Plantar Wart Prevention for Competitive Dancers

Contemporary dance shoe




Published by: Yahoo Sports

If you count yourself among the legions of competitive dancers who use Dance Moms as their weekly guilty pleasure, you may recall that Paige (one of the young dancers at the Abby Lee Dance Company) ended up with a nasty case of plantar warts during the show's second season. The poor girl could barely walk, much less dance with such painful plantar warts on her feet. So she had them removed before proceeding to dance through the equally painful post-surgery period. And all was happy again at the Abby Lee Dance Company. Or as happy as things are going to get on a drama-laden reality show.

Plantar warts are an unfortunately common occurrence in dance studios. These warts are caused by a specific strain of the human papillomavirus. Spread through direct contact, plantar warts affect a full ten percent of the U.S. Population.

While not exactly life-threatening, plantar warts can be very painful, often putting competitive dancers on the sidelines for weeks at a time. For this reason, prevention is absolutely key. The easiest way to prevent plantar warts is to wear a pair of sandals any time you visit a locker room or pool deck. HPV thrives in these moist environments.

Plantar warts can also be spread at the dance studio itself. A lot of dancers prefer to dance barefoot or with minimal-coverage thong-style shoes. Inside the studio, this should probably not be too hazardous. Wood and marley floors are not as conducive to the breeding of HPV as tile and grout. However, if your studio has a locker room or bathroom, you'll want to take extra care to wear sandals in these areas. And if you are practicing in a high school gym, you may just want to suck it up and wear full-on jazz shoes. Gym floors are generally not cleaned as often (or arguably, as well) as the floors at dance studios, and what's more, the other people using those gyms may very well be tracking in every virus or fungus in the book.

If you are one of the many competitive dancers who prefers to dance barefoot, be sure to clean off your feet when you're finished with practice. You may want to invest in some foot wipes or another product aimed at keeping feet clean and healthy. By taking this simple step, you can continue to dance barefoot without worrying about painful plantar warts.

S. Gustafson grew up in the dance studio and spent four years as a member of a nationally ranked college dance team.

Please call the Foot, Ankle & Lower Leg Center office in Las Vegas anytime @702-878-2455 between Monday – Friday and we would be happy to set up an appointment for you.  Please visit our website @ www.FallCenter.com.   The Foot, Ankle & Lower Leg Center has Diagnostic imaging:  Digital X-Rays, Ultrasound or Advanced Imaging will be used to aid in the diagnosis.

Dr. Anthony Ricciardi at the Foot, Ankle & Lower Leg Center has completed training in endoscopic/minimally invasive surgery for chronic heel pain and nerve pain, foot and ankle joint replacement for restoring pain free motion, arthroscopic surgery, bunion surgery, fracture repair, flat foot correction, external fixation for complex deformities and extensive experience in peripheral nerve surgery including diabetic peripheral neuropathy and reconstructive surgery of previously failed foot surgical procedures.  In addition to his surgical training Dr. Ricciardi focuses on sports medicine of the foot and ankle through regenerative techniques using the patient’s own blood/platelets for healing chronic foot and ankle problems (pain) as a result of repetitive sport injuries.  This cutting edge technology enables patients to continue training with little or no down time.  Dr. Ricciardi continues to be active in teaching and training other podiatric surgeons on innovative surgical techniques in foot surgery.  Dr. Ricciardi is Board Certified by the American Board of Podiatric Surgery, a Fellow of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons and Fellow of the Association of Extremity Nerve Surgeons.  Dr. Ricciardi’s vision is to bring each patient the most current State of the Art Technology and personalized treatment options to meet their Foot and Ankle needs (from conservative care to surgical options).  Dr. Ricciardi believes in quality service and puts his patients first!