Costochondritis and rowing

From the Masters Rowing International Facebook group – this discussion. If you want to read the full post you’ll need to answer the new joiner questions to join the group.

Hi Rowing Community! Does anyone here have experience with costochondritis and hypermobility/EDS? I’m hoping to speak with someone who has dealt with this and how they modified training and form. Thanks!

Replies to the post

Anne Grainger I had costochondritis in 1992 (Barcelona). I used lots of ice (not sure that would be the case today) and took high dose ibuprofen while competing. It took several years to fully recover and by then I had stopped competing.

Sue Ann Curtis I only have hypermobility so I don’t know if I’d be very helpful. I don’t need to modify otw, but have found that I have developed some bad habits in sculling to try not to have subluxes in my shoulders. The proper technique really doesn’t cause my shoulders to have subluxations I think i am just paranoid. I have not experienced any knee over extensions, but I do know that can potentially be a problem as well if you go all the way back at the catch and lock your knees. I know someone who has experienced this.

Where I run into the most problems is weight lifting and have found certain lifts i can’t do at all. But most olympic lifts are fine.

Gretchen Newman Hi Suzanne! I have Lyme, fibromyalgia, and EDS. It’s definitely been a struggle, but I’ve found that sculling works better than sweeping. I can’t train on the water more than 3 days a week bc recovery is significantly slower than normies.

Long pieces are the worst due to the repetition. Sprints almost always lend to cramping at the end for like 10 minutes so cool down is imperative. I’m also a bodyworker, so I tend to be life focused on wellness anyway. But diet, protein, carbs, balanced, are essential. Soft tissue work with a scrapping IASTMT tool post row helps significantly, along with regular massages that focuses on intercostals and the whole posterior chain.

Strrrrrong shoulders through cross training at the gym, really anyway that you can get more muscle on will protect your joints from EDSh symptoms. I’ve worked with a couple personal trainers that specialize is weight training for EDSh, it changed my life and got me back into the competitive shape I was in college and high school. Prior to that training I could barely run a 5k, now I run halfs a few times a year.

I think just understanding that your recovery needs are going to be significantly different and that little tweaks in the boat are important. For the longest time on the drive I hyperextended my knees, so I’ve had to adapt to bringing my feet closer to my body, so the backs of my knees slightly touch the track helping them to not hyperextend. I get way more track bites but my knees don’t hurt like they used to post row. I was falling through my finish until I devoted a couple times a week to a low volume ab workout that helped stabilize my lumbar spine. And learning to end my finish a little earlier took the brunt off my low back which I think might always be my weak spot with EDSh. I was famous for a deep lay back…. But completely unneeded, it was just how I was built before knowing about EDSh.

I’ve found that low volume rowing is actually really beneficial to my symptoms. And that when I focus on strength out of the boat, and am aware of what stacking my joints and properly loading them feels like, this transfers to the row. First identify where you are overreaching, extending too far, and compromising joint stacking, then make little adjustments to those areas incrementally. Idk if I’ll ever get used to a more upright finished and closer feet but I am trying my best.

[Note: This is not medical advice, we are only sharing what our community has advised.]