Amity Thomas

How It Happened

Amity has been traveling the country with few conventions, and in March 2016, while in Salt Lake City, Utah with one of the convention she suffered a knee injury. As many dancer know conventions are held at ballrooms of convention centers or hotels. All of the ballrooms are carpeted, and flooring is not ideal for dance at all. The mistake we made was to use tennis shoe with too much traction and hard to slide on the carpet.

So when Amity danced on the carpet with such a shoe, her foot would stop on the carpet but rest of her leg kept going, resulting in knee injury. She even heard a snap.

What Happened Next

We flew home and I took her to ER, where she got Xray and crutches, with high recommendation to see our doctor or orthopedic doctor. The next day I have made an appointment at Core Institute, from where we were sent to get MRI and in a week we were back to hear the results. As a competitive dancer and also a junior of Performing Arts High School, the results were surely devastating! Amity suffered complete tear of her ACL, meaning that she has no ACL in her right knee. Immediately she was heartbroken!

We were told about 8-10 months to full recovery. Amity started her physical therapy 3 times a week a few days after surgery. After that normally you graduate from physical therapy and go on with your life, because they got you where you need to be for day-to-day activities. However, as a dancer and athlete, you are nowhere close to your previous form or abilities. That’s where they recommend FAST, which is like a gym trainer with physical therapy training.

It is truly an amazing program and it is what made her stronger than where she was before the injury. But is it not covered by insurance and depending on a program you choose, it could be up to $200 a month. Amity’s determination and hard work, she got back to dancing faster then they have expected, but she has missed so much. We still had to pay for competitions fees and tuition for the rest of the year and had to put any auditions on hold.

But the emotional toll is definitely the highest price we paid. Sitting in the curtain while your teammates compete in nationals in your spot and cheering them on anyway! Everything happens for a reason, and Amity fell in love with dance all over again and came out stronger than before. She is back 100% and already competed, as well as full conventions and came out with scholarships and overall wins.

Currently we are in New York City, where Amity is auditioning for a dance program at Pace university. We are very grateful that the injury did not happened her senior year, so now she can focus on the next step in her dance career

About Amity Thomas

Amity Thomas comes from the competition dance world. Her story follows a complete ACL tear, surgery and months of physical therapy.

Who treats this injury: orthopedic sports surgeons and physical therapists who understand the demands of dance. Find a dance specialist near you →