TECHNIQUE- AND TRAININGINDUCED INJURIES IN ELITE ROWERS

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The dual purpose of this paper is to describe the pathology and identify the etiology of four of the most common musculoskeletal injuries associated with rowing. A questionnaire-survey at the February 1994 Canadian national team training camp revealed the percentage and severity of these sport specific injuries. These included: lumbar and thoracic back pain, stress fracture of the ribs, chondromalacia of the patella and extensor tenosynovitis of the forearm. The results revealed a prevalence of these musculoskeletal injuries and identified three contributing factors: 1 .) the current stroke technique used by many rowers, 2.) the popularity of physiological conditioning practices of high pressure (speed) and low cadence/high pressure training, and 3.) the wide spread practice of offwater weight training.