Thread: Dancing after knee surgery

One of my students is going in for knee surgery in the near future for a torn meniscus and unknown (to me) ACL issue She's dedicated and has already told me she plans to return as soon as the doctor lets her.

Anyone have experience with students post knee surgery? What sort of limitations, restrictions or adjustment in movement should I expect?

Sending you a PM...

Goodness - not much help on this one is there! I'd like to hear if anyone has advice also -

I'll try sending you the same PM I sent Ruya. Can't guarantee it will work, though. It looks like the mail system is still not back to 100% after the upgrade.

Any chance that I could get that PM? One of my Level 1 students from a couple of sessions ago tore her ACL and just told me today that she's returning to class. I'm trying to find out as much as possible to help her and not hurt her!

If PM's aren't working, my email address is amarasdance@yahoo.com

Thanks!

Sent you the PM.

Ruya I think you should probably ask her to give you the full details on what her Dr. & Phys. Therapist recommend that she do or NOT do so she doesn't try too much too soon.

Originally Posted by TexasRuya

One of my students is going in for knee surgery in the near future for a torn meniscus and unknown (to me) ACL issue She's dedicated and has already told me she plans to return as soon as the doctor lets her.

Anyone have experience with students post knee surgery? What sort of limitations, restrictions or adjustment in movement should I expect?

That particular student stopped coming to class and I haven't heard from her since she told me about surgery. We had a chat after class one night about it.

She admitted to intentionally not putting this info on the intake sheet I give all new students that asks if they have any medical issues or conditions or recent surgeries that may limit them in class. She also said that dancing put her a great deal of pain. I told her I'd be modifying the movements for her from there out, let her know I was unhappy she essentially lied to me & had me unknowingly causing her pain and further damage to her body & when she was ready to come back from surgery to contact me first because I'd need something from her doctor stating her limitations.

Certainly someone with knee problems (chronic pain, pre- or post-op surgery issues, etc.) should not do things that go against a doctor's orders, but the fact that some dancing you taught her caused her pain is not necessarily something you should feel bad about. Rehabbing a knee injury is expected to be painful. My surgeon said that many of his patients fall into the trap of fearing how much their knees hurt, intentionally avoid moving, and blow off their rehab at the most critical point in their recovery. Then later, when they get bored of camping out on the sofa, they find out they have all sorts of new mobility issues--which are just as (if not more) difficult and painful to address than what they would have had if they had just rehabbed the initial injury properly. Even in the best case, rehab is a "no pain, no gain" endeavor.

Dancing may not have been the right activity for her at this point in her treatment from a medical standpoint, but in her defense, if she had tried to ask her doctor about taking your classes, there's a very good chance he wouldn't have understood what she was asking. (At least twice, I've done impromptu dance demonstrations for the benefit of an orthopedic surgeon's edification myself...) Nevertheless, that doesn't excuse her for not disclosing adequate information to you before class.