Persistant foot problem

[dancegirl12step]

I had a stress injury to my second metatarsel at the end of june this past summer (2010). I caught it before it fractured but I was out of class in a boot for three weeks. I was, however, able to participate in my 3-week summer program in july and august without having to sit out of class. As soon as I started dance this September (at a new school), my foot has been hurting again. On the orders of the PT, I am not jumping and wearing my boot outside of class. I take calcium supplements and try to eat the number of calories for my BMI. I keep my foot, I ice it, and I get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. I don't drink coffee or soda. What am I doing wrong?? I am nervous that this will ruin my chances of a god part in the Nutcracker or cause me to get out of shape.

Any advice at all is extremely appreciated!!

[Mel Johnson]

You're very wise to have taken prompt action to counteract a soft-tissue injury before it turned into something far more serious.

 

The only problem with soft-tissue injuries (besides hurting) is that they take almost forever to heal completely. It's an old saw of ballet that suggests that a fracture is quicker to heal than a sprain. (Not really, but that's the way the story runs.) Since you're having difficulties with fouettés, that suggests to me that you may be having difficulty with repeated relevés, and have to make sure that you are doing them consistently the same way, and not losing control of the supporting foot either in going up, and also coming down.