Going Strapless After Knee Injury

marvy1 · Post by **marvy1** » October 13th, 2008, 1:03 pm

Hello. In a previous post I said I had knee surgery to repair a torn quadricep tendon in my left knee. This forum advised me that gentle rowing after the knee heals should be OK. Thanks for that!

I now have a second question about going strapless. Would going strapless put LESS stress on the knee? I am seeing some posts that say strapless puts stress on other muscles of the legs and even the heels.

So should I try going strapless when I start rowing again?

Thanks! Marvin

Montanaandy · Post by **Montanaandy** » October 14th, 2008, 11:11 am

Based on my personal experience, going strapless places less pressure on my knee(s) particularly my surgically repaired knee. This may vary from indiviual to individual. Try both and see which works best for you.

I found that with the straps (pre-hip replacement as well as post) I would "pull" myself forward on the recovery with my feet which put a great deal of stress and torque on my knees and hips. I can't do that while rowing strapless or I will face plant on the fly wheel. I also believe that my form or technique is somewhat better overall because I tend to concentrate on each stroke more because my feet are free to move around.

Have not had any problems with the heels other than some initial blisters where the back of the heel rubs against the plastic. Feet stay nice and cool which I really like.

The most difficult thing that I have found is that I can't increase the intensity of my intervals while rowing strapless to the same level that I was able to while I was strapped in.

Now perhaps I cannot row as fast or perhaps as hard as I did with the straps but at least I can still row and that is good enough for me.