During Dancing with the Stars rehearsal last week, contestant Vanessa Lachey (who’s married to former boy bander and current DWTS competitor Nick Lachey) suffered a painful foot injury.
While rehearsing with Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Lachey slammed her foot into the foot of her pro partner. Initially, the nature of the injury was unclear, but this week, after the duo made it through the second round of eliminations on the reality show, Chmerkovskiy shared an Instagram post (alongside a somewhat explicit video of the doomed rehearsal) that revealed just how bad Lachey really had it.
He wrote: "I guess after childbirth what’s a little piece of meat and half of toe nail hanging out of off the tip of your big toe while you’re running out of time trying to prepare two dances for Monday and Tuesday on @dancingabc?" She put on her shoes five minutes later and we kept running the dance] #teamWhoNeedsBigToestoDanceAnyway
While I can certainly respect Vanessa’s determination to keep on going, I will say that dance is a serious sport and, as such, should be approached in the same way as any other athletic pursuit. You’d never hit the football field in open toed shoes that offer little nail protection, yet it’s exactly because of that kind of footwear that Lachey sustained her injury.
Dancers are meant to evoke beauty, but it’s my firm belief that they can do so while still protecting their feet. If you’re concerned about protecting your young dancer’s feet, come in and see Dr. Schneider to come up with a training safety plan!
