Recovery – Sophie Folts

Posted by Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet on June 5, 2012 · 1 Comment 

Sophie dancing!

As dancers are known to be very dedicated, disciplined, and focused individuals we never want to be told to slow down or to “take it easy.”  We have nightmares of injuries, retirement and/or worse not becoming a dancer or dance major at all.   I began dancing when I was very young and quit three years later at the still very young age of 11.  My return to dance at 16 was somewhat random and surprising to my parents.  I had quit to do Jazz and musical theatre dance.  I performed in musicals for years.  One day I decided I missed ballet and just had to return.  I returned to dancing 5 days a week for the second semester of tenth grade.  I wasn’t quite expecting my return to develop such a passion.  I loved dancing when I was a kid but was going through a “little actress” faze and far to wiggly to stay with it.  However, ballet as a teenager was different.  I, like any other ballerina became enthralled with the perfection of ballet.  It wasn’t long before I had to fill in for an injured classmate.  I was really somewhat thrown into the ballet and was not technically ready for it at all. I was in a level a year behind where I should be, and two years behind where I would have been had I stayed in the “older kid’s” level back when I was 11.

Soon I was signing up for my studio’s performance company.  I began taking Pilates to strengthen my core.  That summer I danced for 9 weeks straight in a desperate attempt just to catch up to a level that I should’ve been, had I not ever quit.  The following summer I attended two dance intensives praying I would improve quicker.  At the end of my experience at Gelsey Kirkland Academy’s (GKA) Summer Intensive I chose to stay and train for the year there, in New York City.  I was still incredibly behind but I was used to the game of catch up by then.  While behind most of my peers and classmates, I had improved immensely and was beginning to feel less and less self conscious of my technical level.  After four amazing months training 9-5 at GKA with extra privates, Pilates sessions and gym visits every week I was starting to believe I could really do this.  “Maybe I could be in a company one day! Maybe if I keep working really hard, I’ll improve enough before I am too old for companies to even glance at!” I prayed.  The thought of injuries hardly ever crossed my mind.  I saw my peers get injuries plenty, but I somehow thought I was immune.  I was in for a rude awakening.  Actually, I was in for a much harder and longer year than I had ever expected.

This past November I was in my Enchantments class when I tore the ACL in my left knee.  I was winding up for a jump.  As I took off from the ground my lower leg rotated away from my knee and I heard a clicking noise.  A wave of pain came and I fell.  I was able to walk to a near by couch with the help of some teachers and two hours later I was in hardly any pain and walked down stairs into a cab and went home.  That evening it happened again though in the shower.  My knee still unstable, I took another fall and my roommate had to help me up.  The next day I was walking with ultimately no pain though.  My knee was swollen and failed to hyperextend fully but I figured it would heal on it’s own.  I watched class and only did Pilates while I waited to see the doctor for two weeks.

Sophie after surgery

The news I received from my surgeon Dr. Rose was an utter shock.  He did a quick examination of my knee, took one look at my X-rays and barely blinked before he told me my ACL had completely ruptured.  Before I knew it he had my mom on speaker phone and was explaining that I would have to have surgery to reattach my ACL and it would be a recovery period in which I could not dance for six months.  I walked from the doctor’s on 86th street to West 13th street, calling my mom and crying on and off the whole way home.

A week after surgery I flew home to North Carolina for Christmas break.  I was prescribed by my surgeon to walk as much as possible and to attend physical therapy (PT) three times a week for 5 weeks.  I was on crutches for about a week and the stairs were a challenge for about a month.  I did what my surgeon suggested (due to the force of my mother) and walked every morning.  The first two weeks the pain and limp my knee kept me from walking more than a mile.  However, I continued to push through the pain.  My physical therapists and surgeon had informed me the pain was temporary and the more I exercised the more my knee would improve.  I was not allowed to run for the first three months.  I stuck to walking 5 miles every morning and physical therapy in the afternoons.  After 5 weeks I saw my surgeon and he said it was looking great.  He gave me the ok to start running and taking Pilates and my PT was decreased to twice a week.  I then added on Pilates twice a week as well as the gym in the evenings three times a week.

I swear by Pilates and Physical Therapy more than anything else for an injury,  especially torn ACL’s.  There were so many days when I was so tired of the same workouts everyday.  Wake up, walk, eat, work, PT or Pilates (depending on the day), work, gym, eat, sleep.  My friends were all still in school everyday.  I had already graduated early online in one semester because I had thought I’d be dancing.  I lived for weekends when I could see my friends.  Any social interaction was cherished.  It was so tempting to take a day off from the gym or Pilates to go eat dinner with friends or just to watch TV!  A big part of what kept me going had to be my mom.  She was so supportive and motivating.  She helped me through so much.  I don’t know how she tolerated my mood swings.  In the beginning it was one minute of, “Mom, can you help me into the shower?” and the next it was, “I don’t need any help! I can get up the stairs on my own!”  She was incredibly patient with me but never afraid to give me a kick in the behind when my mojo began waning.

We visited NYC several times over the six months I was recovering.  Every time I got to see old friends and watch class was a huge inspiration.  Some say watching everyday keeps you missing it and focused enough not to become unmotivated and give up.  I think It’s different for everyone though because watching everyday at my old studio like I did the first few weeks left me horribly depressed and upset.  Visiting every few weeks when my withdrawal from dance was at it’s worst was good for me.  Also, seeing ABT and NYCB perform when I visited kept me inspired.  Staying connected to dance even though I was unable to actually do it made me never forget my goals and why it was crucial to stick to my PT and other exercises.

I know some days I wanted to skip some exercises and breeze through my PT.  However, if there is anything I have learned these last six months is how everything counts.  Every single exercise is significant in rehabilitating your injury.  If it wasn’t, why would your doctor, teacher, physical therapist, whoever, give it to you?  My surgeon set my knee into hyperextension during surgery so I could resume my full range of motion and it would be as hyperextended and even to my other leg as possible.  But without all my exercises my knee would not be as straight as it is today.  I’m still having to work very hard to build all my muscle back.  My knee will hyperextend when sitting but standing, it has taken time to get it to have enough activation muscles to hyperextend while standing.

Sophie on the pilates machine

The main muscles in need of redeveloping after an ACL surgery are my quad, hamstring, and sytorious muscles.  Doing squats with a medicine ball, step ups holding weights, and using a machine called “The Shuttle” at PT and the gym helped me enormously.  Those all help strengthening your quads and hamstrings.  The best exercise I found in developing my sytorious was to lay down on your back, propping yourself up on your elbows, one leg bent in front of you, the other, straight, flexed, and turned out on the floor.  Slowly raise your leg, flexed and turned out, up to the knee of your bent leg.  Lower down.  For best results I did twenty reps per leg, with 5 pound ankle weights on.  If you are doing it correctly you should feel it get sore on your inner thighs and sytorious muscle (next to and slightly above your inner knee).

Stretching my calves was a huge life saver too.  Stretching everything really, and trying to stay limber and warm before and after my workouts helped my muscles relax.  Surprisingly, I never lost the ability to do my splits or pick my leg up to my head.  However, my calves were THE TIGHTEST AND MOST PAINFUL things to stretch.  I feel like my biggest mistake the first three months of my six month recovery was not spending enough time touching my toes haha.

We never want to be told we can’t dance.  We’re dancers! It’s in our blood.  I know so many fellow dancers that rush back into class to catch up to where they were before.  It’s so common to want to ignore the pain and keep dancing.  That is the sure fire way to make your injury worse though.  It is all too tempting to pretend like everything is ok and it will pass.  That is easy.  It is much harder to recognize what your body is telling you and fix a problem with the help of a doctor and rest before the problem worsens.

Recovering from serious injuries is rough.  There is nothing easy about it.  However, I truly and whole-heartedly believe injuries can be a blessing in disguise.  Mine helped me strengthen my body, and learn how to prevent future injury.

Take it from someone who spent half a year taking off from dance to do nothing but strengthen and is about to take another half a year to get back to where she was technically.  The sooner you get help for your injury and help yourself, the sooner you are helping your dance career!

Written by, Sophie Folts-Mercure

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Sophie Folts came to NYC for Gelsey Kirkland Academy’s spring performance of “Elusive Dreams”. She was on hand to offer support and sewing with her mother Claudia Folts of tutu.com! A big thanks for all your help!

Filed under Recovery & Injury, Student Life · Tagged with Ballet, Dance, Dancing, Injury, Pointe, Recovery, Surgery