Foot sickling is a common problem among dance students. Many students sickle their feet when they are trying very hard to increase their point range. Sickling happens when you are trying so hard to point that then your ankle collapses outwards, causing your foot to turn inwards. In the dance world, we love creating beautiful lines, and sickling is not the line we’re after.
From my physio and injury prevention perspective, sickling increases your risk of ankle injury, especially in demi pointe positions and pointe work. When your ankle turns outwards, you are at risk of your ankle collapsing completely over and causing an ankle sprain.
So, what is correct?
This does depend a little of the shape of your foot. However, generally speaking, you want a straight line from the inside of your ankle to your forefoot. Your big toe may follow this line or be slightly inside.
What causes sickling
Weakness in the foot and ankle is the main cause of sickling. Weakness in the muscles on the outside of the ankle is particularly to blame. Sickling is very common among dancers with limited foot and ankle flexibility. The foot and ankle naturally have more range of motion when turned inwards, so dancers will sickle their foot to try and increase their point range. Poor motor control (i.e. bad habits) can be part of the cause of sickling. Genetic variations and the individual anatomy of your foot and ankle can also contribute to sickling.
How to banish the sickle
The key to banishing the sickle is to strengthen the foot and ankle. You should particularly focus on building strength in the muscles on the outside of the ankle. (These are called the peroneal muscles, if you’re interested).
Along with strength, you need to build good motor control. This basically means building good habits. By regularly practicing pointing your foot or rising up onto demi-pointe with correct alignment, your brain and neural pathways learn what to do. The correct position then happens subconsciously, without you having to think about it every time.
As a bonus, building the strength and motor control in your foot and ankle is the safest and most functional way to improve your foot flexibility. (Far better and safer than a foot stretcher, but that’s for another post…)
What about a winged foot?
Many dancers are encouraged to aim for a “winged foot”, where the heel pushes forward and forefoot and toes are behind the line of the ankle. This position makes for a desirable line “en l’aire”, but just like sickling, this pulls the ankle out of line and puts you at risk of injury if used in weight-bearing positions. If you want to practice winging your foot, save it for arabesque or attitude. Please make sure you completely master a straight foot before you even think about practicing winging!
The Exercises
Here are two of my favourite exercises to improve your foot and ankle strength and control.
- Single-leg demi-plié and relevé
Physios love making up crazy, new exercises, but sometimes the basics are the best. This exercise strengthens your feet, ankles and calves and improves your motor control, all at once. It’s also the best way to strengthen in a functional pattern – that is, in a movement pattern you actually use during dancing. As well as improving your foot position, this exercise is also one of my favourite injury prevention exercises. The strength and endurance you build when you perform this exercise regularly help prevent a wide range of calf, ankle and foot injuries.
Stand on one foot in parallel. Slowly demi-plié and relevé keeping your foot and ankle in correct alignment. It’s best to stand in front of a mirror or have someone watch you to ensure you keep the correct position throughout. Start with about 10 reps on each foot, and build up to around 3 sets of 20 reps.
- Point and flex with theraband loop
I’m going to be a little controversial here… Many, many dancers have been taught to point and flex into a theraband to improve their foot strength. In fact, it’s probably one of the most commonly recommended foot exercises. However, I’m not a fan of this exercise, mostly because I very often see it performed with bad form. If a dancer is prone to sickle, it’s easy to sickle while doing this exercise. Also, many dancers are guilty of clawing their toes into the theraband. This sets up bad habits for pointing the foot while dancing. Clawing the toes repeatedly against the theraband also puts a lot of undue stress on the tendons that run around the back of the ankle, which can lead to pain.
You can read my blog post and watch my video about pointing into a theraband here.
Just to be clear, pointing into a theraband is not a bad exercise, if done properly. However, I prefer the following variation. If done correctly, this variation really fires up those peroneal muscles on the outside of your ankle to stop you from sickling. It also builds foot strength and control, which is the best way the best way to increase functional pointe range safely (i.e pointe range you can actually use when dancing, rather than just passive range.)
Sit on the floor, legs straight in front of you, in parallel. Tie a theraband around your forefeet. The band needs to be tight enough that you feel tension on the outside of your ankle when your foot and ankle are straight. Slowly point and flex your foot, keeping correct alignment throughout.
Once you’ve mastered these two exercises, check out my Banish the Sickle, Part 2 video, for a great exercise to take your foot and ankle strength and control to the next level.
Also, be sure to check out my Top 5 Injury Prevention Exercises, where I demonstrate another foot and ankle strengthener – eccentric heel drops.
