Be Your Best: Proper technique is important for rowers to avoid back, shoulder injuries

(Dr. Brian Sokalsky, DO, is at the helm of Jersey Shore Sports Medicine in Ocean City and is a board certified family physician with special training in sports medicine. Once per month, Glory Days Magazine publisher Dave O’Sullivan talks with Dr. Sokalsky about various sports injuries, treatments and prevention methods.) The high school crew season is getting underway, and that means plenty of sore backs for teenagers throughout South Jersey. Crew is a sport that tends to attract a lot of athletes who might not necessarily have any experience in the sport but want to try it during their high school careers. Some area teams have as many as 40 or 50 participants, a number of whom are first-timers. Back injuries are very common among rowers, Dr. Sokalsky said, and he sees his share of rowers suffering from back pain during the spring months. It’s important for parents and rowers, he said, to understand the difference between soreness and injury when it comes to the back. “It’s a grueling sport, so you can’t just walk in off the street and expect to start rowing. Offseason conditioning is very important so that you’re ready to go, ready to do either the erg workouts or when it’s time to get out on the water be able to keep up. As far as injuries go, the most common thing we see with rowers in lower back pain. I know some guys I went to high school with (at Atlantic City) have some chronic low back pain, herniated discs, that kind of thing. So core strength and protecting that lower back is of the utmost importance,” Sokalsky said. “Sometimes it’s tough (to decipher). Muscle soreness typically occurs for the first 1-3 days after a workout. A more significant injury will last longer than that. Most muscle soreness is more of a stiffness or an ache. A more significant injury, like a muscle pull or a herniated disc, you’re going to get a lot more sharp pain associated with it.” Brian Sokalsky is a doctor specializing in sports medicine. His office is located in Ocean City. To contact Dr. Sokalsky, call 609-545-8553 Sokalsky said trying to figure out whether you have a back injury or just general stiffness can get tricky at times. He said the key to recognizing whether or not you should see a doctor is pain associated with certain body positions. “Muscle injuries tend to be more position specific. So, when you are either sitting, laying or standing, there will be certain positions that will be more painful than others. General muscle soreness after a workout tends to be a stiffness or an ache throughout your body,” Sokalsky said. Being in shape from another sport certainly can reduce the risk of injury, but Sokalsky warns against athletes having a false sense of security simply because they are in pretty good shape from having played a fall or winter sport. “Generally, if you are playing multiple sports, the athlete is in better shape,” Sokalsky said. “You see a lot of crossover between swimmers and rowers. Swimmers are in great shape, and so are basketball and soccer players, so when they transition into crew they are already in shape and ready to go, so that’s protective of injury. But when you’re talking about crew, that is a totally different set of muscles you are using compared to a sport like basketball. So you do need to develop that core strength for crew.” The first four or five weeks of the season can be a tough time for crew coaches. They want to get their top level rowers ready for a stretch of important regattas in April and May, but also have to focus on making sure first-time rowers can get acclimated with the sport in a safe manner. “Ideally, in the first few weeks of practice, or if they have camps or clinics at practice, teaching proper techniques from the start is key. And that’s true in any sport. When you start learning, the proper technique is the most important thing, because if you don’t learn that initially, it’s harder to break bad habits that might lead to injury than it is to avoid them to begin with,” Sokalsky said. “We see a lot of muscle pulls, but I have seen some more serious stuff such as early degenerative disc disease, herniated discs, pinched nerves, things like that. With crew, it’s more in the overuse category where it develops over time rather than one acute injury when they pull the oar and feel a pop or a snap. It’s usually a chronic injury that develops over time.”