Report on the Maadi Cup Posture Study

Gill Johnson , Margot Skinner

University of Otago, School of Physiotherapy

2012

University of Otago

E-mail: gill.johnson@otago.ac.nz

The Maadi Cup Posture Study was undertaken on Junior (lightweight) school girl rowers over three consecutive years 2009-2011 with funding support from SPARC. The study was conceived on the basis of reports of high levels of low back pain in rowers and little information being available about the description of backpain and its relationship with factors including age at which the sport was commenced, rowing style, training and anthropometric factors such has height and weight.

The event was held at Lake Karapiro in 2009 and 2010 and Lake Ruatanawha in 2010. Around 1,400 school girls compete in the Maadi Cup event in any one year. Over the three years 363 schoolgirl rowers volunteered to participate in the study and 31 of these participants undertook the study on two or more occasions. Participants were representative of the demographic distribution of schoolgirl rowers across New Zealand.

Results showed that the prevalence of back pain is high amongst the schoolgirl rowers competing at the national level with 46.1 % of the participants experiencing backpain within the last year. The incidence of backpain in the rowers followed by the course of the study was calculated to be 4.0 per ten person years. A finding of concern was that just under a quarter of the study participants 22.5 % (18.9 % to 27.5%) were currently undergoing treatment for upper or lower back pain problems.

This is one of the most comprehensive studies to be undertaken on adolescent female rowers in New Zealand and it is hoped that the results of this study will serve to inform policy not only for Junior (lightweight) school girl rowers but also to provide benchmark data that can be used to make comparisons with data obtained for sedentary/non-athletic female adolescents.

Based on the results from the Maadi Cup Posture Study the following general recommendations are made with regard to spinal health:

• that more attention is given to those Junior (lightweight) school girl rowers who are receiving ongoing back treatment for their spinal problems
• practically this may mean that either the level of rowing exposure is reduced or alternatively these rowers undertake a modified programme of rowing and training programme.
• that coaches involved in the training of schoolgirl rowers take a proactive role to the prevention of spinal problems by paying attention to rowing techniques particularly in those rowers who begin to complain of backpain. Rowers themselves also need to be made aware of the importance of sound rowing techniques.
• that there is no foundation for rule changes regarding sweep rowing at the Junior (lightweight) school girl rower level based on our results that relate to the examination of the association between rowing style and backpain patterns.
• in terms of spinal health although this study has focused on back problems in Junior (lightweight) school girl rowers it needs to be highlighted that rowing itself as a sport is not necessarily problematic for the spine.
• the longterm benefits of exposing young females to repetitive loading during rowing at this age group should theoretically promote bone health and be protective against spinal osteoporosis into old age and therefore rowing should be advocated in this positive light.

Keywords:

Spinal posture, spinal health, lowe back pain, rowing, junior school girl (lightweight) rowers,  females, spinal osteoporosis, Maadi Cup

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February 2, 2012

February 2, 2012