Back Pain in College Rowers

Back pain occurs more often as we age. Some jobs or sports put people at higher risk of back pain even when they are young. This is true of the sport of rowing. About 32 percent of competitive college rowers develop back pain. These authors wanted to find out what happened to young rowers with back pain as they aged. Could they continue rowing and leading active lives? Were they more likely to have future back problems?

To answer these questions, surveys were sent to college rowers whose graduation dates ranged one to 20 years earlier. More than 2000 rowers returned the survey. The authors asked whether rowers had back pain lasting at least one week before college, during college rowing, at any time after college, or at the time of the survey. They were also asked whether they had ever missed work because of back pain and whether they were still rowing.

Results were used to compare rowers with back pain in college to rowers who did not experience back pain. The results were also compared to back pain in the general population. Highlights of the article include:

  • Overall, the lifetime occurence of back pain in rowers was about the same as that in the general population.
  • Rowers who had back pain in college were much more likely to have back pain later in life. Almost 80 percent of rowers with back pain in college had back pain later. Only about 40 percent of the other college rowers developed back pain later.
  • Rowers who missed time from their sport or who quit rowing because of back pain were more likely to have back pain later in life.
  • However, the authors note that even the high rate of later problems in rowers with back pain in college is about the same as the rate of back pain in all people who have back pain at young ages.
  • Men and women rowers seemed to report back pain at about the same rates.
  • Three-quarters of rowers with back pain at any time in their lives rated their pain as mild. Only about five percent rated their pain as severe. These pain levels are lower than those reported in the general population with back pain.
  • Older rowers were more likely to have had back pain at some point in their adult lives. This would be expected, as back pain happens more often as people age.
  • About 32 percent of all the former rowers were still rowing. The current rowers were equally divided between those who had back pain in college and those who hadn’t.

    About one-third of respondents reported having back pain at the time of the survey. This is on the high end. The authors feel that could be because people suffering back pain might be more likely to return the survey. If this was true, then this study probably somewhat overestimates the amount and severity of back pain in former college rowers.