Everyone’s body is an instrument. It is what gets us around, keeps us going, it is our home for as long as we are on this earth. Dancers have the distinct pleasure and honour of being aware of using this home as a means for artistic expression, catharsis, performance, pleasure, and delight.
But what happens when this instrument is in pain?
For other artists, there are replacements: a new brush or canvas for the painter; fresh strings, or tuning for the musician; new cameras for the photographer; and on and on. But the dancer only has one body, and the “replacement” process is expensive, painful, and often career ending. Dancers rely heavily on the arts of physiotherapists, chiropractors, good teachers, conditioning exercises, and self monitoring as tools for healing. Many dancers (and other artists for that matter) are as yet unaware of the role homeopathic medicine can play in injury prevention, recovery, overcoming stage fright and performance anxiety, and other professional afflictions.
How can homeopathy help?
In an acute injury, the dancer can always always always turn to Arnica Montana. Arnica is reknown for its use in trauma, injury, shock, and is invaluable as a first aid remedy. Given immediately, it can reduce pain, inflammation, and stimulate the healing processes.
From here, it is important to see a qualified professional homeopath to discover the best medicine for the individual dancer and his/her injury. Each dancer will have his/her own reaction to being injured. One dancer might be despondent and depressed; another may be angry and resentful; still another might be fearful and anxious, while others may ignore the injury and keep on going (and so on). It is important to discover the individual reaction in order to find the appropriate healing remedy.
Alongside this reaction is the dancer’s overarching constitution. The homeopath is always looking for connections: what sort of imbalance may have caused this injury? It could be related to fears, training, muscular weakness, or another mental, emotional, or physicial factor.
The dancer’s own personal susceptability to a particular injury is important. S/he might discover that most injuries occur on one side of the body, for instance, or that s/he is prone to ankle sprains, knee difficulties, bursitis, tendonitis etc, as opposed to those other “common” dance related injuries.
These are important to take into consideration. A homeopath will look at these incombination with the other factors mentioned above to create a complete picture of the dancer. This picture will provide a guide to the most appropriate homeopathic remedy for the artist, leading to injury prevention and a healthier organism.
Homeopathy can accelerate injury recovery. It helps to maintain fitness through supporting the organism in all aspects of its being.
Furthermore, homeopathy can teach the dancer about his/her body in ways perhaps previously unthought. The homeopath will ask a LOT of questions, and the more specific and honest an answer is, the more likely the correct remedy will be found and the quicker healing can occur. Homeopathy can assist the dancer in discovering connections. For example, it may have gone unnoticed that injuries tended only to one side of the body, or to one area of the body, or only occured just before performance. These can be sorted out through treatment and lead the body into a balanced state, assisting the body in preventing these occurances and even eliminating them once and for all.
There are no quick fixes for dance injuries; no short cuts. Each and every one needs to be worked through using the appropriate combination of physiotherapy, training, and rest. Homeopathy can help accelerate this process and get dancers back on the floor stronger, more confident, and healthier than before.