Blisters on left hand, but not the right

[rhyszoe]

I have been back into erging for the last three months and have noticed that I develop blisters on my left hand (base of the fingers), but there is not even a sign of a blister on my right hand. I am a natural right hander and in my rowing days was a more comfortable bow sider. Does this suggest a fault in technique, or should I just thank my lucky stars that my right hand is blister free? The left hand ones are not creating major drama for me, but I was intrigued as to why they were confined to only one hand. When rowing in the boat years ago, they spread themselves around quite evenly! Would I be perhaps unconsciously gripping the erg handle harder with my weaker (left? hand? Any other thoughts?

[chgoss]

as you say, probably just a slight difference in grip. Guess you can just watch and see if the handle is going back and forth in a 'T' or is crooked for some reason.. you could also set a mirror up, or video a session to see if there is some underlying technique issue..

HTH
-chad

[Atorrante]

I have been back into erging for the last three months and have noticed that I develop blisters on my left hand (base of the fingers), but there is not even a sign of a blister on my right hand. I am a natural right hander and in my rowing days was a more comfortable bow sider. Does this suggest a fault in technique, or should I just thank my lucky stars that my right hand is blister free? Any other thoughts?

I think it suggest the buy of good gloves...

[Carl Watts]

+1 for some decent fingerless bike gloves.

Not sure why more people don't wear them on the rower, they are more useful to you minute by minute on the rower than wearing them on a bike just in the event you come off.

[Rockin Roland]

Gloves are not the answer as they only mask the problem. It's most likely a technical issue relating to the strongest side of your body. The load is not being evenly distributed. The limited tilting on a "core perform" seat may help you become more aware of how to apply more even distribution during the stroke. Otherwise it's very difficult to pin point it on a static erg.

Having used many different types of ergs I've noticed that there is quite a severe jolt sent through your body each time you load up at the catch on a static C2 erg. With slides the situation is improved somewhat but that jolt can still be felt. The hard plastic handle eventually gets the better of your sweaty hands.

I know that people here maybe sick of me going on all the time about the virtues of erging on a Rowperfect erg but I no longer get blistered hands since trading in my old C2 for one. The spring loaded handle and softer scull oar grips on the handle have eliminated the wear and tear on my hands. Plus the limited tilt seat combined with the dynamic movement has taught me to distribute the load evenly throughtout the stroke. Otherwise the seat grabs on the rail and I grind to a halt. These features alone, that I never had on a C2, allow me to to do more comfortable evenly balanced strokes without wear and tear on my body.

[bloomp]

So Roland, your hands have stopped blistering OTW as well? If the Rowperfect was trying to be accurate to being OTW, wouldn't it tear your hands up?

[Atorrante]

+1 for some decent fingerless bike gloves.

Not sure why more people don't wear them on the rower, they are more useful to you minute by minute on the rower than wearing them on a bike just in the event you come off.

I don't row without my gloves. The ones that have found more suitable for rowing are a pair of Head multi-sport gloves bought at Costco. Great grip, very comfortables, and altough aren't fingerless they feel very cool. Now I have no problems with hands blisters, slippery handle and the grip is far superior in the long rows.

[Rockin Roland]

So Roland, your hands have stopped blistering OTW as well? If the Rowperfect was trying to be accurate to being OTW, wouldn't it tear your hands up?

My Croker sculls don't give me blisters and the Rowperfect uses the same kind of hand grips as those, so it's pretty much the same. However, having said that we used C2 oars in the 4+ last night and I scored one blister because the hard plastic handles on those resemble the plastic on the C2 erg handle. So you can be the judge on that one.

[bloomp]

Strange, my Crokers do give me blisters... Mind you, nowhere near as bad as sweep C2 oars.

Blisters make you tough. They're good for you. If you never suffer a bit, why push yourself at all?

[Atorrante]

Strange, my Crokers do give me blisters... Mind you, nowhere near as bad as sweep C2 oars.

Blisters make you tough. They're good for you. If you never suffer a bit, why push yourself at all?

Besides rowing for my health, I'm a dentist, so blisters are not good for me, and i'm sure they are not good for anyone..

[Montanaandy]

I have been rowing for years and have never had problems with blisters on my hands. Sounds like I am an anomaly or I am just not working hard enough My wife on the other hand uses bike gloves because she did/does have blister problems.

I don't death grip the handle when I row and I generally try to use my fingers more than my palms. I was told when I began rowing that you want a light grip on the handle so I consciously try to not grip too hard. I also sweat pretty heavily when I row no matter what time of year and really can't grip too tightly anyways because of this. I do have some callouses on my palms but not any blisters and the callouses are barely noticeable. I row strapless, barefoot and longer distances and not shorter, more intense pieces so perhaps that has a lot to do with it.

I do deal with sore wrists so perhaps I do need to modify my grip in some fashion.

[djh]

I have painful blisters on my left hand and normal "tough guy" blisters on my right. The problem is worse than usual because I'm trying to stop wearing gloves. (The gloves are starting to wear out, and were making the blistering problem worse.) I wonder if the imbalance is because my arms are different lengths, with the right arm a bit longer. Anyone else with a similar experience?