During our second dance science lecture on injury management we discussed the four vital stages of injury rehabilitation. Restriction, restoration (and consultation), re-acquisition and Refinement. In order to understand the first stage (restriction) the acronym MEAT is used to outline the key questions you should ask when dealing with injury (De’Ath 2022).  

M - What ADL movement is safe to continue with?

E - What exercise modifications are needed?

A - Is pain relief needed?

T - What treatment is required?

Whilst studying about the importance of injury management, i have utilised this information in order to manage my own back injury. Since exploring and using MEAT i feel that I’m able to start slowly transitioning from the restriction phase into restoration phase of my injury. I've found this method incredibly useful as someone dealing with a long term injury who used to push through injury and pain without thinking, in order to carry on dancing. As i continue through higher education and my training gets tougher i feel that exploring this method will hopefully let me see some progression. 

For ground-based technique i assessed which parts of the class caused negative pain to my back and which parts were okay to continue with. Since the class contained a lot of floor work that was unsuitable for my back i had to restrict how much of the class i was able to participate in. However, during the parts of the class that were off the floor (such as the warm up, basic exercises and focus groups) I adapted what i needed to in order to cause the least amount of strain on my back so that I’m able to partake in class as much as possible whilst giving my back a chance to recover. 

In the video shown above i adapted some of the movements to make them more to be more comfortable for my body that i was capable of doing. In the last part of the phrase we come up into our front stab with the weight mostly on our head, as this move puts a lot of strain on my neck i decided to simple keep my head off the ground and take the weight through my hands to come up. After this there is a roll that requires us to go up into a high shoulder stand (high shelf position) and roll back without our feet touching the floor. Instead of this i opted for a simple back roll that my body was used to doing.  

I believe that ground-based technique is the class that challenged my body the most in this term because of the significant amount of floor work. Since we are starting our  floor work classes next term it is important that i continue to use these methods and techniques so i am able to get through the classes as smoothly as possible and help myself when i am struggling. I plan to continue this throughout my training so that i am able to manage possible future injuries. 

Because my Back injury has impeded on my ability to perform, my perfectionism has caused me to become frustrated during class especially ground based as it such high intensity and i have found it incredibly hard on my back. Furthermore, this has increased the amount of stress i have been experiencing as a result. 

However by using the diagram and reflecting on how i respond to stress i have practiced a few strategies on how i can manage my stress levels which will assist with my recovery and lower the risk of injuring myself again. A few of these strategies include simple breathing exercises, imagery and setting realistic goals for myself. I try to stick to these goals and use these tactics in class (and out of class) as much as possible as i believe they are beneficial and worth it. I am interested to see how they work for me in my different classes throughout next term. 

In the attached video i'm doing a ground based back exercise. This was a hard day pain wise and normally i would have given up and decided to step out of the space but instead i persevered and tried to calm my breathing so i was able to continue. I stopped and readjusted myself at certain points to make sure i had the right technique so that i was happy with the way i was working rather than being hard on myself. This is the more positive attitude i have developed to help me in class. 

The average athlete/young adult needs 7-9 hours of sleep per evening in order to perform well. If you have less than 6 hours of sleep for 4 consecutive days you will experience impaired cognitive performance and mood as well as disturb glucose metabolism, appetite regulation and immune function (Clements, 2022). All of these can have serious effects on a dancer which is why maintaining a sleep schedule of 8 hours a night is crucial. 

Additionally, sleeping for longer than the recommended hours will most likely increase tiredness as you could interrupt the ‘deep sleep’ stage (stage 3) meaning that you wake up more tired as a result (Suni, 2022). 

With this information I have been stricter over how many hours I sleep as oversleeping is an issue for me as someone dealing with chronic fatigue syndrome. One thing specifically that helped me keep up with this was i stopped setting so many alarms for the morning and i also tried not to hit snooze when they went off. Doing this regularly has significantly improved the quality of my sleep. 

'You’re not really resting or sleeping well between the alarms because the most restful parts of your sleep cycle have already happened. The repetitive awakenings disrupt sleep quality and are the most inefficient way of trying to get extra sleep' (Tucker, no date)

Since creating an acceptable sleep schedule, I have felt many of the benefits throughout my classes. For example in ground based, a class that is both highly mentally and physically challenging, i found that i could process information a lot quicker and pick up an exercise with more ease. it is necessary that I am in the correct state of mind in order to safely and effetely take part. 

Proper amounts of sleep allow me to mentally keep up and perform at my optimum and as the course becomes more physically demanding with longer hours it is necessary that I am in the correct state of mind in order to take part. I intend to maintain a healthy sleep Schedule so that I can physically and cognitively perform at my optimum and remain safe during class. 

Clements, L. (2022). Rest and sleep [Lecture to BA1 dance science]. 6 October

Clements, Lucie. (2022). Psychology and Injury Recovery. [Lecture to BA1 Dance Science]. 18 November

Scott Curtis, D.O. (202AD) Benefits of heat therapy for lower back pain, Spine. Spine-health. Available at: https://www.spine-health.com/treatment/heat-therapy-cold-therapy/benefits-heat-therapy-lower-back-pain (Accessed: December 1, 2022). 

De’ath, S. (2022). Injury prevalence and prevention. [Lecture to BA1 dance science]. 20 October

De'ath, S. (2022). Injury management and Types of injury. [Lecture to BA1 Dance science]. 21 October

(no date) And the dance goes on: Psychological impact of injury - by Lynda M. Mainwaring, Ph.d., Donna Krasnow, M.S., Gretchen Kerr, ph.D.. Available at: https://www.citraining.com/Psychological-Impact-of-Injury.html (Accessed: November 8, 2022).

Suni, E. (2022) Stages of sleep, Sleep Foundation. Available at: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/stages-of-sleep (Last accessed: November 7, 2022).   

Tucker, J. (2021) How many alarms should you set?, Headspace. Available at: https://www.headspacegroup.co.uk/how-many-alarms-should-you-set/#:~:text=The%20impact%20of%20your%20morning,be%20harmful%20to%20your%20health. (Accessed: December 1, 2022).

Villines, Z. (2022) Cognitive restructuring: Steps, technique, and examples, Medical News Today. MediLexicon International. Available at: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/cognitive-restructuring (Accessed: December 2, 2022).