Southside Osteopathy
Dance Assessments
Pre- Pointe & Dance Fitness Assessments
Andrea Robertson, your practitioner at Southside Osteopathy, had a career as a professional dancer for many years. Because of this, Andrea now utilizes these skills to treat dancers, assess dancers for strength and fitness and conduct pre-pointe assessments for ballet students.
The Pre-Pointe Assessments and Dance Fitness Assessments can be either conducted individually at our clinic, or in group bookings at your dance studio. Andrea will assess you for strength and core stability using functional dance tests and exercises. From the examination, any weaknesses will be identified and a pilates based home exercise program will be prescribed that will improve your strength and dance technique.
If you are seeing Andrea for a pre-pointe assessment, she will advise you and your dancer teacher on your suitability to begin pointe work and she suggests that you return for a follow up reassessment after 6 weeks. These dance assessments are suitable for dance students who are preparing to begin pointe work, however they are also beneficial for dance students of any age who wish to identify their weaknesses and improve upon these.
Why are pre-pointe assessments important?
A pre-pointe assessment lets you know whether or not your body is ready to begin pointe work by assessing your flexibility, strength and core stability. If you begin pointe work too early you may develop an injury. This is because the bones in your feet are not fully developed, strengthened and hardened until somewhere in your early teen years, so if you begin pointe work without fulfilling the prerequisites, then there is a chance that you may permanently damage those not-fully-developed bones. This may then develop into further injuries in other parts of your body.
Pre-pointe assessments identify any weaknesses you may have, and by doing the exercises that Andrea will prescribe, you will gain much greater strength and be ready to begin pointe work before you know it.
Private Health fund rebates apply.