The Nutcracker

Angelina Sansone, Kansas City Ballet

With the holiday season come a host of traditions. There are tree trimming and the lighting of the menorah; there are caroling and jingle bell runs. And there’s that new favorite: wearing tacky sweaters.

There is, as well, the Nutcracker.

My family and I will be watching this weekend at Columbus’ BalletMet production.  This will mark our fifth year in attendance, and I’ve been impressed with the dancers’ artistry and skill each time I’ve seen the show.

Truth be told, I never went to any ballet until I was an adult.  My affection for the Nutcracker derives not from my own childhood Christmas memories, but from the work I did as a sports medicine fellow, where I ‘covered’ the Boston Ballet for a year.  What a great experience that was!

‘Dance Medicine,’ as many of you know, is a special niche of sports medicine.  Like any sport, dance has its own language, it’s own mental and physical challenges, its own equipment, and its own injury patterns.  I have not managed too many cases of hallux rigidus, FHL tendonitis or posterolateral ankle impingement outside of the dance world.

I grew very fond of this field during my training, and I continue to seek out opportunities to participate in this world.  And so I took extra pleasure in our September 2014 editions, which offered two new pieces of original research in dance medicine: Body Mass Index, Nutritional Knowledge, and Eating Behaviors in Elite Student and Professional Ballet Dancers and a brief report, Early Signs of Osteoarthritis in Professional Ballet Dancers:  A Preliminary Study.  I commend both of them to you. Read more of this post