Flexibility Nightmare: A Spike in Injuries due to Instagram Posts

Today I read this article that talks about the dangers of copying dance poses for instagram pictures. The poses they are copying? Poses that require a lot of flexibility, like the scorpion or an oversplit. To be honest, I am not surprised. If I was a young dancer when Instagram was gaining steam, you can bet that I would at least attempt something like this. However, now that I am older and far wiser than 12 year old me, I can see why this is an issue. These moves are gorgeous to look at, but when done improperly or done by people who aren't naturally flexible, they are dangerous.

Example of a scorpion​ taken from Pinterest

These moves require an insane amount of flexibility, which most people don't have. The body is not meant to be stretched to that extent, even turning your feet out is not good for the body because it puts the hips at an awkward angle. While young children are more flexible naturally, that doesn't mean that they should attempt these crazy poses.

As the article mentioned, just one move could lead to a serious injury. While it is true that no sport comes without injury, it is also important to note that young dancers at ages 11 and 12 should not have severe hip injuries that could halt whatever dance career they wish to pursue. Any professional dancer knows that injury is always a possibility, but the only reason they are professionals now is because they avoided injuries at a young age.

Example of an oversplit taken from Pinterest

Dance is a sport that requires hardwork, and those that are naturally flexible do have an edge over others. However, trying to force your body to be more flexible is not going to aid you. It will only deter an inspiring dancer from a potential career path.

Down the line, injuries are almost inevitable. Your body gets older and it becomes harder to stay in peak physical condition. There is no need to increase that risk by injuring yourself because you wanted a cool cover photo for Facebook. Take myself for example, I danced for over 10 years and now at the age of 20 I'm having problems with my hips and back. If I had tried to pull a stunt like a scorpion and ended up injuring myself, my problems would be much worse than they are now, which is impossible for me to imagine.

#injury