Medial Knee Pain in Dancers: Part 1

In this video series by our Exercise Physiologist Sami Gurdon we examine the unique issues faced by dancers that can result in medial knee pain and discuss how this can be rectified with an appropriately constructed exercise intervention.

In dancers we find that the development of medial knee pain is usually caused by their excessive ranges of motion and lack of strength at end ranges of motion. In contrast to this we find that in general populations medial pain can more likely be attributed to muscular tension (in adductors, sartorius etc) and instability due to muscle imbalances and poor force dynamics.

Rehabbing medial knee pain in elite dancers poses a couple of issues – we need to rehab the underlying issues of the knee pain, take into consideration the fact that in most cases their volume of training will not stop and also ensure we take active measures to ensure that we maintain fitness, flexibility and mobility as well as proprioception and balance.

0:40 – Causes of medial knee pain in general populations

1:10 – Causes of medial knee pain in dancers

1:32 – Dancers – Strengths vs Weaknesses

2:32 – Occupational postures in dancers

See part 2 in this series for a more in depth look at exercise interventions and progressions for medial knee pain in dancers.