What Does Your Warm-up Look Like?

Are you taking time before your class to include some type of warm-up before you start your class? Is this something you do on your own, or is it led by your teacher, instructor, or coach?

Performing a proper warm-up can be a crucial part of preventing injuries in dance, cheerleading, gymnastics, and many other athletic activities for that matter! At Graceful PT, not only are we here to help you rehabilitate your injury, but we are here to help you prevent them in the first place. We want to keep you dancing, cheering, tumbling, competing, and performing!

So let’s take a closer look at what a warm-up should look like. Traditionally you may think of a warm-up as just stretching, barre work, and maybe a little bit of cardio. But there should definitely be more to it than just these elements. Research has shown us that just doing static stretching alone as a warm-up really doesn’t help us prevent injuries. In the global realm of sports medicine there have been several studies that look at what type of exercises and activities athletes can be doing to minimize their risk of injury. An appropriate warm-up for an athlete, including artistic athletes such as dancers, cheerleaders, and gymnasts should likely include a brief cardio activity, dynamic stretching, strength and core stabilization exercises, and sensorimotor training while gradually increasing their heart rate throughout the warm-up. Does this sound like something you are doing already?

If not, it’s time to start! Your warm-up can easily be done by yourself or with a group. It’s important to take the time, usually about 15-20 minutes, to prepare your body before dancing, cheering, or tumbling. Going through a sequence of movements while steadily increasing your heart rate to address mobility, strength, balance, and control will allow your body to safely handle the intensity of your class, training, or practice. The poor motor control patterns that place an artistic athlete at risk for injury can also be seen in other athletes. The research that has been done in the sports medicine world to develop various injury prevention warm-up programs specifically target improving an athlete’s neuromuscular control to minimize their injury risk while participating in their sport. 

Now, do you have a better understanding of why your warm-up and what you are doing in your warm-up can be so important? It can be a simple way to keep yourself healthy throughout the season, while working to minimize your risk of getting injured. Share this information with your family, friends, fellow dancers, gymnasts, cheerleaders, teachers, instructors, and coaches! Let’s all work together to keep you dancing!

Want to learn more about injury prevention or would you like Graceful PT to do a workshop on proper warm-ups and injury prevention at your school or studio? Send us an email at kristin@gracefulpt.com. We would love to help you in any way that we can!

Originally Posted on November 14, 2022.

Bronner, Shaw and Bauer, Naomi. (2018). Risk factors for musculoskeletal injury in elite pre-professional modern dancers: A prospective cohort prognostic study. Physical Therapy in Sport 31 (2018) 42e51.

Kaufmann, J. E., Nelissen, R., Stubbe, J. H., & Gademan, M. (2022). Neuromuscular Warm-Up is Associated with Fewer Overuse Injuries in Ballet Dancers Compared to Traditional Ballet-Specific Warm-Up. Journal of dance medicine & science : official publication of the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science, 10.12678/1089-313X.121522e. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.12678/1089-313X.121522e