How To Keep Your Feet Healthy While Dancing En Pointe
There used to be a time where having beaten up, bloody, bruised feet was a sign of a hard working dancer. To be honest with you, I wish this stigma could be put to rest. It is an incredibly unhealthy attitude towards your body, and what one may consider as being “successful” in the dance world. Both of the feet you see below belong to professional ballet dancers.
Just like any other athlete, your body is your tool, and that does include your feet. You use your feet every single day, so why not take measures to ensure their health?
If you’ve ready my post about my fitting method, you know that I primarily lead with foot health in mind. This stems from my 15 years I spent en pointe and the lengths I took to take care of my feet. Most young dancers do not believe that I danced professionally with a first look at my feet. They are free of bunions, deformities and missing toenails.
Here are some tips to help you take care of your feet while dancing en pointe!
1 - Make Sure Your Pointe Shoes Fit Properly
I cannot stress this enough, as it makes the biggest impact when it comes to the care of your feet. An improperly fit shoe can and will lead to blisters, bruised toenails, corns and sometimes more serious issues like trigger toe which have to be surgically operated on to correct. Your shoes should fit snug, with little to no growing room, and fit the general shape of your foot. This means, if your foot shape is more square you should not be in a tapered, triangle shaped shoe. There are plenty of reputable fitters out there that know how to fit pointe shoes properly, but don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself in the case where you think you might be fit in a shoe that’s not quite right for your foot.
2 - Wear Your Toe Spacers!
This is another tip I highly recommend. The purpose of spacers is to teach your big toe to stay aligned in your pointe shoes. Without a spacer, your big toe will cross over, putting pressure on your big toe’s connecting joint and causing a bunion. Later in life, your bunion could get significantly worse and will literally have to be shaved off your foot. There are preventative measures for this exact condition so use them!
3 - Keep your toenails trim
Having toenails too long can and will cause bruised toenails. You can cut them like the shape of your toe (rounded) or you can cut them more square. I personally had to cut them round because I would get ingrown toenails if I cut them square. I know dancers who’ve had the exact opposite reaction as mine. Bruised toenails are extremely painful and can take months to heal, for the dead nail to fall off and a new one to grow back.
4 - Wash Your Toepads & spacers
This one should be a given, but I cannot tell you how many dancers do not do this (honestly, you can smell it from a mile away) and end up with foot fungus. Yes, you heard me correctly, foot fungus. It’s a nasty business that foot fungus, especially if you wear gel or non-absorbing toe pads. The sweat of your feet has nowhere to go, therefore it hangs out on your feet. Toepads that absorb the sweat of your feet do help, but if you do not wash them and keep them in a dark and sweaty place (i.e. your pointe shoes), you increase the risk of developing foot fungus. If you dance often on pointe (multiple days a week), I recommend washing your toepads and spacers once a week. If you’re on pointe only once a week, wash them at the end of the month. But please for the love of your feet, wash your topads!
5 - Listen to your body
My final tip should be a given, but dancers are persistent and driven. Nobody wants to be the girl who takes off her pointe shoes in the middle of class because ‘she can’t take the pain.’ Pushing through foot injuries or blisters can be extremely detrimental to your health. If you have an injury and are still pushing through that pain, it can cause lifelong damage to your feet. Same thing with blisters. If you do not take care of them, keep them clean and let them air dry, you can get blood poisoning from your blister. A summer intensive I attended one year had 5 dancers who did not take care of their blisters and all five ended up at the ER to be treated for blood poisoning. These are pretty serious health risks - is dance worth it? Is your health worth it? Just listen to your body, talk with your instructor and don’t destroy your feet over one rehearsal. I can tell you seeing it secondhand, it’s not worth the risk.
This information I give to dancers on the daily. As I mentioned above, I spent 15 years dancing on my toes, and my feet are perfectly healthy and free of the typical deformities you see associated with dancer’s feet. Please for the love of dance, take care of yourself!!!
If you have any questions at all, please feel free to reach out to me! The pointe shoe related posts are going to continue, and if there’s a topic you would like me to cover I’d be happy to do so!
Take care my lovelies!