Blew out my knee!

[Nick]

Last Friday I rowed a comfortable 5,100 meters as part of the Holiday Challenge. Felt fine after the erg but two hours later, my knee began to hurt. I was downtown when I actually heard and felt a click every time I took a step. The pain just got worse and worse until by the end of the day I could hardly walk. Employed RICE - Rest, elevation, compression, elevation - couldn't use Vitamin I (Ibuprofen) since I'm on a blood thinner - and Tylenol didn't touch it. Laying off rowing and fitness running/walking until I see a doc - which is a real bummer since I'm just 2,000 meters away from my 5 million mark. The up side of this sad story is that the Sports Medicine staff at the University of Virginia are no strangers to rowing-related issues - since the UVA women's team is a world-class competitor and the men's club is also first class. Bottom line (for now) is that I can't see a doc until mid-January. I'll have to restrict my PT to upper body weight training and once the pain lets up I'll work on a recumbent bike - just to keep my cardio fitness tuned up. I suspect that I hyper-extended the joint because most of the pain is in back of the knee joint. Two days prior to the injury I followed advice from a cross-fit site (which may have been my first major mistake) to tighten the foot straps to the point where I kept my heels down for the entire range of motion, especially the catch and recovery. Anyone out there with similar tales of woe and with any advice - please let me know - Thanks in advance - Nick

[Ombrax]

I'm no expert, but I believe that "heels down all the time" advice is primarily for newbies, to prevent them from bringing the seat too far fwd.

If you really want to get that last 2k in to get to 5 mil, that's short enough you could do it (carefully) using just your arms and a bit of back.

Good luck with your recovery.

[hjs]

I'm no expert, but I believe that "heels down all the time" advice is primarily for newbies, to prevent them from bringing the seat too far fwd.

If you really want to get that last 2k in to get to 5 mil, that's short enough you could do it (carefully) using just your arms and a bit of back.

Good luck with your recovery.

Heals down is wrong for 90% of the people, you need to have super flexible ankles to pull that off. Most simply need room or else the legs can,t bend enough and the back gets overused.

Don,t see a direct relation with the knees, but it very well could be the cause.

Also, why go to crossfit for rowing advice, they really don,t know much about it, even top crossfitters have poor form. for them rowing is only a few % of their training.

[Nick]

Yeah, I should have known about Cross Fit. As far as the 5 million mark is concerned - I made a typo - It's 22,000 meters to go, not 2,000 - but I will do an arms only stab at it since I'm continuing to work out my upper body as much as possible - thanks for the helpful insights. Nick

[jamesg]

The up side of this sad story is that the Sports Medicine staff at the University of Virginia are no strangers to rowing-related issues

Did they say your injury is rowing related? If so, how?

I kept my heels down for the entire range of motion

If you use the standard recovery sequence (hands and swing first) you won't need to lift heels more than an inch. With low heels, this keeps the slide away from your feet and the knee angle at least 45°, with shins not beyond vertical. If in doubt, tie a rope round the rail about 50cm from the stretcher to mimic the front-stop in a shell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVhEdQ6LNgs

[Nick]

Won't be able to see a doc for a couple of weeks. watched the Black Horse Rowing piece - very helpful. Will work through that on the erg once the knee begins to feel a bit better - but very slowly. Thanks for your valuable input on this.

[Francesco65-italy]

I solved, leaving the laces of the feet open.