How I Treated The Oxford Rowing Team for Sports-related Injuries
Preparing For glory
Five fifteen in the afternoon of 29 March 2008 might not mean much to the average person, but for nine individuals in Oxford, it is everything. That’s the date of the 154th Oxford versus Cambridge boat race and the athletes from Oxford University Boat Club have been training since September. Training comprises two sessions a day, including weekends, for seven months – all for a race that will last around 18 minutes. Not only do these guys have to train extremely hard, they also have to fit in being a student.
Specialising in the assessment, treatment and rehab of sports-related injuries
As well as being a lecturer in Sports Medicine and Athletic Performance for the University of Oxford, I also specialise in the assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of sports-related injuries for the university’s prestigious sports teams.
In particular, I enjoy being accredited as the osteopath to the Oxford University Boat Club men’s heavyweight rowing team. I have worked with the boat team for three years now and was originally employed as an osteopath consultant, alongside two physiotherapists. However, soon after I arrived, both physiotherapists left due to other commitments and so I was asked to take over the team’s physical training, as well as their injury rehabilitation.
Initially, I worked with the team every Thursday for two hours, showing them a range of exercises that they would do every day, with minimal supervision. Not long after I had started working with them, the captain, Barney Williams, asked: ‘When are we doing squatting and lungeing exercises?’ I replied, nervously: ‘When you are stable enough.
Core stability work and sport- specific exercises
However, it is important to bear in mind that most rowers, at somepoint, have back issues and this was certainly true for the Oxford team, because of this I was particularly keen to get the guys doing not just strength and fitness-orientated exercises, but also core stability work and sport- specific exercises that would help to keep them free of injury. I appreciate that most sports therapists will have heard of core stability but I am not sure how many are familiar with the two main systems known as the inner and the outer core units. The way I explained this to the rowers was – ‘imagine you are on the Thames and the water is very choppy. As you sit there in your boat you have to use your inner core muscle unit to keep the boat stable, but when you start to move the boat through the water, this is where the outer core muscle unit comes into play.’
