Another oft-quoted article on rowing injuries

Here is an article originally from The Physician and Sports Medicine, "reprinted" (ahem) in the Concept2 discussion forums.

In Brief: Rowing—whether on the water or with machines—is increasingly popular, and, as with any strenuous exercise, the potential for injury is high. Rowers may have common symptoms, such as low-back and knee pain, or more sport-specific problems such as rib stress fractures,
nerve impingement, and blisters. Virtually all rowing injuries are due to overuse, and many can be traced to training errors or equipment problems. Understanding the mechanics of rowing, the equipment, and the training procedures is essential for the physician caring for injured rowers.

READ MORE>>

Excellent presentation on rowing injuries from U.S. Rowing team physician

Here is a presentation by Dr. Jo Hannafin, team physician for U.S. Rowing, on common rowing injuries. One insight is that rib stress fractures are often misdiagnosed as intercostal strains.

Two contrasting sweep techniques

Found this when researching finishes. The blogger contrasts the 2008 Romanian women's eight's stroke style (fast hands, fast body, very slow slide, hard drive with body angle opening very late, then big layback) and the so-called Oarsome Foursome (the first of two Aussie coxless fours with that name) technique: slower hands, hands first then body, controlled slide, fluid transition from leg drive to layback finish.

The Romanian W8+:

The first Oarsome Foursome:

How to (Not) Splash in Puddles

Came across this Row2k column about puddles in sweep boats:

The oars must move the boat, not the water. You are looking for hard, flattened ellipses, those distinct, half-moon footholds in the water which hold their shapes, dark and deep, as they pass your stern. If they are staying in that shape, with a minimum of internal turbulence, you can be satisfied that the oars are going in cleanly and square, and finding firm footing. If their shape is changing too much, (e.g. if they are becoming too elongated, or if there is too much white water curl shooting out over their tops), then watch your blades to see whether they are too shallow, or else the blades could be moving before they are firmly locked in the water. If the curl at the leading edge of the puddle is going the other way (i.e. forward in the direction of the boat), it suggests that the oar may be going too deep, causing the water to slide over it.

As boat designed Car Douglas said:

The puddle contains all the work you did which did not move the boat.

Hit the Catch!

A blog post from Rowing in Motion on how to manage the blade at the catch. The main insight here is how "rowing in" the blade actually slows the boat down:

If the hands move up too slow, we see the blade being “rowed in” to the water. The boat loses even more velocity as the rower starts pushing on the stretcher without generating a positive handle force to compensate for that. 

I actually came across this blog post when researching backsplash, here called "V-splash" created:

... when the squared blade hits the water right before the maximum angle is reached (creating a backsplash) and is being moved into the water as fast as possible while beginning the stroke (creating a small frontsplash).

This post also contains a plain-English description of why faster catches make faster boats:

... earlier acceleration is better since it increases average boat velocity over the stroke. You can think about it this way: boat velocity changes during the stroke but at the end and beginning, it’s the same (since negative and positive boat acceleration add to zero and the boat maintains its average velocity). How do you increase this average velocity? When the boat is slowest at the catch you need to accelerate the boat as quickly as possible to be fast for as long as possible during the stroke cycle. That’s how you increase average velocity.

Learning how to draw (the blade from the water at the end of the drive)

Rowing Magazine's blog has a succinct account of how to finish the drive and get the blades out cleanly:

• The drive ends when the hands stop the draw toward the body
• The hands drop down to raise the blade from the water with blades feathered
• Layback should be at three to 10 degrees
• Forearms should be parallel to the water as the blades are drawn to the body
• The legs keep pressure on the foot stretchers
• Shoulders are relaxed and down
• Pressure is maintained on the oarlocks with thumbs pressing against the ends of the handle

(The second point should probably read: "... with blades still squared before feathering")

Emphases are mine.