Concept2 Forum

I got a really bad pain in my right ring finger from erging. I'm not sure what it is, but it hurts like crazy. Feels like tendinitis or a stress fracture - it's right between the 2nd and 3rd knuckle (if you're counting from the tip of the finger).<br /><br />Has anyone else had this? Know how to cure it?<br /><br />Thanks<br /><br /> - Adam

<!--QuoteBegin-reynolds352+Jul 10 2005, 11:19 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(reynolds352 @ Jul 10 2005, 11:19 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I got a really bad pain in my right ring finger from erging. I'm not sure what it is, but it hurts like crazy. Feels like tendinitis or a stress fracture - it's right between the 2nd and 3rd knuckle (if you're counting from the tip of the finger).<br /><br />Has anyone else had this? Know how to cure it?<br /><br />Thanks<br /><br /> - Adam <br /> </td></tr></table><br />I had something like this in my left hand. For whatever reason I noticed that I would curl up my left hand at the end of the stroke. That seemed to put some extra tork on two of my fingers. I had to stop for a couple of days because the pain got so bad. It felt like bad tendonitous to me.<br /><br />It has eventually gotten better. I've tried to avoid the curling under of my hand and I think my hands have just gotten stronger now as well.<br /><br />I noticed you started in June so maybe your body is just telling you to take it easy for a while until it can adjust to the new stresses.<br /><br />Jeff

<!--QuoteBegin-jfisher+Jul 10 2005, 11:12 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(jfisher @ Jul 10 2005, 11:12 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin-reynolds352+Jul 10 2005, 11:19 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(reynolds352 @ Jul 10 2005, 11:19 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I got a really bad pain in my right ring finger from erging. I'm not sure what it is, but it hurts like crazy. Feels like tendinitis or a stress fracture - it's right between the 2nd and 3rd knuckle (if you're counting from the tip of the finger).<br /><br />Has anyone else had this? Know how to cure it?<br /><br />Thanks<br /><br /> - Adam <br /> </td></tr></table><br />I had something like this in my left hand. For whatever reason I noticed that I would curl up my left hand at the end of the stroke. That seemed to put some extra tork on two of my fingers. I had to stop for a couple of days because the pain got so bad. It felt like bad tendonitous to me.<br /><br />It has eventually gotten better. I've tried to avoid the curling under of my hand and I think my hands have just gotten stronger now as well.<br /><br />I noticed you started in June so maybe your body is just telling you to take it easy for a while until it can adjust to the new stresses.<br /><br />Jeff <br /> </td></tr></table><br />Hi Adam and Hi Jeff<br />Jeff, good point about checking the pulling technique and to REST a tender area. <br />I have had issues with my fingers while I trained at Brown. I was not to used to sweep rowing and my knuckles felt it. I even had some pain while rowing the ergo. Check out my stroke cycle in my signature and look to keep the forearm and wrist at the same hight as the elbow when you finish the stroke. All this while keeping the shoulders as relaxed as possible. <br />Hopefully you will recover from this injury by giving it some time to heal.<br />All the best and I hope that despite your knuckle tenderness you still had a good weekend.<br />XENO

I had same problem for a while, about 3 months after starting and at the point when I was increasing training load. It went away after a few weeks but I did ease up a little in the meantime.<br /><br />Like Xeno says check the alignment of hand, wrist, arm and elbow and keep the shoulders relaxed. (I also suffered from sore shoulders and "butt ache" on longer rows but that too has now gone away).<br /><br />Don't overdo it until the problem passes (and it will pass.).<br /><br />Neil

I think I'll rest it for a while. Do some biking and running instead. I'll try rowing lightly every other day to see how it feels, but nothing remotely hard.<br /><br />Thanks for the help!

There's a lot of falacies on this forum about why rowing injuries occur. <br />Every single injury I've seen described on this site, <b>reynolds352</b> included, is due to poor technique.<br /><br />When it comes to rowing, the first thing to do when something hurts is:<br /><br />1) stop rowing.<br />2) go see your doctor.<br />3) when the injury has healed, go get yourself a coach.<br /><br />You can puddle around on this site for tips, but unless you're being overseen by someone who actually knows how to row and can correct you the instant you're off track, you're never going to be "safe" on an erg.<br /><br /><b>Xeno</b>, BTW before you start posting pictures of yourself to illustrate correct form you might like to stop dropping your hands so much during the inital period of the recovery (it's an erg, not a boat....), and also stop over-compressing.

I started to feel pain in my left middle finger once I stopped "grabbing" the handle and instead "hooked" the handle with my fingers. Fewer blisters but greater stress on the fingers. I stopped erging for 72 hours and went again yesterday, but it started to hurt again, so I'm gonna stop (if I can resist the urge to erg) for about a week or so. Instead I hopped on the bike and did a 10k. That's definitely a great alternative to the erg: high CV value, low impact on the joints (in contrast with the treadmill for example).