Rowing Physiotherapy Perth
Pathways Rowing Squad. Penrith 2025
Rowing Physiotherapy at Star Physio.
Injuries in rowers are common. Thankfully, once diagnosed correctly, complete rest is seldom required and rowers can continue training in some capacity. Advances in our understanding of pain, injuries and findings on scans allows expert physiotherapists to help maintain fitness and strength of rowing athletes while they are recovering from injury.
Star Physio have worked with rowing athletes for many years, both flat water and surf boat rowing. Our clinics in West Perth and Mosman Park are close to many of the rowing clubs and schools, allowing easy access of rowers to our facilities and expert team.
In addition, both of our physiotherapy clinics have fully equipped gyms with trained strength and conditioning experts to assist rowers with their rehabilitation and performance programs.
You can book a session with one of our experts here!
Rowing Physiotherapy Expertise.
Star Physio’s principal Damian Oldmeadow started working with elite rowing at the AIS in Canberra in 1997. After returning to Perth he and his colleagues have continued to see rowers from junior, to elite to masters for injury management, prevention and performance advice.
This year Damian travelled to the Australian Rowing Championships in Tasmania with the UWA/Shenton College Team and also to the Australian Pathways Rowing Championships in Canberra where he was physiotherapist for the WA teams.
The Star Physio team are experts in diagnosis and management of rowing injuries with up to date, evidence based treatment and rehabilitation techniques.
Common Rowing Injuries
The most common injury in rowing is lower back pain. Most research suggests that 50% of rowers will have lower back pain in a 12 month period. Many people believe that rowing technique plays a large part in lower back pain. The research however suggests that in fact rowing technique changes because of lower back pain. Different techniques and postures in the boat may not actually be a causative factor.
Factors in lower back pain in rowers
Research suggests that these factors are correlated to lower back pain in rowers.
- Previous history of lower back pain**
- Sudden change in training load
- Age
- Prolonged ergo use
- Fatigue
These factors do not appear related to lower back pain according to quality research
- Sweep vs Scull
- Age of commencement,
- Height
- BMI
- Flexibility
Technique is associated with back pain, but more recent research suggests it is not causative.
Poor strength and endurance have also been considered, but most research measures this in already injured athletes. We end up in the chicken and the egg cycle again!
Different rowing techniques and postures.
Other Common Rowing Injuries
Literature differs in the rates, but the other common injuries seen in rowers are
- Knee Pain – usually patello-femoral
- Shoulder pain
- Rib pain and stress fractures
The Star Team are highly skilled in accurate diagnosis in rowing physiotherapy with the goal to keep athletes training, and whenever possible, in the boat!
Strength and Conditioning for Rowing.
Large bodies or research across multiple sports show that strength can reduce injury risk by approximately 70%. It also makes you row faster. This research is generally based on 2 heavy lifting sessions per week in the gym.
Strength work is safe for rowers of all ages from juniors to masters athletes and should form a part of every rowers’ program.
The expert rowing physiotherapy staff at Star can help you put the best gym program together. This can be to rehabilitate, to prevent injury or with a performance focus.
Steve Jeffries working on lower back strength with surf boat rower.
Rowing Physiotherapy Treatment
As with all injuries, a key indicator for success is an early and accurate diagnosis with an expert rowing physiotherapist. Your physio need not be an elite rower, but should understand the biomechanics and risk factors in rowing.
It is also very important the any health professional you are dealing with if up to date with contemporary understanding of pain and injuries. We understand that you can get pain without injury, and often it is safe to train through some pain.
It is also important to understand normal and incidental scan findings. Many health professionals send rowers in pain for scans as soon as they present with pain. While scans can be important in some situations, often they only show normal variations which may have nothing to do with pain and can lead to poor management.
Look at the picture below of findings on MRI in people with no pain. Even at 20 years of age, over 25% of people have “abnormal” discs.
Star Physio are proud to be trusted as a leading team of expert physiotherapists in Perth. We are often called upon for expert and second opinions.
Call today or book online!
Abnormal MRI findings in pain free patients.
