By Katie Brown

From the fanciful costumes and elaborate sets to the grace and precision of the dancers, the ballet is truly a unique experience. Ballet dancers, like other athletes, devote countless hours to their craft, perfecting routines and studying new moves. When watching these performers on stage and the elegance they portray, ballet can often come across as an idyllic form of art, free from pain and injury. While they perform with poise and refinement, these dancers experience many of the same physical strains and hardships of other athletes, which has led to Chiropractic’s involvement in ballet.

From injury prevention to recovery plans, Chiropractic plays a vital role in the lives of many athletes. And when it comes to chiropractic care for ballet dancers, the ability to understand the injuries and difficulties they experience is only fully known by dancers themselves. Today’s Chiropractic LifeStyle talked to two ballet dancers to see what led them to become chiropractors, and how they are able to use their dancing background to better care for their patients.

Janusz Mazon, D.C.

At the age of 10, Mazon was accepted into one of Poland’s four ballet schools. But before he was able to find success in ballet, Mazon spent many years mastering his craft. “A dancer’s education is a very long process, and the Polish system, which is based on Russian methodology, requires nine years of study and practice,” he says. “My aspirations helped me find a position in Poland’s most prominent place for a young dancer—the National Polish Ballet at the Great Theater in Warsaw.”

After winning the gold medal at the Polish National Ballet Competition, Mazon quickly shot up through the ranks at the National Polish Ballet company and became a first soloist, which allowed him to perform major roles in famous ballets such as “Giselle,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “Swan Lake.” After spending five years with the company in Warsaw, Mazon was offered a position with Germany’s Hamburg Ballet, a decision that led to many life changes for the dancer. 

“The Hamburg Ballet not only filled all of my artistic desires, but there I met my wife Gina, who at the time was the leading female dancer of the company,” he recalls. “After leaving Germany and the Hamburg Ballet, I enrolled as a student at Life University and I taught part-time at the Georgia Ballet in Marietta, Ga. During this time, my interest in choreography began to evolve.”

While Mazon never personally experienced many injuries during his ballet career, he attributes his interest in Chiropractic to a blind massage therapist who helped correct the few injuries he did have. “He was my great inspiration and mentor in seeking alternative means to influence the human organism in its self-healing abilities,” he says. “That was my goal.” And after seeking his chiropractic education from LIFE, Mazon says his original interests were only affirmed. “Ever since I learned and understood the chiropractic profession and its premise, I have believed that everyone needs and can benefit from chiropractic care.”

Today, Mazon has his own chiropractic practice, Mazon Chiropractic, which he opened upon graduation from LIFE in 2002. While he worried at first that his involvement with the Georgia Ballet would keep him from devoting adequate time to his practice and patients, Mazon soon realized he did not need to abandon one job for the other. “Gradually, I realized that sharing time evenly between the two activities actually created the perfect balance between helping others with my newly acquired skills as a chiropractor and doing what has become second nature over the years, ballet,” he says. “This balanced approach keeps me fresh and interested, and it inspired me to explore both fields further.”

Since he began at the Georgia Ballet, Mazon has had great success choreographing pieces such as “Pinocchio,” “A Sleepy Hollow Story” and “Firebird.” However, when it comes to his chiropractic practice, Mazon’s knowledge of ballet has helped with understanding many of the issues dancers experience. “Although dancers are probably one of the most physically conditioned groups of individuals, they are most often exposed to repetitive stress injuries, given the nature of their ongoing efforts to improve technical skills,” he says. “The difference in chiropractic care for dancers would be most evident in understanding the nature of their injuries and the underlying cause, which has to do with understanding ballet technique. Being able to correct technique not only helps the problem with immediate injury, but also prevents future flare-ups and improves dance quality.”

Mazon notes that due to this repetitive stress, dancers most commonly experience difficulty from overuse, which causes tendonitis, muscle strain and ligament strain from repeated steps and lifts. Other issues dancers commonly see include subluxation from muscular instability and issues related to the extremities, including the soft tissue and joints. For the dancers Mazon has cared for with these injuries, he says their recoveries were directly related to Chiropractic. “Throughout my nine years in practice, the dancers I have cared for have experienced some dramatic recoveries from injuries that, oftentimes, would either go unresolved or, when ineffectively treated with conventional means, would prolong or inhibit recovery,” he says.

Paul Frame, D.C.

Today, Frame runs a successful practice, Frame Chiropractic, in Tempe, Ariz. While he notes that his favorite part of being a chiropractor is “getting the nervous system back in sync with the body,” Frame began his career in a much different field—ballet.

While growing up in West Virginia, Frame trained as a ballet dancer, eventually receiving a scholarship to the North Carolina School of The Arts. After becoming a member of the Ohio Ballet and being accepted into the School of American Ballet in New York City, Frame became a member of the coveted New York City Ballet, where he danced for 10 years. 

Like many other dancers during their ballet careers, Frame experienced some physical setbacks. When he was 20 years old, Frame began noticing pain in his lower back, a common issue for many dancers. After seeing Chiropractic’s positive effects on his fellow dancers, Frame says he decided to see if a chiropractor was the solution to his pain. “I remember thinking, ‘Wow! This is great,’” Frame says. “I didn’t have to get a shot, I didn’t need a drill like I was at the dentist and I didn’t need to go to sleep to get better. Chiropractic isn’t just about pain, but that’s what I first needed it for. From then on, I kept going back and back.”

Because of his success as a patient, Frame says his interest in Chiropractic was instantly sparked, which led to his enrollment at New York Chiropractic College. “I kind of have a technical head,” Frame says. “So when I started thinking about what I was going to do, I liked Chiropractic’s technical aspect of figuring out what to do for a patient.”

While Frame is now busy with his own practice, ballet is still part of his life. Once a week, Frame visits Ballet Arizona, where he is able to work with dancers who are experiencing pain. “For me, this is great,” he says. “I like what I do, and I can still be with the dancers, hearing the music. I still get to be in that environment.”

Frame says that the injuries he most commonly sees among the dancers include issues with the hip flexor and lower extremities, such as the knees, ankles and hips. Frame maintains that because of his dancing background, he can better care for these problems. “I experienced a dancer’s life, so I tend to know dancers and their habits,” he says. “I know what they do that causes the injury in the first place. Are they stretching? Are they watching their posture? Are they icing? I am able to ask them these questions to help them prevent injuries in the future.”

When Frame isn’t working with the dancers at Ballet Arizona, he is at his practice, where he cares for people of all ages, as well as other athletes. Whether you are an athlete, a child or an adult, Frame says that everyone can benefit from seeing a chiropractor. “Chiropractic helps everyone the same way,” he says. “When you look at professional athletes, you look at the muscle and spinal aspect. For non-athletes, it’s no different. It’s just because of the sport or the person that different things start to come up. Chiropractic is a wonderful tool to help people stay healthy and get better.”