#ouchy ouchy dancer injuries

[whysojiminimnida]

Hi, you mentioned Jimin's shoulder and neck pains being the result of dancing trauma in one of your posts. I feel really sad for him, he's so young and he's had those pains for years ((( I thought as a dancer you might know so can you please tell anything about the type of condition he has? Is this trauma typical for dancers? Is he in pain all the time (JK seems to be giving him a lot of massages, so...) or only when he overworks himself? Is it even ok to dance like he does with such trauma, can he hurt himself more? Can it be, I dunno, fixed/cured somehow? Sorry if my questions are stupid, I don't really know much about dancing muscle traumas. I also don't remember other guys getting this kind of professional dancing traumas (or maybe I missed that info?) so even though I looooove Jimin dance, his style looks unique to me, I kinda hate contemporary a little bit coz it's so not fair that Jimin has pains because of it (silly, yeah, but still))).

Hi anon, My experience with dance injuries is that if you dance enough, it doesn't matter what style you dance. You're getting hurt at some point and you are living with chronic pain. I guarantee you that Hobi's knees and ankles give him HELL sometimes. Jimin's upper back and neck issues are a direct result of his technique and training - and you are right. Overwork makes those chronic conditions worse.

In which Jungkook is doing it right and Jin is... not but he's cute

Jimin's thoracic and neck issues - which is partly where the shoulder pain comes from - may actually have started during his martial arts training. I have another post about his and Jungkook's martial arts backgrounds and how that affects their dancing in my drafts right now and I hope to have that up today. But it could come from repeated front punches or strikes, or from combat or sword training - especially as sword training involves repeated fast, weighted motion.

Jimin is right handed and most of his shoulder pain seems to be located under the scapula (shoulder blade) on the right side and just to the right side of his upper thoracic vertebrae. It could have started with Kendo and been aggravated by spotting during turns, which snaps the neck, and by the extreme reaching and stretching required by the choreography he does. He could also end up with left shoulder pain as that side tries to compensate.

Jimin's back and neck are quite flexible, especially for a man. He has worked hard to get it that way and keep it that way. When you see him not moving his torso much during rehearsal, he is preserving functionality so he can really let it go for performance.

Thing is, Jimin gets OUTSTANDING medical care. Much better than most dancers. This dude has physical therapists ON CALL. He is getting massages. He is getting chiropractic adjustments to keep his spine aligned. He is getting the best care possible to keep him dancing for as long as he wants to dance. I mean Jungkook could probably take up massage therapy and pass the board exams by now:

So while I suspect that Jimin spends more of his time in pain than any of us would like, we have to also realize that this is his choice. He could retire or quit - he could have done that years ago and been fine financially. He dances now because he loves doing it. It is worth it to him. We are worth it to him. Professional level dancers and athletes learn to live with pain early in life and most of the time it's not terrible. It doesn't keep us from doing what we love. It's part of the price of doing business, basically, and you kinda get used to it.

Plus side he gets this on the regular

So not to worry, anon. Jimin's life isn't soooo miserable. :)