Dance Medicine Specialist in Chicago, IL
Dr Schoene has extensive experience with dance medicine in the Chicago and Northern IL area.
Dance may appear to be graceful and effortless, but it's actually a demanding physical activity that requires a lot of strength, stamina, and flexibility. Similar to a sport, it makes you susceptible to a wide range of injuries. While some dance-related injuries can heal on their own within a short time, others may be so severe that they can prevent you from dancing indefinitely or even lead to a permanent disability.
Whether you're a professional or amateur dancer, you can benefit greatly from consulting a dance medicine specialist.
"Dr.Schoene is very competent and thorough. She applies common sense to her knowledge and experience and genuinely wants to see you back on your feet asap. She also uses economical ways to find a solution to your problem"
- M. H .
Meet Our Dance Medicine Specialist - Dr. Lisa Schoene
At Gurnee Podiatry & Sports Medicine Associates, we have a highly qualified physician who has extensive experience practicing dance medicine in Chicago and Northern Illinois. Dr. Schoene takes a special interest in dancers of all types, from young dancers who are attempting pointe work to professional dancers.
Since the late 1990's she has been a consultant, covered performances backstage, given lectures, performed medical screenings, and taught proper lower extremity strengthening exercises for many Chicago dance companies and studios. These include Joffrey Ballet, Ballet Chicago, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Inaside Chicago Dance, Chicago Tap Theatre, Elements Contemporary Ballet, and Evanston Dance Ensemble. She also covered backstage for "Broadway in Chicago" and other theatrical productions.
Dr. Schoene is a regular teacher, internationally acclaimed lecturer, and author on many dance topics. She has authored two chapters on the subject of dance in the sports medicine textbook "Athletic Footwear and Orthoses in Sports Medicine" and contributed to the recently revised “Parents' Guide To Beginning Pointe” book by Russian Pointe. Additionally, she is a member of the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science and has attended many dance medicine specialty seminars.
Dr. Schoene feels strongly that the Chicago area has a top-notch dance culture with a great diversity of styles and productions. She has also been on dance company boards, donated her time in many capacities, and helped many dance companies with their financial needs. Until today, she has continued to serve the local dance community and movement.
With her exceptional knowledge of dance both as an art form and physical activity, Dr. Schoene is able to provide valuable advice and expertise to help you prevent and recover from any type of dance injuries. As a committed physical therapist for dancers, she seeks to ensure that her patients are well-informed about their conditions and treatment decisions. In addition, she performs evaluations of the movements, physical abilities, and shoes of dancers to help them minimize their risk of injuries.
Since statistics prove that dancers have at least an 85% incidence of lower extremity injuries, it's important for them to receive an in-depth dance evaluation and dance-based treatment plan. When providing physical therapy for dancers, Dr. Schoene strives to get them back to classes and performances as quickly as possible, while stressing the importance of conditioning, prevention, and proper treatment.
She'll recommend the most effective types of physical therapy for dancers, which can be anything from physical therapy to massage therapy. In some cases, she may advise her patients to change their dance shoes or use orthotic devices.
Dance Medicine Services:
Our goal is a happy and healthy patient
"Dr. Schoene, I just wanted to thank you again for helping me to treat my foot issues and giving me the tools to prevent future injuries. Tap dance is my passion and being able to dance pain-free makes it that much more enjoyable. Thank you for being so generous and easing the financial burden that I have anxiously been anticipating I am forever grateful."
- K. S.
Dance Medicine Services in Chicago & Gurnee
With Dr. Schoene as our dance medicine specialist, Gurnee Podiatry & Sports Medicine Associates offers a wide range of specialized health and medical services for dancers, including:
- Dancer-specific lower extremity evaluations: Dancers are prone to a wide array of lower extremity injuries, such as hip impingement, hip flexor tendonitis, snapping hip syndrome, patellofemoral pain syndrome, meniscal tears, ankle sprains, ankle impingement, foot bone stress injuries, and arthritis. With in-depth knowledge of different types of dance, Dr. Schoene knows what signs and symptoms to look for when evaluating a particular dancer. She uses a wide variety of evaluation methods and equipment to identify any musculoskeletal impairments or deficiencies that may occur in the lower extremities.
- Extended new patient appointment times: We offer extended appointment times for new patients because we want to perform a truly comprehensive evaluation of their physical health or injuries. On your first visit, our physical therapist for dancers will conduct a thorough evaluation of your dance history and a physical examination that focuses on the biomechanical, neuromotor, and physiologic aspects of dance.
- Communication with all dance teaching and artistic staff: We also provide consultation services for dance teachers and choreographers to help them impart best practices for preventing injuries to their students and dancers.
- Dance-specific exercise prescription and therapy: With results obtained from the physical examination, Dr. Schoene will devise a treatment plan that's effective in helping you recover from your injuries. The treatment may include flexibility-enhancing dance exercises, neuromuscular control, manual therapy, and functional stabilization and strengthening within dance-specific movements.
- Dance shoe evaluation and street shoe suggestions: Different dance styles require different types of shoes. Improper footwear not only affects your performance, but it can make you more vulnerable to injuries. We can help you reduce your risk of dance injuries by examining your dance shoes and recommending the perfect-fitting shoe size and the right dance shoes and street shoes to wear.
- Orthotics for lower extremity stress relief: Orthotic devices can help support and guide the foot of a dancer while they're wearing street shoes. This enables them to keep their lower extremity in the right position, reduce stress on the muscles and joints, and assist tired and achy feet and legs. Our dance medicine specialist may recommend the use of orthotics to enable you to perform your daily activities without putting unnecessary stress on your injured lower extremity.
- Company-intensive and workshop-style dance lectures: Being an experienced lecturer, Dr. Schoene can help your dance company or community reduce the occurrence of injuries among your dancers by delivering insightful and engaging lectures in a seminar or workshop setting.
- Backstage dance performance coverage: While your dancers are getting ready backstage, our dance medicine specialist can be there to make sure they're in prime shape for their performance.
- In-studio injury screenings: Sometimes, dancers may suffer internal injuries that may not present any obvious signs or symptoms. We can stop by your studio to perform injury screening tests on your dancers.
Gurnee Podiatry & Sports Medicine Associates has helped numerous professional, recreational, and student dancers recover from their injuries and stay injury-free, and we can do the same for you or your dancers. Contact us today to schedule an appointment.
We want our patients to be well-informed about their conditions and treatment decisions. Discussion and education about the root cause of the patient's diagnosis will help to prevent future reoccurrence.
Our goal is a happy and healthy patient.
"Dr. Schoene, is unapparelled in her commitment & service. The extensive examination she gave me far exceeded the high bar I had set. I will eagerly recommend her."
- M.C.