Dancing With the Stars alum Elaine Hendrix is looking back on her severe season 34 injury with gruesome new details.
“Doing Dancing With the Stars, I got injured in Wicked week,” Hendrix, 55, said in a recent Instagram video. “Lots of people have asked exactly what happened to my ribs, and even more people have asked how [I kept] going through the season with a rib injury.”
DWTS fans will recall Hendrix being rushed to the hospital in October 2025 ahead of season 34’s Halloween Night, one week after the Wicked performances. She eventually returned to the competition and finished the season in fifth place with pro Alan Bersten.
“The doctors determined I tore a muscle, potentially even ripped it off the rib,” Hendrix continued in her video. “But nothing was broken and no organs were affected, and that’s what was most important.”
Looking back on the intense healing process, Hendrix revealed exactly what was part of her regimen. “In order to keep trying to do the competition, I ended up getting 16 anesthetic shots in the sides, in front and back of my ribs to numb out the nerve endings,” she said. “And I got about as many Toradol shots, which is a high-powered pain reliever that doesn’t make you drowsy that is used in the NFL. Good times.”
Alan Bersten and Elaine Hendrix Jason Kempin/Getty Images
The Parent Trap star paid regular visits to her doctor while she recovered. “I also got massages, accupuncture, I did cryo, physical therapy, and every single night before bed, I did a hot bath and then a cold bath,” she added. “I made sure I was eating really well and getting as much sleep and rest as I possibly could. Recovery became just as much of a job as dancing was.”
Hendrix missed the live Halloween show last fall, but she was back in action for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Night, performing a Viennese waltz.
“That gave my ribs a chance to rest even more, because it doesn’t involve so much twisting,” she explained.
Over the years, Dancing With the Stars contestants and professionals have dealt with their fair share of health scares while participating on the show. In March 2022, Daniella Karagach was injured during her time on the Dancing With the Stars Live 2022 tour. The dancer, who was partnered up with Iman Shumpert, sustained the injury […]
In her caption, Hendrix reflected on “dancing through” the pain and how much the public’s support helped her stay strong. “Your kind words, love, and encouragement were some of the greatest healers of all and really kept the magic alive for us,” she wrote. “And of course, @alanbersten, you truly are out of this world and your support was amazing during the whole process💚.”
Hendrix opened up about her hospital visit in a separate Instagram video, noting she was “determined to push through” until the injury became too much.
“We still talk to this day about how that would’ve been our best dance yet,” she said of the Argentine tango she and Bersten planned for Halloween Night, “but I’m SO proud of everything we accomplished together. And to all the fans who stuck with us, voted, and kept us in the competition that night… THANK YOU! I’ll never forget the love and support you showed us. ❤️.”
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
