors who will be moved seeing what these children have accomplished, but it will also do more.

            For one brief evening, these special students who must work very hard at socializing, adapting and performing everyday functions that most of us take for granted, will feel the excitement of waiting in the wings, the joy of dancing with their peers and the pride of being applauded by an enthusiastic and appreciative audience.  It is during those moments that others will be able to witness how dance can change lives.

            If you know of other productions like this, please leave me some information in the comment section.  I would love to read about them!

Using Dance to Strengthen the Nervous System

“Every dance movement I make helps me orient myself in reality, my own emotions, and my own body."- Joseph Baldock

Our bodies are amazing.  We are adaptable beings.  Our muscles can change shape and our nervous system continually grows and adapts.   This ability to adapt, or neural plasticity, is part of what makes dance such a great activity for special populations.

As soon as we are born, our bodies begin to develop through eight basic neurological patterns, or pathways, that establish our nervous system.

1)    Breathing – as soon as we leave the
       womb

2)    Sensory Integration – established  
       through tactile communication, or 
       touch- the reason that human contact

            is so important during the first 3 months              of life.

3)    Core-distal movement – movements that begin to use the

           arms and legs reaching away from the torso

4)    Head to tail movement – Curling and curving of the back to

            help align the spine

5)    Division of upper & lower body movements – teaches

            stabilization of body parts

6)    Division of right & left side body movements – helps to

            develop weight shifting ability and horizontal eye

             tracking

7)    Cross-lateral movement patterns – since each side of the body

             is controlled by the opposite side of the brain, these 

             movements encourage the strengthening of

             pathways between the right and left brain hemispheres

8)    Vestibular movements – spinning or swinging movements

             that help develop balance, and muscle tone as well as

             coordination

When one of these motor patterns is skipped, partially developed, or altered, it shows up as a limitation or a problem with perception, movement and/or thought processes.  The good news is that the pathways are never destroyed and can always be re-established through movement.

Working on re-establishing these patterns can help people with all types of disabilities ranging from sensory processing disorders to autism spectrum disorders to Alzheimer’s disease.  Using movement as a tool is exactly the premise behind occupational therapy programs that work with people who are struggling with these disabilities.

It is exciting to realize that we, as dance educators, can use our art form as a tool to help these populations.  Dance educator, Anne Green Gilbert, has developed a warm-up program called Brain Dance, which she uses at her studio in Seattle, Washington.  She incorporates movements that follow the eight developmental patterns in an effort to either reorganize or reinforce the basic neurological patterns.

Since most dance classes include movements that include these patterns, this reinforcement is easy to incorporate into our classes.  What a simple way to use our knowledge to contribute to the development and re-establishment of the nervous system and create healthy dancers among all populations!

Nutcracker Trivia Contest

Link to The Healthy Dancer Facebook Page to enter our Nutcracker Trivia Contest!