Why Is Back Pain So Common in Indoor Rowing, and Why Do We Downplay It?

Written by Cat Trentham

Ask any group of indoor rowers about back pain, and you’ll hear a familiar story. Stiffness, twinges, even recurring injuries that never quite go away. It’s the most common injury in our sport, with studies suggesting that around 30–50 % of rowers experience it each year (World Rowing Medical Commission, 2021). “Time spent on the ergometer and a history of previous injury are two of the strongest predictors of new back pain in rowers,” says physiotherapist Dr Fiona Wilson.

Despite this, back pain often gets dismissed as “normal” or “just part of the sport.” But common doesn't mean unavoidable. With smart training, back pain can often be prevented, or if you're already struggling, the right changes can help you move past it without sacrificing your performance.

The Problem Nobody Wants to Talk About

Back pain in rowing isn’t only down to bad luck or overuse - a lack of technical foundation plays a big role. Indoor rowing is often introduced with the assumption that anyone can sit down and go, with the numbers on the screen mattering more than the way you move. But chasing split times while skipping technique can mask poor habits that overload the lower back. Without enough focus on technique, sensible progression, and structured coaching, rowers are left vulnerable to avoidable injuries and chronic back issues.

Why Back Pain Happens

• Poor Technique: Rounding the back at the front, over-reaching, or slamming into the finish places repeated strain on the back.

  
  

• Lack of Progression: Jumping into high-volume or max-effort sessions without first building skill and strength sets the stage for injury.

  
  

• Fatigue-Driven Errors: When sessions are too long, too hard, or too frequent, form breaks down and the back takes the load.

  
  

• Strength Imbalances: When your glutes and hamstrings don’t do their share of the work, your lower back picks up the strain.

  
  

• Weak or Underdeveloped Core: Without the ability to brace and transfer force through the trunk, the back absorbs the impact. A strong core is essential for stability, posture, and resisting collapse under pressure.

  
  

• One-Size-Fits-All Programming: Generic plans that ignore training age, experience, or injury history leave athletes more vulnerable.

Why We Downplay It

Rowing carries a culture of toughness. Athletes pride themselves on suffering, and admitting to back pain can feel like admitting weakness. Most coaches and rowers still fall into short-term thinking, chasing immediate numbers on the screen while overlooking the long-term cost to athlete health. Many athletes also don’t realise that back pain is usually a sign of correctable technical errors rather than an unavoidable price of training. And often, there’s a reluctance to talk about it too openly for fear of putting off newcomers to the sport. Combined, these factors create a culture where back pain is brushed aside instead of addressed.

The Technique Traps That Lead to Back Pain

When back pain is normalised, the small errors that cause it often slip under the radar. On the rowing machine, a few common technique traps show up again and again. They may not cause problems right away, but over time they place more and more stress on the back. Spotting and correcting these details can make the difference between rowing that builds your body and rowing that breaks it:

• Rowing with the drag factor set too high:  A heavy flywheel feels powerful, but it punishes the back. Most athletes don’t realise that a lower drag factor improves rhythm, reduces lumbar load, and is faster, especially over longer distances. Set the drag factor for speed, not for show. British Rowing’s safety alert recommends drag‑factor ranges of 125–140 for heavyweight men, 120–135 for lightweight men, 120–130 for heavyweight women and 115–125 for lightweight women, with juniors working at even lower settings.

  
  

• Opening the back too early:  If the body swings open before the legs finish driving, the lower back absorbs force instead of transferring it through the hips. Drive hard through the legs first, and only open the body once the legs are nearly straight.

  
  

• Leaning too far back at the finish: Over-exaggerating the layback doesn’t add meaningful drive length or power; it just adds stress. If you’re leaning back more than ~30 degrees, rowing strapless can help regulate your finish position.

  
  

• Tight hamstrings with no mobility work: Limited hamstring flexibility can restrict your hip hinge and force the back to round at the catch. Over time, that repeated rounding can contribute to pain. Research shows this is mainly an issue when tight hamstrings are combined with weak glutes or sacro-iliac dysfunction, but it’s still worth addressing. If you know your hamstrings are tight, build a few mobility drills into your warm-up to protect your posture from the very first stroke.

In my coaching, I often see athletes who’ve rowed for years without ever learning the basic sequencing of legs, core, and arms. They row hard, but their bodies pay the price. Time and again, when technique is rebuilt, pain eases and performance climbs. Performance and health don’t have to compete. You can have both.

Why Back Pain Gets Amplified

Erg vs Water: Why the Machine Exposes Flaws

On the water, the boat itself provides instant feedback through balance and flow. Row too poorly and you’ll feel it straight away: in a single scull, one bad stroke can tip you in, while in a crew boat any inefficiency disrupts the whole rhythm. In short, the boat won’t move well unless everyone rows well.

On the erg that feedback disappears; without the risk of capsizing or a crew to sync with, technical flaws can be repeated again and again. Over-reaching, opening too early, or collapsing at the finish can all slip by unnoticed, with each stroke adding unnecessary strain to the back. That’s why it’s worth checking in regularly, whether through coaching or by filming yourself, to spot and correct issues before they become problems, protecting both your back and your performance.

The Ego Trap & Training Load

Rowing culture loves numbers, but chasing them every session can be a fast track to back pain. Treating every piece like a competition - against the leaderboard, your training partner, or even yesterday’s score, piles stress onto the body without giving it time to adapt. The same goes for endlessly re-testing your 2k or other benchmark distances without doing the focused work to actually improve them. Not every row should be an all-out effort. Light sessions need to stay light, and hard sessions should be the ones you truly push. A personalised training plan, with clear goals for each workout, delivers better results than endlessly chasing scores – and it protects your back in the process. Testing shows where you are; training is what moves you forward.

The Junior vs Masters Divide

Age shapes how back pain shows up. Juniors are still developing strength and control, and rapid growth can leave them with tight hips or inconsistent sequencing. Without the stability to support long sessions, the back often ends up compensating.

Masters face a different challenge. Old injuries, reduced mobility, or simply lower tolerance for sudden increases in training load all make their backs more vulnerable.

Different ages, same lesson: back pain comes from ignoring individual needs. Training plans have to respect where an athlete is starting from, not just where they want to go.

Strength Protects: Why the Gym Matters

Strength training, done well, is one of the best safeguards against rowing-related back pain. Barbell lifts like squats, deadlifts, and bent-over rows develop the posterior chain — glutes, hamstrings, and spinal erectors — so the load is spread across big muscle groups instead of being dumped into the back.

But strength work isn’t just about the legs. A strong core is essential for bracing and transferring force. Without it, the back absorbs the strain of every stroke. As Starting Strength coach Mark Rippetoe puts it: “A weak back is not safe. A strong back is a safe back.”

When combined with core bracing and anti-rotation drills, strength training doesn’t just protect against injury, it builds the resilience rowers need to handle training volume and deliver more power on the erg. Try adding rollouts, Pallof presses, or planks and side planks to your routine alongside barbell lifts to create a trunk that’s stable, strong, and ready for rowing.

Programming Pitfalls: Too Much, Too Soon

Another overlooked cause of back pain is the training plan itself. Many programmes simply ask athletes to do more than their bodies are ready for. As sports physician Dr Timothy Hosea explains, “abrupt changes in training volume are among the strongest predictors of overuse injuries.” Sudden volume jumps or stacking back-to-back intensity days leave no room for adaptation. Old injuries get ignored, and athletes are pushed through the same template regardless of their training history. The result? Bodies become overloaded faster than they can adapt, with the back usually the first to wave the red flag. Real progression only works when it’s gradual, individualised, and supported by enough recovery. Smart programming meets the athlete where they are and builds from there - not by forcing everyone into the same mould.

What to Do If Back Pain Strikes

First things first: don’t ignore it. Persistent pain is your body’s way of saying something isn’t right, and pushing through rarely makes it better. Scaling back intensity and volume temporarily gives your body the breathing space it needs to recover. As one physiotherapist explained in Junior Rowing News: “If you feel your back flaring up, keep moving but reduce the stress on your spine. Swap the erg for a bike to keep your heart rate up while taking load off your back. Avoid complete rest - movement remains your friend.” This idea is echoed by Dr Austin Baraki of Barbell Medicine, who stresses that “gradual exposure to movement, rather than complete rest, is what helps most people improve." In other words, staying active (sensibly) is part of the solution.

Gentle mobility drills such as child’s pose, cat–cow, or spinal twists may help ease stiffness, while targeted hip and hamstring stretches can relieve tension. If symptoms persist, seek guidance from a healthcare professional such as a physiotherapist. Acting early is always safer than pushing on and paying the price later.

Case study: Rob’s journey

Here’s a real-life example from one of my clients (shared with permission) that shows how tackling both technique and mindset can transform the rowing experience.

When Rob first came to me, he’d just had a flare-up that kept him off the erg for weeks. Even though his back felt better, he was wary of pushing himself, and every twinge made him tense up and sit stiffly, as though bracing would prevent further injury. That rigid posture was part of the problem. Physiotherapists from the Cleveland Clinic note that "worrying about damaging a sore back often makes us move in a guarded way, and the resulting muscle tension can actually increase pain."

We started with low-drag technical drills and light mobility, encouraging him to move smoothly and relax his shoulders. The focus stayed on moving well rather than chasing numbers. From there, we layered in strength work. Rob’s confidence grew as he learned to tell the difference between normal training soreness and injury pain. By building volume very gradually, within a month he was rowing three times a week without fear and by twelve weeks he’d shaved nine seconds off his 2k.

His story is a reminder that recovery isn’t just about exercises. It’s about restoring confidence, pacing the journey, and proving to yourself that progress is possible without pain holding you back.

Building Resilience, Not Breaking Backs

Back pain doesn’t have to be part of indoor rowing. With proper technique, progressive programming, and strength training to build resilience, it’s possible to row hard, keep improving, and stay pain-free. Rowing is an incredible tool for fitness and performance, but only if we respect it as a technical movement first - not just a machine to beat ourselves up on. Back pain should be the exception, not the rule.

If you’re struggling, my Indoor Rowing Technique Transformation sessions and bespoke Online Programming are designed to help rowers rebuild movement, protect their backs, and still make progress.

Because rowing should build resilience, not break it.