Hip Strain among Salseras has become a WORLDWIDE problem.
By Edie, The Salsa FREAK
 

WHAT'S THE REASON? THE PREP BEFORE MULTIPLE RIGHT TURNS!!! - That's the reason!!

I've spoken to the top female dancers in the following countries / states: Japan, Korea, Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco... and we ALL have the SAME complaint: RIGHT HIP STRAIN. Even Super Mario from London told me he hears of women in London suffering the same type of pain. In fact, it was last year's event in New Zealand when Super Mario woke my eyes up to it. I THOUGHT I was just "getting old" or something... but after I started researching, and asking questions, women of ALL AGES from 18 and up were complaining about it!!!

"Edie, it hurts sometimes so badly that I can't sleep at night." says one Salsera in the nightclub. "The pain is so intense that I just can't sleep."

"Edie, I put myself to sleep with pain medication." .... "Edie, sometimes my wife cries herself to sleep." ... "No amount of rubbing, massage, chiropractic, or excercises help." "I've learned to live with the pain."

I have the same problem. It started about two years ago. I started doing this pre-spin prep more and more, and it became a habit. After dancing all night, about a half hour after I fall asleep, I get woken up by an excrutiating pain throbbing on my right hip. The ritual I usually take is going to the bathroom, popping a few Advils and rubbing MSM lotion on my hip. My chiropractor told me that at night, our muscles and joints relax, and fall into place. This "falling into place" is what causes so much pain. The tendons are stretched so much, that like a rubber band, once they are relaxed, and shrink back into place, we experience intense pain.

I was in the airplane coming home from the New York Congress, and I bumped into a Salsera that was on a pro team in San Francisco. She told me she could not dance on Sunday night because her right hip was bothering her. That single comment caught ALL MY ATTENTION.

THAT'S IT. I would rather GIVE BIRTH right now, then to witness another woman suffer like this.

As Instructors, it is our personal responsibility to make students aware of this growing problem. As dancers, and especially professional instructors, we need to take responsibility on how we teach people to prepare for multiple spins.

The wind-up prep, curling up "like a snake" prep is what is straining the right hip joint, causing an achy, throbbing pain. The pain can be debilitating if not taken care of immediately. This prep works wonders, but causes severe pain if overused, or not taught and executed correctly.

I've spoken with instructors who have this pain, and we all got together in Korea for a MAJOR discussion on the issue. In future issues, I will be discussing how we as instructors should and will be teaching our students the PROPER preperation prior to spinning.

I would certainly love to hear your feedback on this topic. If you suffer from RIGHT HIP PAIN, please email me at wowedie@yahoo.com, or call me at (305) 588-9130. Tell me your issues / problems, and what you are doing about it. I will ask your permission to use your name for my future discussions on this topic.

I am gathering information from Salseras all over the world about this problem, and want so desperately to share THE SOLUTION with all of you.