Addressing ?snapping hip? in the technique class

Ruth Solomon, BA, CMA University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States 

Researchers in dance medicine and science have well acknowledged  the role played by the traditional demand in ballet training for 180 degrees of turnout in precipitating injuries at the knee and low back in dancers who have to cheat (hyperextend) in order to accomplish this maneuver.  Less well recognized, and totally ignored to date in the literature of dance pedagogy, is the effect this demand can have on the widespread condition commonly known as snapping hip.  As this syndrome is intimately associated with several highly debilitating injuries in dancers, most notably iliopsoas tendonitis and acetabular labrum tears, it seems vitally important to bring this association to the attention of dance teachers.

After a brief review of the literature on snapping hip, explanation of the biomechanics involved in producing this phenomenon, and potential sequelae, a series of exercises will be demonstrated for, and practiced by, participants in the movement session.  These exercises can be incorporated into, or used adjunctively with, classes in any form of dance.  They are intended to aid the student in identifying his/her proper placement in turnout, and provide the wherewithal to increase the height of his or her extension within that range.  This includes specific mechanisms for extending range of motion and developing the strength (particularly of the iliopsoas muscle complex) required to achieve whatever turnout and extension are possible given the individual student?s anatomical limitations.

It is anticipated that this information will trickle down to those teachers and students everywhere who still do not have a handle on how to address the problems connected with snapping hip in a technique class, and have therefore chosen to ignore them, in hopes that they will magically disappear.  As this virtually never happens, such communication should help to ward off numerous chronic injuries in dancers.