Rib Injuries and Lightweights

[lt.wolf]

Question.

I know rib injuries are commonin our sport , recently i have notived a trend that lightweights injure their ribs a bit more. Would this be something that would have to deal with weight / muscle loss?

What preventative measures can be taken to stop this from occuring ?

Thanks

Sean

[Stewie Griffin Should Cox]

Major cause of rib injuries

Bench pull. All the pressure is on the rib cage and its unnatural. Bench needs to be really well padded.

RBC bench pulls bench is, in a word,.....awful.

[MChase]

And really low ratings at full pressure. I've outlawed it on our team. Too much load on the oar at low ratings and that transfers to the chest wall.

[Grover]

I broke my rib back in march as a stress fracture

most times the signals are there but i didnt think it was anything more then a slight sore muscle. You can prevent it by increasing the cross training in your exercise program, doing rib strengthing exercises and not stepping up the training if u are not used to it

[lt.wolf]

I can see the poor bench pull machine being a factor , i am just trying to determine why the injury happens more in lightweights as they get down to weight.

I know one woman who has a history of a rib injuries when she rowed as a lightweight but when she raced open this year it was not an issue

[Slim]

As you lose weight you lose muscle. Most of the muscle you lose will be that which is not directly related to rowing. As you lose the muscle which supports the core or opposes the rowing motion, you will see more injuries.

[caustic]

Major cause of rib injuries

Bench pull. All the pressure is on the rib cage and its unnatural. Bench needs to be really well padded.

RBC bench pulls bench is, in a word,.....awful.

Holy $h!t! I agree with this! I never understood why the bench-pull was adopted as an exercise that rowers should do; it doesn't strengthen the core to handle any kind of load when pulling.

[anthonys]

what the hell is a "bench-pull?"

tony

[fatsculler]

Lying face down on a bench with a weight below you (full extension) the exercise is then to "pull" the weight to the chest and back to the floor.

[bendtheoar]

what the hell is a "bench-pull?"

tony

This is a bit nicer than most bench pull benches which are found in many boathouses which in most cases are built out of wood and are not quite up to the standards that would guarantee that one's face will not be planted firmly into the floor on any given pull.......

http://www.samsonequipment.com/freeweig ... odNum=100A

[anthonys]

Fatsculler,

thank you,sir. I can only imagine the force/pressure placed on one's rib cage in the presence of a shoddily constructed bench while said rib cage is being pulled into the bench by the downward directed resistance of the weight, especially if the resistance is high. It appears not unlike what one might experience with poor form on a seated, MedX compound row machine.

thanks again,

tony

[mlw43]

Rib injuries are extremely difficult to address in rowers. I've known about a dozen rowers who "gutted it out" for a season with some discomfort and it turned out to be a sprained/fracture rib. However, this issue has been covered extensively in the lit.

One theory states that "A review of the literature yields striking similarities between these stress fractures and fractures caused by cough. It is suggested that actions of the serratus anterior and external oblique muscles on the rib cause stress fracture because of the repetitive bending forces in both rowing and coughing. A technique involving less use of both muscles through a truncated arm pull-through and a decreased layback position at the end of the stroke, and equipment changes to decrease length of the lever arm, should yield a decreased risk of rib stress fractures in rowing." The novel finish position is outlined designed ot remove the stress from the ribs

http://ajsm.highwire.org/content/26/4/516.full

An older paper (1985) focusing on women postulates "that inadequate strength and resistance training background in women is the cause for the apparent increased susceptibility of women to these skeletal injuries."

http://ajsm.highwire.org/content/13/5/3 ... f_ipsecsha

However it is also important to note that " All athletes presented with pain in the posterolateral thorax in and around the scapula. The time from onset of symptoms to diagnosis ranged from 2 to 6 months. Bone scans were used to document the fractures when roentgenograms were equivocal. Each athlete re sponded to a 4 to 8 week period of rest or training modification. "

[fatsculler]

Your welcome
It does depend on the type of exercise. If you are doing a heavy pull then the tendency is to use explosive force which is likely to drive the bar into the bench. This method shows poor technique as the pull should always be finished just shy of the bottom of the bench. One way I have used it (and I'm sure many other's as well) is to use lower weights and higher reps to imitate the rowing stroke - say do 30 rpm for 6 mins with 45kg - that gets the heart going

[MChase]

I see more antero-lateral, not postero-lateral injuries. With the anatomical position of the serratus anterior, it makes sense that fractures would be more anterior as well.

What is the experience of others?

[mlw43]

I see more antero-lateral, not postero-lateral injuries. With the anatomical position of the serratus anterior, it makes sense that fractures would be more anterior as well.

What is the experience of others?

Yes I have seen the same thing with the fractures occuring between the 5-7th rib although since i work with mostly sweep rowers I cannot comment on scullers