Studio owners need to establish good relationships with a number of different people. Of course, we must have good relationships with our students and their parents, with our staff and faculty and with the people who we do our daily business with. One of the relationships that I have found to be extremely useful for both myself and my students has been the one I established some years ago with an orthopedic doctor that I was sent to. I found this particular doctor to be so helpful and clear in his diagnosis and description of what was going on with my body that I decided that I trusted him enough to send my students to him if they sustained an injury that needed orthopedic care. We have worked together hand in hand since that time and it has not only helped my students but it has also been great for my faculty as we have all been able to take an active part in making sure that our students recover from their injuries in a systematic and caring way and has also assisted us with really being able to help the students with their physical therapy so that the affected area can be strengthened correctly.
I am also extremely careful when putting any student on pointe and one of the requirements that I insist upon for any student wanting to go on pointe is that they must be seen by an orthopedic doctor and have their feet x-rayed to make sure that there are no hidden problems that are not visible which might be a concern when putting them on pointe. Sometimes, as we know, when a student is growing there are issues with tendons, platelets and even bones as not everything always grows at the same rate. These are things that you would not be aware of without being able to x-ray the feet. Once I get the go ahead from the doctor that there are no issues then I will be happy to get them up there knowing that it is safe for them and that it will not cause any long term damage. I have seen dancers who became injured or suffered deformation of the feet in their early twenties simply because they were not physically ready at the time to be put on pointe. As I always say to my students and their parents, what's the rush? They have a lifetime in front of them and if they are strong enough to be on pointe they will progress rapidly. I had one case recently, a young dancer who is 12 years old. She desperately wanted to go on pointe and I felt she had enough strength overall to be able to do so and that she was mentally tough enough to make it work, however, after she was seen by the doctor he felt one of her feet was not quite as developed as the other one and advised not only to wait for a period of time but sent her to physical therapy to help her strengthen both her ankles and feet. She is now on pointe and doing really well and still continues the physical therapy to make that foot extra strong.
What I really like about the doctor I deal with is that after he sees each of my students he takes the time to call me and explain in layman's language exactly what is happening and what needs to be done. Very often the physical therapist will also be in touch to let me know what exercises are being used and how the dancer is progressing. It is not always easy to get this information from the student or their parents and I have really found it invaluable when working with any of my dancers who have sustained an injury. It also enables me to meet with any faculty that teach the student to let them know exactly what the dancer can or cannot do. As we know, students will sometimes embellish what is really wrong with them or be over eager to plunge right back into the thick of things. This communication between doctor, therapist and faculty really does help to safely keep the students healthy and help them to recuperate fully.
Do you have a doctor in your area that you could establish this kind of relationship with? If you do, I would give him or her a call and let them know that you would like to be able to send any injured students to them and help in their recuperation by having an open dialogue with them. If you are not familiar with one perhaps look into finding someone local and see if they would be interested in establishing a relationship with your school. After all, our prime concern is that every student who takes with us is healthy and if we can be instrumental in keeping it that way it is good for all.
Injuries can happen when you have a number of people dancing and sometimes those injuries are caused by outside factors such as skiing or soccer or just an accident. What is important is to get those dancers back to being able to do the things you need them to do in the best way possible. I have also found it useful when I have had concerns about an injury to be able to call my doctor and ask him questions to make sure that I am helping my students as much as I possibly can to regain their full strength. The relationship that I have with the doctor has not only put me in the best position possible to help my dancers but has also made me a much more knowledgeable teacher. It has also helped with my relationships with the parents because they see that we all want to do the best for their child and see that we deal with any injury in a professional manner.
