Following the overwhelming response to last week’s #funfacts on the subject of Ehlers–Danlos syndrome (hEDS) and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder, let’s look into the mid- and longer-term health implications for elite dancers….
OK, so it’s an aged article (2004) but the incidence if not necessity for elite dancers to be somewhere on the hypermobility spectrum has long been an area of intrigue for me. As noted by Dale et al. in 2011, “the dance profession” has embraced hypermobility from an aesthetic perspective, but have the long-term health ramifications been explored? What these individuals, and gymnasts for that matter, are asked to do with their “bendy bodies” is enough to make any therapist – me included! – cringe. This article addresses the incidence of hypermobility, but we can only surmise the effects of ongoing pain and dysfunction……
Enjoy, and #StayFascianated!
Photo Credits to Ballet with Chiara and Carlos Quezada for The Male Dancer Project
