Derek Hough Reveals He Hurt His Back Preparing For This Week's 'Dancing With The Stars' Performances

Tonight's episode of Dancing With the Stars includes two routines from each pair of dancers, which means double the chances to get injured. Pro Derek Hough reveals what he has in store for week nine of season 19 as well as how he hurt his back this week in rehearsals.

Derek and his partner Bethany Mota will be performing the Viennese waltz as a part of America's Choice and then the Argentine tango. When it came time to reflect on last week's I Love Lucy routine, the 29-year-old couldn't help but gush about the improvement he has seen in his young partner.

"She's improved so much in the past two weeks. She just looks completely different. I'm really impressed. I get excited when I see her move. I'm like, "You look fantastic!" Derek wrote on his TV Guide blog.

Despite Bethany's increase in confidence and performance skills, Derek has something to worry about this week. He is at risk of a less-than-perfect routine due to his own injury. "I'm not doing too hot on the other hand. I hurt my back during camera-blocking on Sunday and it's been a nuisance all week. Hopefully it's just a muscle thing and won't get any worse," he admitted.

The pro is preparing to dance no matter what his back feels like tonight and he has a fun couple of routines prepared to wow the judges and fans. "We're doing a post-apocalyptic Argentine tango. It sounds weird, but we have a cool concept for it, and Tony has some fun ideas too," Derek revealed.

DWTS pro Tony Dovolani will be joining the duo for their Argentine tango, making it an even tougher routine. The Viennese waltz on the other hand will be more intense. "For the Viennese waltz, I wanted to tell a story because I felt like we haven't done that a lot this season. But the song was so short that if we were to do that, there would be no dancing. So I tweaked it and now we start dancing straightaway. There's still a story, but it's subtle," he explained.

Photo: Dancing With The Stars' Facebook