Couple of years ago I started swing dancing for fun and fitness and it was – a tonne of fun and a really good aerobic workout to boot. Since the car accident in Nov 2007 I haven’t been able to go anymore. My back would occasionally arc up after swing dancing even BEFORE this most recent accident. It would usually happen if one of my dance partners had done something silly like push you when they were supposed to pull you and then you’d get an awful pain shooting somewhere it most certainly should not be.
If I danced with the one partner or with the experienced dancers only it wasn’t too bad but given that dancing with learners occasionally gave me problems before I know that trying it now would be downright stupid. 🙁 Since I’ve been so inacting with my crunchy neck problem that flares up even just on walking there’s no way I can go swing dancing. I’d likely end up flat on my back for half a week following chugging down on pain killers if I were stupid enought to attempt it.
The tender manner in which I am forced to walk and the horrid nausea that accompanies a wander of more than about 100m definitely indicates that dancing for fitness is probably right out it. When the crunching gets really bad I have to look as far down as possible to the point where my chin is right down on my collarbones to stop feeling like I’m giong to chuck up. Stairs are even worse. I can’t climb a flight of stairs without the crunching immediately causing the gag reflex 🙁
I’d really like to go back to dancing but given the difficulties that I have when walking and going up or down a flight of stairs… I don’t really anticipate there will be any dancing in my foreseeable future.