I'm losing about 5 of favorite social dance partners due to foot and knee problems. Most dance floors have a concrete slab underneath with a veneer of wood floor on top. This is inviting dance injuries if you dance often. Other more expensive dance floors with support underneath are few and far between. Injuries especially crop up when these ladies are preparing for competitions with their partners and spending lots of time on the veneer dance floors with concrete underneath.
They do all this practice with thin soled high heels and usually dance with heels 2 1/2 inches to 3 inches. This is an invitation for an injury!

It is probably impossible to expect dance studios and practice areas to get the expensive cushioned floors.

However, the dance shoe companies are still in the dark ages with their development of dance shoes with some support and cushion. Look at Rockport, and running shoes and how they have developed cushioned shoes. Why can't the Dance Shoe companies come up with something that is relatively thin and has lots of support. Or we will all have a very short lived dance hobby or profession. Most adults are basically dancing barefoot (women with high heels) on concrete floors.
Duh!

The best thing I have come up with for myself is some Capezio male dance jazz sneakers and I put in 2 pairs of thin inner soles made out of Tempur-Pedic from Brookstone.

What have some of you ladies done to prevent injury? Are there any supported high heel shoes that are effective?

What really has helped me was going for a lower-heeled shoe with a slightly thicker heel, and making sure I got something that was plenty wide across the ball of the foot. I was having foot and knee problems for a while until I figured out that I was wearing shoes that were too small! Sure, dance shoes are supposed to fit snugly, but there is "snug" and then there is "too tight." I'm wearing a size larger than I used to, now, and my feet and knees are so much happier. I put those non-slip heel grips in the backs of the shoes, and they're staying on just fine. I also don't wear shoes higher than 2" any more.

As far as support goes, I like having a decent heel cup and well-constructed heel, but I do not like having the soles or the parts that go around the balls of the feet be too stiff. In fact, I'm much more comfortable and dance better when that area is very flexible. As the shoes get worn and start to stretch, I'll put in a foam or gel half-sole.

Laura,

What if you dance socially for say 9 hours a week, take two 1 hour lessons per week and practice 5 or 6 hours per week. Most serious dancers do lots more than this? And with good technique. One would be doing lots of pounding to their joints. Kids and young adults could probably get away with it for awhile. But what about teachers that are on their feet 8 hours per day? What I'm disappointed in is the lack of or no research and development of the dance shoe companies.

Plus, don't get me started on the eratic music tempos (especially in jive and Int.rumba-- most American style music is impossible without speeding up or slowing it down the tempos) of dance music and outdated syllabus video tapes. Why can't Dance Vision update their video tapes to dvd's with good bookmarks? In some ways the dance world is far behind other industries with new products and consumer satisfaction.

I dance about six hours per week, total. I've been dancing for nearly nine years now.

I must say that I agree with the following poster, "Dancer", that the biggest cause of knee and foot injury is technique faults. A number of years ago I was having tendonitis in one knee that would not go away (and I was dancing about 9 or 10 hours a week at that point). One of my teachers took a very close look at my technique and determined that I was snapping my kneecap backwards whenever I rose in Foxtrot and Waltz. I stopped doing that and the problem went away.

I also agree with Dancer about how the common technique faults aren't confined to just dancing, that you also see it in how people walk. Think about it -- we learn to walk as babies, often wearing diapers that make our legs spread out funny, and once we figure out how to locomote on two legs no one ever really corrects us or teaches us. I started movement coaching with private Pilates/Feldenkrais sessions a few years ago to work on correcting the usage faults I've developed naturally outside of dancing, that carry over into my dancing.

That's not to say that overuse injuries in dance don't exist. But my point is that if something is chronically hurting or inflamed, then the body mechanics need to be looked at. And I don't just mean putting custom orthotics in your shoes, but rather going to someone who can give you the kind of strength, flexibility, and awareness exercises needed to teach you to recognize and correct your ingrained movement habits, and to replace them with better more optimal habits.

I totally agree that injuries will result with bad dance technique. When I first started dancing and was trying to do latin technique with my hips--I was wiggling too much and injured my hip. I have been injury free from dancing since then.

I was a competitive marathon runner and 10k runner for about 15 years. My running style and technique was very accurate. We all ran 50 to 75 miles per week and competed often. Lots of pounding and some foot problems, even with the lastest supported running shoes. We ran of soft surfaces often but most of the time on paved roads. We would have to change out our running shoes about every 1 month due to the flattening out the support system. Most of us had some type of orthopedic support or bought a specialized type of running shoe to fit our bodies and feet.
I use a elyptical machine at the health club now for aerobics. Running does not go so well with lots of ballroom dancing.

Even the flex dance floors that Dance Vision sells has optional foam support of 1/4", 1/2", and 3/4". How long will this foam last before it flattens out and is not that supportive? These floors are expensive. On the DV website they show where the floors have been installed (not many places)--I would make a wild guess that 90% of the dance floors in clubs, studios, VFWs,and other facilities have concrete floors with wood veneer.

The places that I dance do not have flex floors. My teacher always has sore feet and legs. Oh well, we are not so blessed with cushioned dance floors in our area and I see the results with injured women (not many injured men) dancers. These ladies all have good technique and they still get injuries.

I had a local shoe repairman put leather felt soles on some running shoes, it was very clunky feeling when dancing. But it makes a big difference with club dancing. It would kill my feet to dance in clubs with regular dance shoes.

While I agree that we could use better foot support in our shoe design, I think the biggest cause of knee and foot injury is simply bad technique. In the social dance world common technique faults aren't even confined to dancing alone, but a carryover from not learning how to walk properly. Some very common examples I see on the dance floor are bad, misaligned gaits, "sickle-ing", swinging the foot when walking, landing the foot improperly (formally called pronation/supination), and so on.

As for foot support, go out to where there are a lot of people jogging. You will notice that the ones with knee braces are the ones with deficient gaits.

I must be blessed. Here, in the Philadelphia area, the major ballrooms all have sprung floors.

I have tried to dance on a concrete and veneer floor; after about 5-6 steps or so, my wife and I quit.

Jerry

Impossible? Why impossible? Seems to me that anyone planning on opening a dance studio that will attract outside dancers, owes it to their future clientele to GET a cushioned floor. I didn't know a whole lot about dancing when I first started, but one thing I did know what that whereever I was going to start taking lessons would have a cushioned floor. The studio I found and still go to has a full-floating floor. I think it's quite irresponsible for any studio to open without a cushioned floor.

I have to agree with dgcasey,
A major factor in choosing the studio I did was having seen them renovate a month earlier and putting in the new floor.

Sprung floors help of course. Any studio installing flooring should do that - it's easy and remember the staff is on their feet four or more times as much as the typical student. But some studios will use existing building floor, especially if it's already wood.

Shoe padding is not really an answer for real dance shoes. It gets in the way of feeling the floor. But if you want to pad up and resole some athletic shoes for hours of social enjoyment, go right ahead.

A big thing is technique. Not just aiming the movement the right way, also making the movement precisely in a way that isn't jarring. Don't kick the floor in jive!