Published in Dance Spirit Magazine, September 2020
We all know the feeling: You wake up the day after class or rehearsal just to find that you literally. cannot. move. To answer all your burning (pun intended!) questions about the way-too-relatable topic of soreness, Dance Spirit enlisted the experts: board-certified sports medicine specialist Dr. Selina Shah, and Michelle Rodriguez, MPT and physical therapist to Broadway shows like Carousel and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
What even is soreness?
If you’re working extra hard—taking more classes than usual, or dancing a super-“puffy” piece—your body’s normal aerobic metabolism (how it uses oxygen to produce energy) can get overwhelmed. That’s when anaerobic metabolism kicks in—producing lactic acid and metabolic toxins. “This buildup of lactic acid and other toxins isn’t harmful or abnormal,” says Rodriguez. “But once it reaches a certain level, you’ll experience soreness.”