HEALTH- Dancing might be doing your back in
It might be fun, but it’s also murder for your back if you don’t take care. As Jennifer Grey, of Dirty Dancing fame, goes to show.
Let’s face it, most of us enjoy heading out on a Friday or Saturday night somewhere with loud music, even if it’s not a thumping techno club. During the course of the evening, we might shake a hip or two. Some even take this one step further, going all out on the floor like there’s no tomorrow.
But what’s this actually doing to our backs?
Back in 2007, The Telegraph newspaper reported on how what was then the new craze for ballroom dancing sweeping Britain- inspired by Strictly Come Dancing– was leading to more and more people doing themselves a mischief whilst trying to show off their (not-so)silky skills. Apparently nobody forget to mention that years of inactivity followed by a sudden series of aggressive stints under the spotlights might be more trouble than they’re worth.
This stands to reason. Dancing is like any other exercise, and needs to be approached respectfully or you do risk injury. This might sound like the most killjoy thing anyone has ever read, but when you consider how many people trip over their partner’s feet, fall off the bar they were grooving away on, or simply stumble on a step, you begin to realise that there are actually loads of different ways you could be having the time of your life one minute, and then on your backside, with some serious pain in your back, the next.
Jennifer Grey, star of 80s smash and all-round celebration of busting a groove, Dirty Dancing, even managed to do herself a very bad favour whilst strutting her stuff. After suffering in silence (well, self management at least) for years with a terribly painful back she finally decided to get surgery, with a plate inserted into her neck. Sadly this didn’t quite work out, during the filming of 2010’s Dancing With The Stars she ruptured a disc, and then had to undergo further surgery which finally solved the problem. The point being that even the pros come unstuck, so for goodness sake don’t get silly, and if you already have a bad back get it seen to before you really, really have to.
