Table of Contents
BALLERINA FEET: A Delicate Balance
Pointe work is the epitome of ballet, and achieving the perfect pointe is both an art and a science. We will explore how to prevent blisters and other issues related to ballerina toes while mastering this essential skill. Injuries are common especially in the younger dancer that is still building up strength.
- 60% to 70% of ballet injuries occur in the lower limb.
- 13% to 15% of ballet injuries are foot-related. Podiatry today suggest as much as 24%
- 26% of these injuries are with the great toe and longitudinal arch.
Where do Blisters occur in the feet of the Ballerina?
Blisters are a common problem for ballet dancers, usually occurring on the outside of the foot, toes or anywhere there is friction and pressure.
Foot Shape and Shoe Selection: Importance of selecting the right shoe for your foot shape
Concerns about the appearance of the foot in the ballet shoes are common with dancers and choreographers, so some will not increase the shoe size, to avoid looking clunky.
But, a small fit leads to corns and sores. A larger ballet shoe may allow the heel to move and leads to blisters.
The shape of the toe box is important for stability. Dancers toe shapes can vary from a long second toe, long first toe, toes all even across etc
Dancers with mediocre stability should choose a square or broad-backed toe box for increased stability
Most of the weight is on the first and second toe, and so broader toe boxes increases stability, as can molded silicone devices and thus reducing blisters on the first and second toes.
Second toes can be a problem if longer than the first toe .
if you have a shorter squared shaped toe and a flatter arch, you need to have a point shoe with a lower vamp and a square shaped toe box.
If you have very long toes a higher arch and a thin foot then you may need a pointe shoe with a longer vamp and a stronger shank.
A good ballet shoe shop should fit the dancers as every foot is slightly different.
Recommendations for different foot types found in this video.
In some dance studios, one pair of ballet shoes is used for just one performance.
When can a ballet dancer go on pointes?
Dance teachers need to see whether the dancer’s muscles are strong enough to start pointe work.
There is no generally accepted lower age limit to start ballet training
• need to focus on “pre-ballet” up until about age 8 with more formal training after that
• toe (pointe) dancing should not be used in children unless they are planning on becoming a professional dancer and should be preceded by 3-5 years of proper ballet instruction. Should be at least 11 – 12 years old. This also assumes that the strength and range of motion is available to carry out this.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.12678/1089-313X.061522c From Podiatry Today
Ballet dancer hacks for blister prevention from ballet influencers
Lamb wool– soft can be teased out and wrapped where ever you need or fill dead space eg pad above your little toes if your big toe is too long. Also can be washed.
- Silicone toe pads can be washed to be reused. They can get sweaty underneath.
- All these pads are fine if not worn constantly for days and maybe just while on pointes.
- Gel pads can be stretchy to apply over a toe and are different sizes including ones for the big toe
- Separator or spreader opaque wedges for in-betweens toes. All can be washed.
- Bandaids come in different materials such as breathable, waterproof and hydrocolloids.
- Hydrocolloids are for open sores normally, but people do use them as a barrier against friction as there is a sponginess feeling to them . However, it can be make the toe become to be sweaty . Spenco second skin can also move out of place and thin over the friction area when the dancer twist and turns. Type of dressing blister click here.
- TAPE
Some dancers tape every single toe. Some just tape the front and tip of the toe if it rubs. Do not pull tight to constrict blood flow. Press the tip of your toe for 3 seconds and release. It turns from whiteish to pink, as the blood should come back under 3 seconds. If your toes tips look white or purple remove tape immediately. There are many tapes on the market for example Nexcare absolute waterproof tape is marketed for blister prevention and is stretchy and conformable around toes. Other brands are ,elastaplast, fixomull , micropore tape etc. This depends on the country you are in and what others around you are using.
Pain around dancer toes
Things to try are:
- Orajel or similar for pain relief
- Silipos gel toe pads when dancing
- Ouch pouch/ pro pouch/pointe pouch brands over forefoot .
- Get fitted for the right ballet shoes.
- Try Capezio FootUndeez when dancing barefoot
A podiatrists prespective
This may not be suitable in high pressure areas like under the foot
Only use as prevention before the toe goes red and when its red..
It won’t last the whole day
Hygiene
- Maintain foot hygiene by washing feet after dancing. Wash the silicone toe pads
- Make sure your feet and toes are dry
- Use lotion to maintain healthy skin
- Ballet dancers use alcohol/ methylated spirits over their toes or feet to harden them up – not recommended long term due to dermatitis and drying of the skin.
Dance Surface and Barefoot Dancing
| Impact of dance surface on calluses, bruises and other injuries. There have been studies on floorboards to reduce impact implications. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6652703/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22983131/ Effect of Reduced Stiffness Dance Flooring on Lower Extremity Joi…: Ingenta Connect |
The need for comfortable footwear outside of Dance
- Some report that dancers will tend to wear very tight fitting street shoes and sizes that are too small. What really needs to let the feet relax in the toes to spread out in between dances. Even though it might feel more comfortable to live in high heels, the risks are that you will overload the forefoot causing a lot of forefoot issues.
- Achilles tendonitis functionally shortens when being on tip toes.
- Consider footwear such as walking shoes or running shoes with firm heel counters and outsole. Allow the toes to spread out instead of tight toe boxes .
- Walking barfeoot and letting the toes spread
Broken Toenails
Toenails are commonly broken especially when they get longer and should be kept short.
Toenails can fall off. An antiseptic liquid or saline wash over the nail bed and a simple melolin style dressing for a few days is necessary to protect l the nailbed. It takes months for the nail to grow back.
Blood blisters can also occur and should grow out, however if it keeps growing, pain occurs due to the pressure. You may need to drill a tiny hole in the nail plate to release the blood and therefore the pressure.
