I asked the experts what I could do if I, theoretically, wanted to drop low without winding up in traction. If you’ve experienced persistent knee pain, like me, you might be even more in awe of Pete because she can do something that your body would wholly reject, McIntyre adds. (Over time, it can even lead to knee pain and other issues in people who adopt this position a lot, like baseball catchers.) Even if you are often in a deep squat due to, say, your workouts, it’s another thing entirely to hold it while dancing with the ease of someone who is lounging on the sofa. That force can easily lead to discomfort in people not used to prolonged deep squats. “There’s quite a bit of force that’s put into the knee joint when it’s for long periods of time,” McIntyre says. Still, it makes sense that I’m so impressed with Pete’s knees in particular. “Everything is either working in a supporting role or working in a movement role,” she explains. “A lot of it does center on the lumbar spine, or the lower back region,” she says, explaining that this kind of deep squat also taxes the core muscles, glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves, and even ankles. Twerking essentially involves whole-body movements, Lauren McIntyre, a certified athletic trainer and clinical specialist at Harkness Center for Dance Injuries at New York University Langone Medical Center, tells SELF. So, compelled by Pete’s twerk videos, my own curiosity, and the spirit of my ancestors, I set out to explore what’s actually happening when people twerk, and whether or not I could plausibly overcome my knee injuries (and lack of rhythm) to embrace my inner ’Tia Thee Stallion.įor starters, I got official confirmation that knees aren’t the only star of the show here. Drag performers were doing dips, drops, and duckwalks before Pete and I were born. Additionally, knee-defying dance moves have long been the domain of black and Latinx queer culture. Twerking grew out of New Orleans bounce culture and has roots in Afro-diasporic religions, according to a 2015 paper by Elizabeth Pérez, Ph.D., assistant professor of religious studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and published in African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal. (Her knees have been dubbed “ revolutionary” and spurred analyses of classic works of art.) It’s also important for me to note that just as Pete’s musical style exists within a tradition of black hip-hop performers, her dancing has a lineage as well. I’ve made peace with the fact that my entire dance repertoire begins with a body roll and ends with an awkward two-step, but as your humble Senior Health Editor, I’m still curious about the physiological mechanisms that allow Pete to drop low without falling or winding up in the hospital.īefore I go any further in this very pressing investigation, I want to make it clear that I know Pete is not the first person with an impressive twerk game, nor am I the first person to write about it.
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