Doctors discuss rowing injury issues

Each year, during the World Rowing Championships, team doctors gather for an annual meeting organised by FISA’s medical commission, chaired by Alain Lacoste.

This year the meeting will focus mainly on back problems. United States team doctor and former FISA medical commission member, Tim Hosea will make a presentation about the study of causes of lower back pain in young athletes – one of the more common injuries in rowers.

According to Peter Kokas (HUN), member of FISA’s medical commission, the three most common injuries for rowers are back problems, rib stress fractures and tendonitis.

“The most common injuries are back and shoulder problems,” explains Peter Kokas. “This is mainly a consequence of new materials used in rowing equipment. Carbon fibre (used to make boats and oars) is a material with more rigidity than wood (which was used in the past). It’s harder on the back and shoulders to row with this type of equipment. I don’t have figures, but the number of these types of injuries has increased over the last 30 years.”

Another “new” problem for rowers is stress fractures. It became frequent for athletes about 15 years ago. “But this may be because we had trouble diagnosing it before,” says Kokas, “or also because training methods have changed.”

The reason for stress fractures is not perfectly clear. It can be linked to increased weight training, inappropriate management of fluid intake, difficulties for lightweights to maintain a regular weight or, like back problems, a strong repetitive action through the stroke.” This injury appears in training rather than in competition.

On the other hand, tendonitis of the wrist, which used to be among the most frequent injuries, is on the steady decline thanks to the development of new oar handles which now come in a variety of sizes and materials.

With the championships taking place in New Zealand this year, many more crews than usual have had to deal with the effects of jetlag. The Australians and New Zealanders are experienced in dealing with this issue on a yearly basis as they travel to Europe for the international rowing circuit.

Kokas thought this could be a disadvantage initially for some crews. “The first days of training after arrival would have been very light and very progressive,” explains doctor Kokas. “We have no experience of injury caused by jetlag.”

Each overseas team managed the acclimatisation situation differently. A few of teams arrived a month or three weeks before the championships began. Some, like the German team, cut the travel into two parts, training in the United States on the way.

But the majority of rowers arrived two weeks before the competition began. “The time needed for perfect recovery for 11 hours time change is approximately 11 days,” estimates Kokas. It was not the case for all rowers. For Damir Martin, of the Croatian men’s quadruple sculls, two or three days were enough. “We made the choice not to sleep during the flight and it was the good solution for us,” says Martin.