IADMS New York 2002   [back to the Category]

The Effect of Positive Heel Inclination in Young Children Training in Flamenco Dance   [read the french version]

Author :   Burke Gurney, PT, PhD

The Effect of Positive Heel Inclination in
Young Children Training in Flamenco Dance

Burke Gurney, PT, PhD
Physical Therapy Program, School of Medicine, University of New Mexico

Virginia Wilmerding, PhD
Dance/Exercise Science Program, University of New Mexico
Veronica Torres, MA, National Institute of Flamenco
Albuquerque, NM, USA


Purpose
The art of flamenco dance is increasing in popularity in the United States. In order for a child to acquire the dance technique, they must learn to employ the stylized posture and learn to dance in a heeled shoe. Research investigating injury patterns of the adult flamenco dancer has revealed that low back pain and self-reported injury to this area is substantial. To prepare the beginning child dancer well for the rigors of this art form, it would be appropriate to know if the young performer exhibits the same postural strategies to compensate for the change in position of the foot in a heeled shoe. The purpose of this study was to determine the degree and magnitude of changes of angulation in pelvic tilt in young dancers who are accustomed to standing in forced plantar flexion. Suggestions could then be made to teachers to prepare the body for the stresses that accompany training in flamenco dance.

Participants, Setting, Equipment
Sixteen children between the ages of 4 and 12 (10 girls, 6 boys, mean=9.5 years, SD=2.5 years) were invited to participate in this study. All were currently training in various dance forms, including flamenco dance. A Vicon 250 Motion Analysis System (Tustin, CA) was used to evaluate postural alignment by measuring the change angles of the joints of the lower body. This study was approved by the university’s human subjects review board.

Variables, Procedures, and Design
Reflective spheres were affixed to each child’s second metatarsal-phalangeal joints, lateral malleoli, heel, knees, hips and sacrum. Five infrared strobe 60 Hz cameras captured static posture in a ten second period with the child standing flat on the floor. The task was repeated after the child’s heels were placed on a 2-inch platform, which served to simulate the standard height of the flamenco shoe. T tests served to measure the overall change in pelvic tilt, hip, knee, and ankle angles (SPSS v.10).


Results
No significant differences between the barefoot and heeled stance were revealed at the pelvis, hip, or knee. As expected, a paired t test revealed that there was a significant change the degree of plantar flexion of the ankle in the children when wearing heels (p=.001). The standard deviations of each site were quite large, most likely accounting for the lack of statistical significance. This could be explained by the fact that different subjects compensated in different, and opposite ways.

Conclusions
The results of this study suggest that the teacher intending to prepare the young dancer for a long and injury-free career in flamenco must develop an eye for individual postural differences. Each child must be observed by their teacher to determine whether their personal compensations are towards increasing or decreasing the lordotic curve. Progressive alterations up the kinetic chain from the ankle must be inspected, as it is understood that any deviation from an individual’s normal stance may predispose them to injury.