I’ve been having some issues with my upper back during rowing recently. I row almost daily, 5-7km per row and a 10k row once a week, and at ca 4km, I have started to experience a burning sensation in my upper back. It starts slowly and increases in intensity but stops when I stop rowing.
Thus I stopped my weekly 10k, I have reduced my drag factor back to 75, and I keep my rows under 30 minutes. Focussing on technique, sitting upright and relaxing my arms helps a bit, but I can feel that the aching pain is always just beyond the horizon, ready to swell into a burning ache.
This pain is a strange one, as I have now rowed for three years without any back pain, so I don’t know what changed.
- Was it that I’m rowing now many more km in total per week (ca 45km per week)?
- Was it that I stopped Yoga, leaving my mobility weaker than when I practised daily yoga?
- Was it that I tried some new techniques that, in turn, messed up my technique? I’ve worked recently on being more conscious of my arms and shoulders.
- Or is it something completely outside of rowing, bad posture during the day or bad position whilst sleeping?
So what to do?
Well, my first searches demonstrated that this is not the common back pain that rowers experience, which is more often in the lower back, resulting from bad technique. And some deeper searches found some strengthening and stretching movements that I will try for the next week.
But in general, some tips for avoiding upper back pain are:
- During office work, keep an upright posture and don’t slouch
- While sleeping, keep an open position. E.g. as a side sleeper, keep upper body angled upwards. Try a pillow between legs and a pillow hugging with arms, which keeps the body open somewhat.
- While working, make sure the screen is high enough for the chin to be lifted slightly
- Avoid scrunching your neck when lying in bed on your back and looking at a smartphone
So, planner that I am, I needed a bit of a plan and trawled available YouTube channels to bring together some workouts with an upper back focus.
Some familiar names make an appearance, and for those who row like me, there are also rowing-specific alternative rows that attend to a rower's back.
I’ve done a few of these before, but I’ll be working my way through these in the next two weeks, specifically focusing on improving my back pain situation.
So for those who are looking to give your upper back some workout-love? Happy working out!
★★★WEEK 1/2★★★
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★★★Day 1★★★
Tone and Tighten (15 min) Thoracic Spine Pain | Upper Back Exercises From A Physical Therapist
The Tone&Tighten video had some very useful spinal mobility and strengthening exercises, but it’s sadly not a follow along video. So I just dropped everything into my workout app. It’s not perfect as it does not have these excavated movements, but it gives me timings.
Exercises done:
MOBILITY:
★ Thoracic Rotation Stretch (20 sec hold x 3) (lie on side, knees pulled up, one hand on hip, rotate)
★ Chair Extension Mobilization (5 sec x 3) ( on chair, support back of head with hands, bend back. Scoot forward to change position)
★ Foam Roller (60+ sec) (lie on roller on back, roll over spot)
STRENGTHENING:
★ RoWS (10 reps x3) (Resistance band, stand and alternate rowing pulls. With body rotation)
★ Wall Angels (10 reps x3) (back to the wall, arms up, slide arms up and down forming W to V)
★ Prone W's (10 reps x3) (superman’s, then Ws)
ROWING:
★ Practice Pause Drills (10min w/ 4sec pauses) (pauses on arm outstretched, forward lean, just before moving forward)
★ Decompression (Traction) - Exercise (on padded knees in front of bed, arms on bed and bent back to my on shoulders, go deep, breathe. 3x
★ Gravity-Assisted Extension - lie on bed, head overhanging over the edge, give support by cracking head with hands. Let gravity pull head down. With feet adjust amount of overhang. 3-4x
★ Thread the Needle - standing in front of door/wall. Hands up on wall, squat pushing upper body towards door. Once there, thread the needle (arm under other arm, rotating upper body). 3x. breathe.
★ Shoulder Blades - sit on stable chair, back of head head supported in hands whilst leaning back. Breathe. Scoot forward for a different spot to lean from. 3-4x. Breathe.
ROWING:
★ 10 minutes off 4 strokes on (18 SPM) + 1 stroke arms and body only,
First video was more for pinched nerve than my upper back pain, but can’t hurt.
MOBILITY
★ EXERCISE 1. Retraction with traction - on bed on back, head off bed on hands. Tuck chin in. Let weight do it’s job. Then traction - pull head away from body with hands. Keep chin tucked. 10x
★ EXERCISE 2. Retracted lateral flexion - standing. lean away from pain. Look away. Hold 10x.
★ EXERCISE 3. Chin-tucked Thoracic Cat-Cow - on knees/chair, hands in front. Cat cow. 10x
★ EXERCISE 4. Reciprocal Inhibition with traction effect - standing, chin tucked. Thumbs under chin, push head down thumbs up. Back of headed lifted. Hold 5sec. 10x
TIPS:
★ Lift phone when sitting or standing, to avoid always looking down.
★ Exercise 1. Towel Roll - lie on floor on towel roll, lengthwise, on back. Hands cradelling back and of head. Lift head only. Bend legs. Ca 5x
★ Exercise 2. Thread The Needle. On all fours. Thread needle - hold - then unthread and continue to lift arms and upper body up. Alternate. Ca 5x.
★ Exercise 3. Side Bending. Back to large wall. Bend in that 3rd plane of motion, along wall. As off squeezed flat between walls, and bending sideways. Ca 5x
★ Exercise 4. Thoracic Cat-Cow. On arms (not hands) and knees. Then cat-cow. Keep chin tucked in at cat. Ca 10x.
★ Exercise 5. Chin-Tuck PLUS. Sit on edge of chair. Hands behind on sides. Tuck chin. Protrude chest and tuck chin. Ca 10x.
Day 6 : I have been adding scapular push-ups to my post-run and lost-row stretching regimes, just to get more of these into a daily practice. We’ll see if they are good for adressing my upper back pain whilst rowing.
Day 7 Still exploring Upper Back mobility and strengthening!
Chatting to hubby this morning about all my exercises for my upper back, I showed him some of the workouts I’ve come across. Hubby has had some protruding shoulder bone issues in the past due to a cycling accident in his 20s. So once in a while, when his shoulders give him some grief, he attends to them through targeted upper body exercises. (He is pretty fit, has a great body, is a former runner, is currently an extensive walker and does daily strength exercises).
So I showed him this video linked below, which systematically goes through back muscles exercises. It’s far too advanced for me, targeting gymnasts, but I thought I’d put it here for those of us workout buddies that are much more advanced than I ever will be. (And just watching what a gymnast's body can do is amazing all by itself).
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Week 5 Strength and flex plan
