Hi all! I am an avid ballroom and tango dancer and I hear so many people talk about foot pain when I am out danncing. I am also a physical therapist and am looking to do some research for an article or blog about helping dancers with foot pain. If anyone would let me know what their biggest concern is about dancing and their feet and questions they would lie answered I would greatly appreciate it.

I would love to dance more than 2 hours a day. Unfortunately my feet become to soar after about three days in a row. What tips do you have for avid dancers who would like to practice more?

I used to get really sore feet due to hours of daily practice. This has fixed the problem for me:

Have you tried dance training shoes with dance seude on the soles and with cushioned foam or gel soles? - some dance footwear places sell them.

I personally use gym trainers (foam cushioning in fore-foot, gel cushioning in heel).

Depending on the surface I am practicing on:
* At home, I put socks over them to achieve the correct level of friction with the floor.
* For the dance studio, I have glued the dance shoe suede on myself.

DYI dance shoe suede soles:
Trace out the pattern of the sole on a sheet of 'Greenhide Hard 2.5-3mm' suede (best quality/type for dance shoes).
I used Bondura Premium bootmakers contact cement to glue the suede to the rubber sole.
I live in Australia, so I sourced the suede and glue at http://www.shoeproductsaustralia.com.au/).

You could just pay the money and get a shoe repair shop to do it for you, however because I repair soles and replace the suede on all my dance shoes, I find the DYI approach cheaper than continual shoe repair bills.

The only problems with gym trainers:
* The sole is wide and flat with wedged sides, which can affect movements where you need to use the edges of your feet.
* You will not 'feel the floor' as intimately due to the cushioning.
However I am not an elite dancer, and I figure it is far more important to preserve the health of my feet.

I hope this helps :)

Also - what I do to relieve foot pain, inflamation, and tendonitis:

Tiger Balm: This contains 5% oil of cloves, an anesthetic used for tooth ache. It is surprisingly effective in relieving foot pain, and some ballet dancers use it. (Note: Tiger Balm intructions are do not use physical heat with Tiger Balm).

Deep Heat: The sports doctor I go to treats athletes from the Australian Institute of Sport - he really know his stuff. He recommends anything with Methyl Salicylate (i.e. Deep Heat) is the most cost-effective pain relief, and told me a lot of other more expensive creams are not necessary (at least for my situation - and I have severe arthritis in my big toe joint from a sports injury).

Voltaren (gel - not tablets) to reduce inflammation.

Eucalyptus based creams and oils - 'Bosisto's Eucalyplus Rub' and 'Elmore Oil'.

I have found that the process of thoroughly massaging the creams and oils in for a decent period of time every day helps cure tendonitis and myofacial tissue problems. I believe the massaging itself is very helpful.

I sometimes also apply physical heat, and I use a full sized hot water bottle so it stays hot for a long time.

I don't have a medical background - I'm a computer geek - so the above is not medical advice, but it works for me.