What is a Pre-Pointe Assessment?

Has your dance teacher told you to come to see the physio before you start pointe work?

Are you unsure of your readiness to commence dancing en pointe?

A pre-pointe assessment sounds like exactly what you are in need of!

Physiotherapists who understand the demands of ballet and pointe work have designed pre-pointe assessments. It is designed to assess the risk of injury to a dancer and how ready she is to commence pointe work to ensure the lowest risk of injury.

The assessment is broken up into three sections:

  1. Dance and injury history
  2. Physical assessment
  3. Functional assessment.

 

  1. Dance and Injury History

This is the first section of the assessment.

It is designed to give the physiotherapist a background about you as a dancer. You generally fill it out in the reception area of the clinic prior to seeing your physio., so it is a good idea to arrive 10 minutes early to get it done.

Some questions that you might be asked are:

  • How long have you been doing ballet for?
  • What level of ballet are you currently at?
  • Have you got or had any injuries?
  • What are some areas of your technique you would like to improve?

 

  1. Physical Assessment

This section allows the physio to measure the range of movement of the joints in your lower limbs and to test your strength. A lot of these tests don’t look anything like ballet, but they are important to complete.

It gives the physiotherapist all of the details he/she requires to understand how the dancer’s lower limbs will cope under the loads required for dancing en pointe.

 

  1. Functional Assessment

This is the final part of the assessment and looks the most like ballet. There are only a few tests in this section that have strong research correlating passing these tests with a significant reduction in injury risk.

So there you go!

A pre-pointe assessment is definitely not scary. It is there to help you dance safely and to the best of your ability. If you think you might need one of these assessments, we would absolutely love to help you so please click here to book online with one of friendly physios !

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Catherine Etty-Leal