1. Don't Be a Rowing Fanatic
Rowing is a great way to get into shape since it works so many muscles of the body. However, this water sport does take some time to get used to. If your body isn't used to rowing, then you're more likely to injure yourself . Knee injuries in rowing as well as other injuries can become quite common. So be sure to limit your time rowing until your body gets used to the activity. Even if you're experienced, you should limit your time rowing. Excessive rowing can cause overuse knee injuries, among others.
2. Be in Reasonable Shape Before You Begin
Proper technique is important to preventing knee injuries while rowing. But it's very difficult to get into and hold proper technique if you're in very poor shape. Inflexible and weak muscles slip, strain and provide little support for your legs which can put unnecessary stress on your knees. Work on your core muscle strength, your leg strength, your arm strength and your cardio before you begin rowing.
3. Especially Keep the Thigh Muscles Strong
Knee pain is caused when the knee joint moves. In medical terms, this condition is called a subluxing kneecap. To prevent the knee joint from moving and causing knee injuries in rowing, it's especially important to keep the thigh muscles strong, with special emphasis placed on the inner thighs. Exercises for your inside thigh muscles include Pilates inner thigh lift and inner thigh squeezes with an exercise ball. A few thigh exercises that can be done with weights include cable abduction, standing hip rotation, 4-way hip abduction, slideboard skate, machine outer thigh and machine inner thigh.
4. Do Lower Body Stretches
If the muscles in your legs are flexible, then it's less likely that your legs will be injured and unable to properly support your kneecap. So it's important to regularly stretch the muscles in your lower body and legs. Suggested lower body flexibility exercises that you should do regularly if you're rowing include: abductor stretch, glute stretch, single leg hamstring stretch, standing calf stretch and the standing quadricep stretch.
5. Stop if You Feel Knee Pain
If you feel any type of pain in your knee, especially the type the gets worse as you increase the time or intensity of your rowing, then stop rowing immediately. If you push yourself, then you could injure your knee so badly that the only way to fix it is through surgery. After you stop your rowing training, see a physiotherapist or doctor as soon as possible. A specialist can usually help you deal with a minor knee injury and prevent it from becoming a much more serious one.
