Low back injury and rowing

fastfreddie21 · Post by **fastfreddie21** » August 24th, 2007, 5:58 pm

New to the forum and to erging. Bought a new D with PM3 about 4 weeks ago and have been learning.

With a previous low back injury L5/ S1 and surgery several years ago, I was rear-ended in a car crash late last year . This re-injured my L5 / S1 again. . The crash basically blew out the remainder of my L5 / S1. Just enough the Doc won't do surgery.

Began working out via CrossFit and feel great. Since I can't run, I wanted to increase my fitness by rowing. Being new I only row about 1000m per day. However, the next day my low back (below my L5 / S1) down to my tail bone just are killing me. The pain is 7+ out of 10.

Is this normal?? Could it be my form?? I watched the videos on CrossFit and YouTube and think I'm doing it right.

Has anyone else gone through this?

Any and all help / feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

FF

chgoss · Post by **chgoss** » August 24th, 2007, 10:50 pm

I have off and on problems with my back and erging also, some things to consider:

- make sure you warm up good. If you re-hab'd your back, you probably have some good stretching/strengthing excercises. DO THEM EVERY TIME

- Start slow, dont try to get a great erging workout for a while, just concentrate on dong an easy 20-30 minutes and feel good the next day..

- make sure you are doing other core strengthing excercises, if I stop doing situps 3 times a week, sure enough my back will start to ache.

- do that for a couple weeks, be sure to stretch, take it easy.. build up slow..

- you might consider getting slides, I hear that they really help reduce lower back strain
https://www2.concept2.com/VIA/index.jsp

check out this thread on the UK site for more info..
http://www.concept2.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14518

I think that erging can be very good at strengthing the back.. and yet I injure mine here and there.

best of luck to ya

roastduckmangosalsa · Post by **roastduckmangosalsa** » August 29th, 2007, 12:57 pm

I purchase a model D at the end of December '06 and started using it in January of this year. It was a blast and naturally I overdid it. I know that it was my form getting sloppy because I was trying to go faster and faster. Being a newbie at rowing I should have took my time. By the end of January my lower back was really in a pickle. I haven't rowed since the end of January. I finally started seeking out help for it, ie. accupunture, chiropractic, and massage. While those are helping I had to do something else. I am now in physical therapy and that has really been helping. I think I might be able to row soon. Turns out that I have an old fracture in my L5 (5th lumbar). This really helped me understand where that pain was generating from. I think I may have done that a couple of years ago when I crashed my bicycle.

My only advice is to take it slow and don't get overly ambitious. Like the previous post, warm up properly. You may want to check your tension setting (I think that's what it's called). I would suggest setting it on the lowest setting.

If anyone has any input on the suggestions of slides and whether they help make rowing easier, I would like to hear them. Thanks.

Robin

RowtheRockies · Post by **RowtheRockies** » August 30th, 2007, 1:36 am

Good advice from chgoss and Robin.

I discovered erging after injuring the disc between L5/S1 about 2 years ago. Mine was only bulged not ruptures but still was aggravating the sciatic nerve. Running was compounding it due to the pounding. When I started rowing, my back was still feeling soar after a session for about the first month and a half but it gradually lessened. Two things that I think that made a difference were my core muscles strenghtening from the rowing and two lowering the Drag Factor which I believe is what Robin was alluding to in her post when talking about "tension" When I started rowing I was using a drag factor of 130. I now row at about 100-105 and I can tell the difference in my back.

Rich

roastduckmangosalsa · Post by **roastduckmangosalsa** » August 30th, 2007, 11:38 pm

Thanks Rich, yes I believe I was trying to say drag factor. I didn't know what to call it.

Robin

Bob S. · Post by **Bob S.** » August 31st, 2007, 5:45 am

roastduckmangosalsa wrote:Thanks Rich, yes I believe I was trying to say drag factor. I didn't know what to call it.

Robin

I have a hunch that you were more likely refering to the damper setting, which ranges from a low of 0 to a high of 10 and can be read directly from the lever position. The drag factor, which depends on the damper setting and several other factors like cleanliness of the cage, temperature and atmospheric pressure, cannot be set directly and can be read only by use of the monitor. The drag factor can range from below 50 to over 200.

Bob S.

flan48 · Post by **flan48** » August 31st, 2007, 2:08 pm

[quote="RowtheRockies"]Good advice from chgoss and Robin.

I discovered erging after injuring the disc between L5/S1 about 2 years ago. Mine was only bulged not ruptures but still was aggravating the sciatic nerve. Running was compounding it due to the pounding. When I started rowing, my back was still feeling soar after a session for about the first month and a half but it gradually lessened. Two things that I think that made a difference were my core muscles strenghtening from the rowing and two lowering the Drag Factor which I believe is what Robin was alluding to in her post when talking about "tension" When I started rowing I was using a drag factor of 130. I now row at about 100-105 and I can tell the difference in my back.

Rich[/quote]

Interesting subject

For the last few months I have been having nerve related pain shooting down the side and front of my right leg when exercise walking. The pain would begin after about 25 minutes, and progressed to the point where the pain started after only 4 or 5 minutes. I had some pain in the lower back as well (felt near the sacroiliac joint).

Erging seemed to be OK but lately I'd often feel a twinge when increasing the pressure.

Finally went to a good Orthopedist, had subsequesnt MRI, and just learned that I have a small herniated disc at L4/5.

Doc has said keep off the rower for a while. As the low back (somewhat to the right of center) pain has also increased I decided, with the doc's advice/guidance, to have an epidural injection which will be on Spetember 10th.

I love to walk, but giving up the erg, at least temoporarily, is awful.

Well, I suppose it's part of the joy of aging.
Have a great Labor Day week-end everyone.

Best regards

Rockin Roland · Post by **Rockin Roland** » September 1st, 2007, 12:54 am

I posted here some time back about a report published here in Australia about the alarming number of lower back injuries caused by stationary ergs. Statistics on these injuries have been kept here on elite OTW rowers that use C2 ergs for training.

Consequently some of the following recommendations were made to the athletes:

Avoid low rating high pressure type of workouts.

Avoid erging for longer than 30 minutes.

Make sure a coach can have a look at your technique to correct any technique flaws.

Use slides under your C2 erg or better still use a moving flywheel erg such as a Rowperfect.

Most people that do a considerable amount of erging on the C2 erg have at some stage experienced some degree of lower back stiffness or injury. As you become more experienced you learn how to manage it or even avoid injury completely.

M_Keating · Post by **M_Keating** » September 3rd, 2007, 12:08 am

I've been completely away from erging for almost a year now, partly because of other priorities but also because I'm afraid to re-injure my lower back.
I have had good success at relieving the pain through self-applied trigger point massage. The "Trigger Point Therapy Workbook" has been a very good investment for me for relief of all types of muscle pain and I highly recommend it.
Also, prior to resuming erging I am going to do more core strengthening. I believe that is the main cause of my problems.

Hope this helps!

Mark