Ballerinas float across a stage. Their tutus bounce, every movement is precise, but their feet are often in excruciating pain. Ballet is a beautiful art, yet it can have a devastating impact on dancers’ feet, especially when en pointe. Calluses, blisters, ingrown toenails, even stress fractures and pronounced arches are all too common, and all require consistent professional footcare.
As a young ballerina, Grace Main suffered foot pain and was fascinated by the specialists treating dancers’ feet. That fascination eventually led her to a career in footcare.
Grace Main, C.Ped (C) is a Certified Pedorthist, a healthcare professional with specialized education and training in assessing lower limb anatomy, muscle and joint function, and custom-made orthotics and orthopaedic footwear. You can find her at Sunnybrook Hospital in Pedorthics Services.
According to their website, “Improving your mobility is our goal, by offering comprehensive foot support via a multi-disciplinary clinic where patients see a physiatrist and a certified pedorthist. Patients are assessed and receive services which may create or modify shoes or orthotics.” Some of the issues addressed include plantar fasciitis (heel pain), metatarsalgia (ball of foot pain), diabetes or arthritis, bunion pain, hammer toes, and foot traumas. At Sunnybrook, a doctor’s referral is not required but there are fees associated with some services.
For anyone interested in a pedorthist career, the most direct route is graduating with a B.A. in kinesthetics, then completing a 12-month post-degree pedorthist diploma program at Western University. Grace took a more circuitous route, working as she completed her academic requirements with a two-year bridging program in lieu of a B.A. in kinesiology, followed by a two-year diploma program and exam at the Canadian College of Pedorthics.
Grace offers a few footcare suggestions that would benefit all of us, not just dancers. “Take extra socks when hiking, purchase shoes with a wide toe-box more anatomically suited to feet and toes, get foot pain assessed early to avoid more complex issues later, and custom shoes are good value if off-the-shelf shoes are not a good fit.” Her final piece of advice. “Like ballerinas, take care of your calluses.”
Asked about the joy of dancing and her experiences en pointe, Grace reminisced but spoke more about the crafts she was introduced to, like sewing to repair ballet slippers and crocheting hairnets. Today she continues to enjoy many of these crafts. A surprising one she mentioned: “There was a tutu competition. We were challenged to design a ballet tutu. This challenge encompassed all my passions – art, design, ballet, and sewing. My first approach didn’t fly! I tried making a tutu out of shiny metal. It was too heavy and dangerously sharp. I settled on a more conservative approach using shiny fabric, imitating metal. It was my first and last tutu project. It consumed many hours and miles of tulle.”
