Performing Thru Injuries
I have been injured…alot. Like more times than I can honestly keep track of. One broken foot in 2012, another broken foot in 2015. A broken wrist in 2022, and a pleathora of other knee, shin, rib, and lower body injuries that sat me out of shows for a long while.
At the beginning of my career, I was ashamed of how easily and often I got injured. I wanted to hide it, thinking it would make me non-hireable. Who is going to hire someone who gets injured in every dance show they are cast in?! I labeled myself as a liability, but continued to take dance contracts, knowing the risk I was taking with my track record.
On one visit to my podiatrist, he had me do a bone scan, because my feet were getting broken far too often for my young age of 25. When he read the results to me he said, and I quote:
“Upon first reading these results I thought they were incorrect and were from a much older patient. Alyssa, you have osteopenia, which is early onset osteoporosis. You can continue on dancing and ice skating, but you are going to have to take extra precautions.”
Those words stung. How could something like this happen?! I called my mom crying. I was about to leave for an ice skating tour. What if I didn’t make it through?!
This is when I really started getting serious about my health and what I could do to ensure that I would no longer have to live through injury after injury. I could write a whole other article about my journey into holistic health, but one thing I learned along the way was that as long as I am doing my best to take care of myself, I feel confident standing up for myself when it comes to injuries during performances and contracts.
If you are a performer who has been injured on a contract, hear me here. That does not make you a liability. It does not make you un-hireable. We have demanding jobs. Dancer or not, the physical aspect of our career does put stress on our bodies.
If you get injured on the job, do yourself a favor and take action before your injury gets worse. Don’t wait until you can’t walk or bear weight, or until you are in immense pain to speak up. It does not make you weak, it does not make you a difficult actor, it simply means you care for your well-being and the well-being of the show.
Here are some things to remember:
Own your Background of Injuries During Performing
Know the Importance of Conditioning Before/During/After a Show/Rehearsal
Listen to Your body
There Are so Many Options for Taking Care of your Physical Health: Workers Comp, Physical Therapy, Holistic Physicans, Acupuncture, Chiropractor, Voice Therapy, ENT, etc
It Takes a Team of People to Have Success as a Performer
Injuries happen. Over-use happens.
Having an injury does not mean its the end of the road for your career. It does mean to listen to your body, be your own health advocate and go have fun!!
XOXO,
Alyssa
No Sweat Rep Owner