Dancing with lower back pain and how rotation and impact play a role
Nicola Tik
Lower back pain and dancing can feel like a difficult combination because so much of what makes dance movement expressive and enjoyable involves the trunk and lower back directly. Rotation, lateral movement, and the impact of stepping and jumping all load the lower back in ways that are worth understanding. For most recreational dancers, continuing to dance with lower back pain is possible, and this article looks at how.
The lower back sits at the centre of almost every dance movement. It transfers force between the lower and upper body, contributes to the rotation that gives dance its character, and manages the impact that travels up through the spine with every step and landing. In styles that involve significant trunk movement, the lower back is doing considerable work throughout a session.
Rotation is the most significant demand. Many dance styles involve the trunk rotating repeatedly and often rapidly, and the lower back, which is less well designed for rotation than the hips and mid-back, tends to find this demand more challenging than other types of movement. When the hips or the thoracic spine are stiff and not contributing their share of the rotational movement, the lower back tends to compensate by rotating more than is comfortable over time.
Every step and landing in dance sends impact through the lower limb and up into the spine. On hard floors, that impact is greater with each repetition, and over a long session it accumulates significantly through the lower back. Jumping movements in particular place the lower back under repeated compressive and impact load that adds to the rotational demand of most dance styles.
Fatigue compounds both of these factors. The muscles of the trunk and lower back work continuously during dance to stabilise the spine through movement and impact. As they tire through a long session, the lower back absorbs more of the load directly, and pain that was manageable early in a session often becomes more noticeable in the later stages.
Reducing the range and speed of rotational movements during a flare-up is one of the most effective adjustments available. Keeping trunk rotation smaller and more controlled, rather than dancing with full range, reduces the demand on the lower back without removing you from the session entirely. Most dance styles can be adapted to a more contained range of movement temporarily without losing the enjoyment of the activity.
Avoiding jumping movements and keeping footwork lower impact during a period of lower back pain reduces the compressive and impact load through the spine considerably. Stepping rather than jumping, and landing more softly and with bent knees when impact is unavoidable, helps absorb force before it travels through the lower back.
Taking short breaks during a long session to stand and gently move the lower back through a comfortable range prevents the fatigue build-up that tends to make pain worse through the later stages of a dance event.
Two things make a consistent difference to lower back pain in dancers. The first is trunk endurance, the capacity of the muscles around the spine to maintain stability throughout a demanding session rather than fatiguing early. The second is hip and thoracic spine mobility, which allows those areas to contribute their share of rotational movement and reduces the compensatory demand placed on the lower back.
Simple trunk endurance exercises done consistently between sessions, and regular hip mobility work, build both of these qualities over several weeks and tend to make a meaningful difference to how the lower back copes with dancing over time.
If you would like to try a guided exercise for the lower back and trunk, VIDA has a short video you can follow at your own pace.