by Erika Livingstone

Created on: August 05, 2009

A dancer's life is only as long as the life of her ankles. But considering a stage, often hiding cords around corners, it's a miracle the ankle lives as long as it does. One of the best ways to prevent injury to any and all joints is to warm up well before doing any physical activity. Often, I like to keep the joints in mind and start off with the neck and work downward, so as not to miss anything.

Stretching the neck is important, especially if you plan on doing spins. The sudden turning of the head can cause the vertebrae to shift uncomfortably if the neck is not prepared for the movement. It is important to stretch the neck, looking down and from side to side, and rolling it from shoulder to shoulder. There has been some debate about this, but it is not the best for the neck to be rolled backwards, so do not roll your head backwards or stretch it in this way. Look only to the sides and downward. Do this a few times.

Next downwards is shoulders. Roll them forwards and backwards to keep them loose and limber. Then, make big circles with your arms, moving them forwards and then backwards. A shoulder injury is a bad one that can effect the use of your hands. Don't take them for granted! For the elbows, hold your arms up straight, pointing to your left arm left and the right one right. Start by making circles using the elbow joint, while keeping the shoulders still. Do this for both directions.

Next the wrists. Do the circles as you did with the shoulders and elbows, forwards and back. If you want a deeper wrist stretch, kneel down on the floor or mat in front of you. Put your hands out on the ground in front of you, palms down, so that you are on all fours. Then turn your hands slowly toward the pinky finger on each side. You are not changing your position, just turning the fingers toward you so they are pointing toward your knees. If you want to stretch your forearms more deeply, put a little more weight on your legs. Stop if you feel any pain.

To shake out the arm stretches, make the large circles from the shoulder again. Slowly restrict their movement until you are only doing small circles with your fingertips. This loosens and tightens all the arm muscles, getting them ready for action.

An alternate to this (or do it as well if you like) is a shoulder stretch involving the chin. Take your left elbow in your right hand for support, and attempt to put your chin on the shoulder itself. Hold this position and repeat on the other side. For the other half

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