The Ballet Bible

27th April 2012

Question

Anonymous asked: Can you please share those arch exercises? And also, I started pointe with really thick gel pads. I want to be able to feel the floor better, but anything besides these thick pads really really hurts my toes. Do you have any suggestions?

Yes, I will be happy to share the exercises.

In terms of padding, some pain is to be expected when using pointe shoes, but excessive pain is not good. You need to make sure that the pain isn’t being caused by something which could lead to potential injury: ask your teacher to double-check that your shoes have been fitted properly if they haven’t already, and that they’ve been broken in properly and aren’t too soft. If all of this is ok, the next thing is to make sure that you’re really supporting your body with your core muscles and pulling up when en pointe. It is more effort through your whole body, but relieves some pressure on the feet and proper posture reduces your risk of damaging the feet. It also really improves balance en pointe.

 In terms of padding, thick gel pads sound as though they’d really obliterate the feeling. I like to feel the floor, so I use thin grey rubber inserts- I’m not sure what they’re called so ask in a specialist dance shop (wherever you buy your pointe shoes should know about them). They’re available in different thicknesses, but of course very thick ones would defeat the purpose of feeling the floor. Alot of people favour ouch pouches- for me, I can’t feel the floor enough in them, but most people I know swear by them. This may be a good middle ground for you, allowing you to feel the floor without too much pain.

Remember that your pointe shoes may be a looser fit with thinner padding. If this is putting extra pressure on your toes, you might need to get new pointe shoes.

 Otherwise, if you want to get better at pointe, you need to bear some pain. It’s important to know which pain is to be worked through- mainly surface pain like blisters and rubbing- and pain which should not be ignored, like sharp pain inside the foot. Practising regularly in pointe shoes will give you the advantage of thicker skin and stronger feet, which will reduce the pain you experience in the early stages of pointe work. 

If this advice doesn’t help, explain your difficulties to your teacher or whoever fits your pointe shoes. It may be down to something like a slight abnormality in the foot, or a tendency to place the weight a certain way, which they will probably be able to remedy.

Good luck!

20th April 2012

Post with 2 notes

Back en pointe

I’ve been out of action for several weeks due to an arch injury and I was tentative about going back en pointe, but my feet seem stronger than ever because of all the attention I’ve been giving them. It looks like gentle running on grass, arch exercises and avoiding standing up for excessive amounts of time at work (the things that caused the injury) is the best thing for pointe I could have done!

If anyone wants me to share the arch rehabilitation exercises, I’m happy to do so. They’re only very gentle, designed to re-strengthen the feet after an injury, but they’re a great place to start. Let me know in my ask box.

Tagged: balletdancepointeen pointepointe shoesfeetarchesstrengthstrengtheningexerciseexercises