This section of Damhsóir features articles written for us by Hullachan designer Craig Coussins on protecting your feet, toes, arches and heels.

Dance Injury & Prevention: The Arch
by Craig Coussins

Craig Coussins started training as a dancer in his mother’s school in the West of Scotland well over 50 years ago. He started fitting and designing shoes made by the UK’s oldest dance shoemakers 30 years ago and has designed many award winning sports and dance shoes. He retired in 1995 to develop shoes closer to his Celtic roots, including shoes for Irish and Highland dancers.

The Arch of the Foot

In Irish Dance, there is a tendency to cause injury by tying the lace around the arch that in turn causes compression of the arch, the tendons, nerves and blood vessels. Sometimes the lace is so tight that dancers will complain of pain after wearing their shoes. No wonder.

For example, hold the last joint of your finger firmly leaving the pad of the finger free. Watch how the blood starts to collect in this area. What you are doing is stopping the blood flow to the end of the finger. When you tie your laces around the arch, it is this disruption of the blood flow followed by the damage to the rest of the foot that is one of the causes of damage to a dancer’s feet. That is why I designed a new way of lacing to avoid the constriction and subsequent damage to the dancers’ feet

Types of Arches

There are two arches. The inside and the outside arch. While the inside is the more commonly understood, it is the outside arch that can be crucial to a dancers arch strength.

There are three basic types of arch; Low, Medium or normal and High.

• The low arch can be a flatter foot or indeed a flat foot. Dancers with a flatter foot can find it difficult to show a nice point in their arch.
• The medium arch generally is a stronger foot while the high arch has its own set of problems.
• Easily worked on and rectified, a dancer with a high arch can have weaker ankles. Although a nice arched shape is instant with a high arch the problem arises when the dancer has little control of the arch as they will tend to go over on their arch. Strengthening exercises can sort this problem out though. Your teacher will help you develop the muscles around the ankle and increase the control of the flexibility.

The young person up to the age of 5 or even 6 may have flat feet but this is because the baby foot has more fat and the body needs the extra width and ground contact when learning to walk. Gradual development will soon see the flat foot disappearing in most kids by age 6 but if not please see a podiatrist or foot specialist to rectify and improve foot development. Many dancers could have had this factor overlooked and so developed flat feet.

However, learning to stretch the plantar area carefully, developing the muscles along the underside of the feet and using arch supports in their outdoor shoes can all be beneficial in developing some arch shape. This is more than important as proper body alignment or correct biomechanics can help reduce knee, hip, and back injury or discomfort.

Other things such as being overweight can also cause flat feet but the major cause of damage to many dancers world wide, is dancing on hard unyielding floors such as wooden floors over concrete joists. I did answer some part of this problem by making shoes with protective orthopaedic cushioning but repetitive impact in the long run without some protection can only be a bad thing. You, as a dancer, must be aware of this problem and take action to prevent damage.

Arch Problems

Problems that can occur will include Over-Pronation of the feet, Plantar Fasciitis, Heel Spurs, inflammation of the Metatarsals, Tendonitis and even Bunions.

Over-Pronation

This is what we call a ‘Biomechanical’ problem and while I will discuss Biomechanical Problems in a future article, lets look at the over pronated foot and its problems. Over-pronation causes your arch to collapse when standing or moving forward. This in turn can cause the Plantar Fascia to inflame (the ‘itis’ bit of plantar Fasciitis) and this can easily cause other foot trauma problems. Over-pronation happens to dancers with flexible but flat feet. The bone and muscle structure of the foot starts to collapse and become flatter. Treatment can include orthotics from a specialist podiatrist or specialist in foot injury.

Plantar Faciitis

The injury called ‘Plantar Fasciitis’ is very common in Irish Dance as is ‘Heel Spur’ in many older dancers. Partially caused by constricting through lacing around the arch, the tendon of the plantar or underside of the foot.

When The Fascia is stretched or pulled away from the heel, this can lead to what is called ‘heel spur’ where the fascia pulls a small piece of the bone away from the heel area. This Fasciitis ( or inflammation) is extremely painful and will get worse if left untreated

The heel spur, which is associated with the arch pain, is pretty much the same thing. However, some dancers will have one or the other. Cushioning in the heel area will relieve some of the pressure of course.

Normal sponge cushions will not do any good and you will need special orthopedic cushioning to spread the weight. In some cases even this will have to be augmented with a designed orthotic for the heel.

To conclude, to avoid arch pain, stay clear of high heeled shoes, hard shoes without a stiff heel section (counter). Wear hard shoes with a soft upper and a shock absorbing soles inside the shoe and with a removable cushioned insole. Flat feet can be helped with a arch support orthotic and last of all and most importantly, if you have pain, see a foot doctor.

The articles on this website have been written by Craig Coussins and edited for the web by Damhsóir. Questions regarding article content should be directed to Mr. Coussins or visit or Hullachan Pro.com .

Advice given here is just that -- advice. If you are suffering from an Irish dance injury, please see your doctor for treatment.

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