Introduction and a Question

[DrVegas]

Hey there everyone! After over two weeks of lurking around, just wanted to introduce myself and ask DDR veterans a question.

About a month ago, a friend of mine and his girlfriend introduced me to DDR, and like most people, I was immediatley hooked. I've struggled with my weight for most of my life like many of you, mainly because I could never find a type of exercise that I genuinely enjoyed.

I've been living in pure bliss for the past four weeks, playing DDR every single day for an average of 2-3 hours and couldn't be happier! I literally have spending each day at work in anticipation to get home and start dancing!

So on to my question... During the first week, I experienced a lot of foot and ankle pain, which from what I've read is pretty normal. Thankfully those pains passed after about 10 days. After one or two days of pain-free feet, my left knee started to get sore, but not enough to keep me from playing. Thankfully after two weeks, that pain seems to have dulled significantly.

However, for the past two days, I've started to get serious lower-back pains...strangely enough not while I'm playing. I didn't let this keep me from playing either and continued with my 2-3 hours per day.

This morning I woke up and the back pain was even stronger, and I'm totally bummed out about the idea of missing a day or two to let my back return to normal.

Has anyone else had similar experiences? Any tips on how to avoid these silly injuries? (stretching, avoiding certain stances while playing, etc?) Any information would be awesome, as I'm already looking forward to playing again tonight!

These forums are awesome and look forward to participating more in the future! Thanks so much everyone!

[abrannan]

Describe the pain. Is it pinching? tearing? pulling? By determining what the pain is we can narrow down what may be causing it.

My guess is that you need to take a day or two off. You've been doing a new exercise 2-3 hours a day every day for 4 weeks! How is your body supposed to find time to rebuild your muscles? Particularly as you've gotten better at the game and increased the difficulty of songs you play. Once you start hitting extreme sets of crossovers, you'll be twisting your back this way and that, and without giving your body a chance to catch up with your enthusiasm, you run the risk of serious injury. It's your choice, take a day or two off now, or risk having to take months off when you throw out your back.

[DrVegas]

Thanks for your reply abrannan,

I wouldn't say the pain is "tearing" or "pinching"...more like a dull pain like when you've pulled a muscle.

You're right though, voluntarily taking a day or two off certainly seems more sensible than being later forced to stop for months.

I guess I'm just wondering if there's anything specific that may have caused this (that I'm doing incorrectly) or just a matter of my body adjusting to this new type of exercise, as you suggested.

Thanks again.

[abrannan]

Dull pain is most likely muscle fatigue. A day or two of rest should do wonders for that. If it hasn't lessened after two days of rest, you might want to check in with a doctor.

[Jsn]

If your muscles feel tight and are in pain you're not stretching enough.

I've seen some people stretch for a few seconds and think that is enough.

You're supposed to warm up (less intense workout for maybe 5 minutes) and then stretch for a few minutes before a workout, then cool down (same as warm up) and stretch again after. That should help a lot.

And yeah, you're also probably overworking yourself. Going from sedentary to very active without building up to it can burn you out.

[DrVegas]

Thanks again for the replies.

I've tried to be good with stretching before playing...but that's been maily for the calves, thighs and ankles.

Not sure about how I'd stretch my back, but will definitely try some basic bends and rotations before I start again!

[abrannan]

Bends, rotations, twists... Think high school gym class warmups.