Dancers, figure skaters and performance artists are all different types of artistic athletes. They use their physicality to create beautiful pieces of art, often suffering injuries in the process. When injuries occur, having the right team can make all the difference in successfully returning to sport.
At Ladner Village Physiotherapy, our dance physiotherapist Anh Duong assesses, treats and helps prevent conditions seen in artistic athletes. Whether it's rehabilitating from an injury, improving mobility, or preparing for pointe work, Anh's knowledge and experience allows her to work with artistic athletes and support them towards their goals.
Common conditions and injuries treated include:
Hip pain including hip impingement and snapping hip syndrome
Knee injuries including jumper’s knee, bursitis and patellofemoral syndrome
Back injuries including spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis
Bunions (also known as Hallux Valgus)
Foot injuries including plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendinopathy
Overuse injuries
Want to know more? Click here for a link to our blogs posts about physiotherapy for dancers.
About Anh
Anh has been dancing since the age of three. She started off as a competitive dancer training in a variety of styles including ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary, modern, and hip hop. After graduating high school, she continued her dance training at the University of Victoria where she taught recreational classes and ran the UVIC Dance Company while completing a Bachelor’s of Science in Kinesiology. She then went on to complete her Master's in Physical Therapy at the University of British Columbia to further her knowledge. Since graduating from UBC, Anh has taken courses specific to assessing and treating dancers and artistic athletes. She is a member of Healthy Dancer Canada as well as the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science.
Anh found her passion for treating the artistic athlete after having her own fair share of injuries throughout her dance life. Some of her personal injuries include hip pain, repeated hamstring strains, and chronic ankle instability. Her injuries prevented her from participating and competing in a number of different events and competitions throughout the years. The problem was she and her dance teachers lacked knowledge in how to treat these injuries. The standard protocol was 'sit out from all events until you feel better'.
Anh now realizes a lot of those injuries were likely preventable with proper training and injury management. Her passion is to support and educate artistic athletes, providing them the tools to protect their bodies so they can sustain a long and healthy dance life.
