Athletes // Current

Larry David Blasted for 'Curb' Episode Where He Urinates on Jesus Painting

"Comedian Larry David is under attack from critics who say he pushed the mocking of... more

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Dumbest Sports Injuries

Injuries are a big part of every sport, and can ruin a talented athlete’s career.... more

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Premature Aging in Athletes

Recently we had our reunion from high school. While scanning the dance floor, there... more

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Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series

As a warm-up exercise, these daredevils plunge into the cold ocean. The three athletes... more

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Caster Semenya's Humiliation

CASTER Semenya was subjected to a humiliating examination that included having her... more

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Caster Semenya Has No Womb and Internal Testes. Does That Make Her a Man?

No makeover is going to hide South African track star Caster Semenya's insides from... more

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Born To Run - The Story of the Hidden Mexican tribe of Super Athletes

The story of the Tarahumara/ Raramuri tribe in Mexico, that chose the option to run... more

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Obama Honors 16 with Presidential Medals of Freedom

President Obama today honored 16 individuals the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom.... more

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"When dancers get tired, it’s not supposed to show.

“I’m a sweater,” the dancer Jerome Stigler warned at the New York University Langone Medical Center’s Hospital for Joint Diseases, where, on a recent afternoon, driving a dancer to the point of exhaustion was the rather unusual goal. (There was, in the end, a lot of sweat.)

Taking part in a study by the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries, Mr. Stigler was wired with 22 reflective markers and electrodes on 10 muscles along his leg. A team of researchers, led by Marijeanne Liederbach, Harkness’s director of research and education, scrutinized his every move during the two-hour session to document the role fatigue plays in the landing techniques of dancers and athletes.

The Harkness Center initiated the study after Dr. Liederbach had overseen two others relating to injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament of the knee, or the A.C.L., in dance. One aspect those studies wanted to determine was whether men and women were afflicted at different rates. It has long been recognized that in sports that feature jumping, like basketball and soccer, a substantially higher percentage of women than men have A.C.L. injuries.

“We realized that dancers aren’t getting A.C.L. injuries, yet they jump a lot,” Dr. Liederbach said. “Why are women in sports getting so many? We don’t think this is about gender. We suspect this is more about the type or length of training and that women athletes can learn something from dancers about the way they train, the precision of their balance and jumping in terms of alignment and frequency and duration of training. We might be able to help women athletes preserve their A.C.L.’s.”

As Dr. Liederbach sees it, part of the difference in injury rates between female dancers and female athletes is because of the way dancers land their jumps.

“As much as there’s a lot of buzz that dancers get hurt a lot,” she said, “there was probably something dancers were doing rigorously for years in the way they master balance and jump, landing with mutual alignment and beautiful neuromuscular control, that is helping to protect them. As we looked more deeply at the characteristics of landing, we found that landing time — the way dancers land with a fully extended knee and make their way into the depth of a plié from the jump — is really generous.”

In the third study, which is nearly three-quarters complete, the idea is to learn how deeply fatigue affects jump landings, a matter seemingly connected to the frequency of A.C.L. injuries. Dr. Liederbach discovered that although A.C.L. tears were infrequent among dancers, a common factor emerged when they did occur. Most came during performances near the end of a season and, typically, late at night after dancers had rehearsed all day.

There are inherent differences; athletes jump within the context of a game and not in a rehearsed choreographic exercise. Even so, the results of the study may help athletes and coaches understand the importance of jump training.

Women in sports often land with their knees in a valgus, or knock-kneed, position. Dancers, when airborne, stretch their legs. The tips of the toes make contact with the floor first, which allows a dancer to roll through the ball and heel incrementally as the foot maintains neutral alignment with the knee and hip joints. Years of training make the technique ingrained.

In keeping with its findings the center plans to produce a DVD, tentatively called “Land Like a Dancer.” It will be directed not only to athletes but also to young dancers and to performers who don’t specialize in ballet or modern dance and are inclined toward A.C.L. injuries."""When dancers get tired, it’s not supposed to show. “I’m a sweater,” the... more