Low Back Pain and Rowing: Posture, Glutes and the Dead Lift

Rowing is more than just a workout; it’s a lifechanging sport that boosts cardiovascular health, builds muscle, and enhances endurance. However, approximately 30-50% of rowers will experience low back pain (LBP) within a 12 month time period. One of the reasons for this is a lack of gluteal engagement. This article explores the importance of proper gluteal use in the rowing stroke to help prevent LBP, and shares actionable tips to start improving your rowing efficiency and LBP today.

What Rowing Biomechanics Cause LBP

1. Increased Posterior Pelvic Tilt at the Catch

   Picture a "tucked tail" position; that is a posterior pelvic tilt. A systematic review of 22 studies showed that rowers without LBP held a neutral or anterior pelvic tilt at the catch. If you struggle with this, the cause could be a lack of hamstring flexibility, lack of hip joint mobility, a strength deficit, or a motor control problem.

   
   

2. Greater Hip Extension at the Finish

   Think of how many times you have heard a coach say "sit up at the finish." Rowing requires proper sequencing of the muscles between the legs, hips, trunk, and arms. Excessive hip extension at the finish (picture too much lay back with poor posture) disrupts this sequencing and increases the strain on the low back.

3. Less Efficient Trunk Muscle Activity

   This may be the most obvious cause of LBP in rowing. Poor stabilization of the spine; which serves as the bridge to transfer force from the legs to the handle. Efficiency is a key word here; how quickly and in what sequence do the trunk muscles activate. "Core first" is what you want, but how do you make this happen?

   
   
   
   

   Let's Start with...Posture

Proper posture causes a core first strategy. This occurs in life and it occurs in the boat. The way the body is positioned, the angles of each joint before the load is applied, sets the stage for which muscles contract. Proper posture at the catch is individual because each person has a different amount of flexibility in the ankles, knees, and hips.

If there is insufficient flexibility in the ankles, knees, or hips and a rower is trying to reach full slide; or if there is sufficient flexibility but the rower goes for more length, mistakenly thinking this will yield more speed, the likely result is "dumping" at the catch. A collapse of the trunk forward, out of a strong core position. The load is now taken through the spinal ligaments (passive structures that will eventually elongate and allow spinal instability) instead of through stabilized errector spinae (back extensor muscles) and the hip extensors....yep...the GLUTES!

Ode to the GLUTES

The quadriceps are hailed as the power house in rowers, and they are, but behind every fast rower with strong quads (and no back pain) there are strong glutes!! The glutes extend the hip and are crucial to the efficient transfer of power from the quadriceps to the torso. Glute activation helps maintain proper posture throughout the stroke to prevent excessive rounding of the low back. Did you know that the gluteus maximus is considered the largest muscle in the human body? It is the key muscle for maintaining an upright (and therefore core first) posture.

More on the glutes in the next blog...

Where to Start - the Dead Lift

Try an unweighted bar dead lift while watching your posture from the side in a mirror. Pay attention to when in the motion you can no longer keep your low back from rounding and your pelvis from posterior tilting (this gives you an idea of how compressed of a catch position you can attain without being at risk for LBP). Also, feel the initiation of the pick up of the bar from the bottom of the lift; adjust your spinal posture (often more chest up and butt out positioning helps) and see if you can get in a position that feels stronger through the glutes and the core.

And, Call Me!

If you want more flexibility, a stronger core, and better posture to allow you to row without back pain, give me a call. From one rower to another: come get your analysis, treatment, and a plan at Lighten Physical Therapy.