Dancing with the stars is ABC.

I also spend lots of time with my chiro...he usually asks what I did, rolls his eyes at me and puts it all back. My pro also gets massages and hits the chiro once a week.

(ps a brookstone foot deal the irub I think its called...traps your feet and rubs...so worth the money)

Good luck!!

I'm very fortunate that my chiro also dances, swing I believe is her thing, but it means she really gets me and why I keep doing ballroom.

Kaiara. In Australia Channel 7 has Dancing With The Stars.
Injuries. I watch this International couple and the warm up they do before a lesson. They spend at least 45 minutes dancing apart before coming together. Even then for another half hour they dance a very subdued and extremely slow set of steps. Which brings me to a senior in his age group, a National Champion, with his partner went into the first three of a Natural and never danced again.
Anybody who enters a Studio a few minutes before their lesson is asking for trouble, any age young or older.
Has anybody noticed that the tennis player Nadal wears a band under each knee. Being that he runs like a hare i would say they are there as a safe guard.. Also how many do you see wearing a thing around their thigh and playing.

There is no hard and fast rule ( apparently ).. Ive been dancing and teaching ( over 50yrs teaching and add 15 as a student ) never warmed up , never had a problem. A famous world champion ( 8 times ) was asked the same Q.. he said he never warmed up before comps or shows..

Now, I,m not advocating no warm up, most people do need a" stretch ".. i just never have found the need.

I'm very much like you, Terence, which is why I asked the question. I've been lucky so far, but can tell my legs are a little more tired and a little more sore with each passing year. I don't warm up much either, but I think I am going to make sure I at least stretch my Achilles tendon some and loosen up the back, and do some knee bends or something -- to make sure everything is working the way it is supposed to.
My dancing is strictly hobby and moonlighting as instructor, but I do it a lot. My regular job is at a desk for the most part, and unfortunately that is like a prison sentence. There were some good ideas on this post about some of those stretch bands and muscle supports.

Sports medicine is now recommending a warm up that is more general than the stretching. My hubby always did at least a mile (sometimes he would do five miles) walk at a brisk pace to warm up and loosen all his muscles before he did anything athletic--like running with the university track team (no injuries ever)--and I find I am less sore if I have done some warm-up walking. Stretching is good if you have something particularly tight, but the studies indicate that most athletes stretch too far and increase the odds of injury.

If I remember where I found the article I will post it as it has really helped me.

Kaiara, I totally agree, because walking and yoga are probably my two most prominent exercises. I swear by yoga, as it took care of some back problems I had about five years ago. I am a freelance sports writer and when I had to cover a game, I would be sitting on a hard seat or even bleachers sometimes, for a couple of hours or more. I could barely walk after an assignment. But I started doing yoga, and it must have stretched out some muscles or something that was pinching in my back. After a year of yoga, I could sit through three straight basketball games and not feel a thing. And I am certain that the yoga made my core stronger for dancing at the same time.

My grandmother always pushed vegetables, fresh fruits, organic, and walking MILES a day. Preferably waist deep in the surf.

She is 99, turns 100 this November.

At her 90th birthday party, she drank wine, ditched her shoes and hose, and danced with every man at the party, flirted with every single guy there, danced until her grandkids were begging her to give it up and let us all go home to sleep.

She got up the next morning chipper and energetic!

I find a good brisk walk does more to limber me up and relax anything that is stiff than anything else I do--and it works for both dancing and singing.

My " parts " became indpendant yrs ago !!!

Seriously.. I know hundreds of my fellow pro,s who do nothing but teach and dance, and never seem to be bothered by the normal aches and pains that come with age. There,s a gentleman in a nearby town who is in his mid 80s, still teaching 5 days a week..I believe it has a lot to do with lifestyle ( I dont smoke nor drink )..I do walk to my studio, and to the local store .

I,m not advocating DONT stretch.. just making a point that we are all somewhat different .

Well, i'm a bit of a wrinkly myself, but am very lucky with most of my joints. My main points would be
1)Warm up gently for 5 minutes at least before dancing to establish good blood flow. This is much more important than stretching. Stretching should be done after exercise
2)Keep exercising. I read recently that when jogging with arthritis, as long as you can keep proper 'form' (i.e. don't start favouring one side) the benefit of the exercise outweighs any slight damage being done.
3) Go to the gym to do general strength work, and keep flexible by doing flexibility work. What i really mean i guess is keep in good shape outside of the dancing.
4) Glucosamine sulphate has been shown to improve joint spaces in the knee. DEfinitely take 1000mg per day .It often comes with chondroitin
5) recent research has shown that for older people, a protein supplement taken within half an hour of exercise will speed up repair of minor tissue damage. Get some protein bars from the health shop.
6) Remember that the knee joint is essentially held together by your quad muscles and it's essential to keep those strong to prevent excessive joint movement. It is possible to exercise these well without bending the knee, and so avoiding any damage.
7) you'd service your car regularly, so do the same with the body. Don't neglect anything.

This doesn't help anyone, but there's a lot of heredity involved in these things. Also, it has been shown that those who have exercised all their life (well, nearly all their life, but you know what i mean) may have more joint damage, but cope with it much better than others.