Tarina van der Stockt, PT, DPT

Tarina graduated as a Physiotherapist from the University of Pretoria, South Africa in 2005 and completed her transitional Doctorate of Physical Therapy at the University of St Augustine in 2021, with a Specialisation in Education. She is the Education Director at Physioplus and is responsible for the managing of all course creation, content and team members.

Tarina also completed post-graduate training in Orthopaedic Manual Physiotherapy, Sports Physiotherapy, and Dry Needling. She has clinical experience in musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction, manual therapy, sports injuries, amputee rehabilitation, and reintegration into sport for people with disabilities. She also lectured part-time on some of these topics at various South African universities, post-graduate courses and Baylor University's DPT program.

Throughout her career, Tarina has worked as a physiotherapist for Team South Africa during large international sporting events, which includes 2 Paralympic Games and 2 Commonwealth Games. She has worked with different sporting codes including athletics, weight lifting, cycling, triathlon, swimming, and rowing. She is passionate about helping other people continue or return to doing what they love doing. She is also on the Para Rowing Classification Advisory Committee for World Rowing.

Low Back Pain in Rowers – Part 1 on the Rowing Sports Medicine and Science Conference

February 13, 2019October 12, 2022 by Tarina van der Stockt, PT, DPT

The 2018 Rowing Sports Medicine and Science Conference was held in Berlin in November. I had the wonderful opportunity to represent the FISA Para Rowing Commission at this Conference. It was a very informative conference where each session was an engaging experience.

This first post will focus on Low Back Pain in the rowers, the second on Rib Stress Injuries and Fractures in Rowers, and the last post on Injuries in Paralympic Sport. I will also share some additional resources I found online.

If you want to view the main sessions you can follow this link to the agenda and youtube videos.

Low back pain (LBP) in rowers was a hot topic as 68.3% of rowers experience LBP before the age of 16 and it is crucial to prevent the first incidence. This is a quick summary of the important aspects I wrote down:

Prevention strategies:

Ergometer sessions should be reasonable in length (<30 min)
The ergometer should not be used as a warm up especially before weight training as it may lead to low back pain or injury. This is due to an increase of flexion and loading on the lumbar spine leading to ‘spinal creep’ and a decrease in proprioception.

Evaluation:

A full squat is a useful test in rowers to evaluate hip, knee, and ankle ROM and to observe pelvis control during the movement. Full hip range is important to prevent LBP.

Rehabilitation:

Train core stability with dynamic exercises and not just isometric holds like static planks
Improve ROM of lower limbs and hip ROM with stretches and exercises
Use squatting as a rehab tool with different progressions
Eccentric to concentric trunk control with hip flexion
Utilize trunk rotation and lumbo-pelvic control exercises

Tarina van der Stockt, PT, DPT

Low Back Pain in Rowers – Part 1 on the Rowing Sports Medicine and Science Conference

Prevention strategies:

Evaluation:

Rehabilitation:

Online resources:

Read the next post – Part 2 – Rib Stress Fractures in Rowers

Tarina van der Stockt, PT, DPT

Prevention strategies:

Evaluation:

Rehabilitation:

Online resources:

Read the next post – Part 2 – Rib Stress Fractures in Rowers

Related online courses