I am a championship Irish dancer with many injuries. I need some advice and opin

Question:

I am a championship Irish dancer with many injuries. I need some advice and opinions on long-term injuries.?

I have been dancing around 13 years and have had weak quadriceps, tendinitis in my sesamoid bones basically they are two little bones in the ball of my foot which is very bad for a dancer to have, and torn ligaments in my ankle. I have had people tell me I need to quit dancing, get more confidence, and get stronger and more prepared for a competition. Sometimes, these problems I have go away for a while, because I workout and my muscles get stronger, but then, they start to come back. I had a competition recently where a problem in my sesamoid bones came back and I was limping 5 days before the competition. I realized I should just try to do my best before this competition by taking a break while my sesamoid bones healed. Well, I did very well the first two rounds of my dancing, but then the last round was horrible, because the pain started again and I ended messing up part of the step. Do you think I should quit after all these problems? I did end up qualifying for worlds again.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: There are other options than quitting or pushing yourself too hard. I know it's hard to slow down if you just qualified for World Championhsips (congratulations!), but you just might have to, temporarily.

If you keep hurting yourself but you really want to continue dancing I suggest you take it very seriously. Go to a foot doctor and sports medicine doctor. (Yeah, people said coach, but coach won't necessarily know, unless she/he had the same problems. My coaches had no idea when I asked them). I really encourage you to go to sports medicine doctor. They will be able to help to reduce the inflammation and they will give you exersise routine that will literally change your feet. They might tell you to wear orthopedic shoes for a while. I know it sounds like a huge turnoff for a dancer, but if all you need is to relieve the pressure from some particular bones in your feet to giv eit a chance to heal than this is what you have to do. Also, take your dance shoes to the sports medicine doctor. They will examine the wear pattern and might be able to tell you how your shoes need to be different. I kept suffering through piercing pains in my foot until I moved to a different model of shoes (my pld shoes were good quality, too). Actually, noone ever figure it out, it happened by itself. I chose different model for my new pair, and that was like magic. It is also possible that 3 months of physial therapy plus 6 weeks brake I had to take finally worked. Anyhow, I hope anything from what I said was useful. I wish you good luck.