The Circus Doc Blog
Conquer Your Micro-Bend – Strength and Control
Do you have plenty of flexibility, but still have a micro-bend in your leg? What’s going on and what can you do?!? As always, I like to start with the basics. Let’s look at the anatomy to understand how we lift our legs and why it can be so darn hard to lift them...
Conquer Your Micro Bend – Is it Mobility?
The Secret to Conquering your Micro-bend So, you can point your toes and straighten your legs, but when you start to lift them up… the dreaded micro-bend occurs. WHY?!? No matter how hard you are thinking about it and how much of your focus is on it if you still can’t...
Strong core? Don’t forget your pelvic floor!
Coaches are constantly talking about "engaging your core" but why is it important? And what the heck is your "core" made up of? The middle of our body, below our ribs and above our pelvis, has less bony structure than the rest of our body. We have a spine in the back...
For a Better Grip, Start with the Shoulder
Do you feel like your grip strength isn't up to your level of training? If you have been an aerialist for a while and feel like your grip and forearms fatigue quickly, it might be worth looking at your shoulder strength, and especially at your rotator cuff....
Circus Injury Survey
When I speak to other healthcare professionals about circus artists (once they figure out the difference between a trapeze and a trampoline) they always want to know what kinds of injuries circus artist have. They also assume that injury rates are much higher in...
Push and Pull: Balancing Circus Shoulder Strength
A conversation over on Facebook about warming up had me reviewing my post from waaaay back in February on warm ups. It reminded me that I was remiss in not emphasizing my love of working oppositional muscles to improve the balance of muscle pull on a joint. That means...
How much is too much? What the International Olympic Committee thinks about your training habits
This month the International Olympic Committee (IOC) put out a consensus statement about "load management" and its relationship to major risk factors for injury in elite athletes. In my mind, performers are the ultimate athletes able to combine strength, grace,...
Why Do Circus Artists Have Elbow Pain? (and how to solve it!)
If when you grab your aerial silks, trapeze, or rope and the inside of your elbow shouts with sharp pain, you could be suffering from “climber's elbow” otherwise known as medial epicondylosis. But, what exactly is going on and what can you do about it? That super...
Investigating the Hollow Body: The 5 “W’s” and How
Let's investigate the reasons behind why the hollow body is so important, when it is most useful, and how it is not always needed, and when to look out for injurious movements. Who: Most aerial teachers start teaching their beginning students how to hang with...
Rotator cuff exercises: You’ve probably been doing them wrong
Most circus performers I know love to warm up their rotator cuffs before training or for strengthening after training. However, when I look around and watch what these fabulous artists are doing, it's clear most of them are just doing it wrong. So, what are they...