# How to mitigate hand pain from rowing



## flying (Jun 11, 2018)

I row probably 18 miles in an average day, sometimes more. I never experience pain while rowing. I am a small woman and have never heard of bigger male guides experiencing this problem. When I get off the water, I experience weird pain and aching in my hands. I cannot ball my hands into a fist, and often experience jerky finger movements, suggesting that my tendons are tight or distressed in some way. 

What can I do to prevent or alleviate this pain? I'm sure I'm holding on to the oars too tightly, and adjusting my grip may make a difference. But do you have any other rowing tips that may help with this problem?

If the pain is just going to be a reality this summer, I want to get some sort of stress ball to work on working through the pain. Any suggestions for those, or for any exercises that help release pain and tension in hand tendons?


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## HitMcG (Jun 6, 2018)

You might try wearing gloves with padding on the palms and bottoms of your finger joints. Stretching after rowing might help a little too. Good luck.


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## carvedog (May 11, 2005)

I try to stretch my hands regularly when rowing and it seems to help me from having issues. While not to your extent I have in the past had muscle cramping and pain at times. 

To do this I try to open my hands and fingers during push strokes. This makes them look like a big open horse shoe while pushing and then I barely close them enough to not lose the oar on the 'air' part of the stroke. 

I also like slide my hands off the grip and onto the large part of the oar shaft for a few strokes here and there (or more). This give you a tiny bit less leverage but during calm water. 

Another thing you might try is shipping the oars in to the point where they overlap and your hands are in the same vertical plane. From that position try 'bicycling' your oar strokes for a while as if you were pedaling a hand bike. 

Good luck. It sucks to hurt when you are on the river.


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## Treswright3 (May 20, 2013)

You have carpal tunnel, and it can become worse is you don't take it serious. There was a guy on the buzz who made and was selling some really cool oar grips, they might help.https://gilmanoargrips.com But for now you should buy some wrist braces and start wearing them to bed every night, this will help immediately.


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## flying (Jun 11, 2018)

I really appreciate the thoughtful replies and advice. Thank you!


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## sarahkonamojo (May 20, 2004)

Could be the grips.
I have a new set of Sawyers this year. the grips are much bigger in diameter. I don't have large hands. But when I went back to a set of cataracts the grips were very small and I felt like I was gripping more.


For me the larger diameter grip is a lot more relaxing.


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## lhowemt (Apr 5, 2007)

I have RA, and rowing can be a huge pain. Definitely work towards rowing less, more efficiently, and as lazily as possible when not in a rapid. Move all the joints gently and regularly through the day, no major jerking or snapping.


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## MrScamp (Mar 19, 2013)

I have tendonitis and possibly carpal tunnel as well. I learned it's easier for me to combat the inflamation before it flares up rather than after. I start each day with 6 advil (1200mg) in a loading dose and don't use it again until the next day. I used to be able to get by on 4 in the morning. I actually learned this from my doc that this is far more effective than 2 advil every couple hours. It also separates the ibuprofen intake from the evenings drinking to ease up on the liver.

I also take electrolytes in pill form because I got sick of the drink methods (still drink a lot of water with these). I quite like the Salt Lick electrolyte pills.

That's how I've been dealing the last several years though I think surgery is going to be needed likely.


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## funrivers (May 14, 2008)

I had the same issue and mentioned it to my physician who said she had the same issue. She tried oar rights and eliminated the problem. I started using them and haven’t had a problem for ten years now.


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## pepejohns (Jul 14, 2014)

I've been doing this routine regularly, and it has greatly helped my wrist pain issues. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6EOr10RZEw
GMB is a great program and they have lots of free videos and articles online.


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

sarahkonamojo said:


> Could be the grips.
> I have a new set of Sawyers this year. the grips are much bigger in diameter. I don't have large hands. But when I went back to a set of cataracts the grips were very small and I felt like I was gripping more.
> 
> For me the larger diameter grip is a lot more relaxing.


I have very large hands, and I also find large grips more relaxing. You do need to apply less grip strength to torque the oars.

For similar reasons, I would also assume that the narrower Sawyer blade would torque the grip a lot less than a wider standard Cataract blade.



lhowemt said:


> I have RA, and rowing can be a huge pain. Definitely work towards rowing less, more efficiently, and as lazily as possible when not in a rapid. Move all the joints gently and regularly through the day, no major jerking or snapping.


Do you row with wood or composite oars? I find that composite oars are a lot harder on my (generally) healthy joints. I used to row with Cataracts and am all-wood now.


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