Great Britain won their first silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics following a superb performance in the men’s slalom canoe by David Florence. An impressive time of 178.61 had seen Florence take the lead before Slovakian Michal Martikan eventually ran out as the gold medallist. Florence had started the day in fourth place, outside of the medals. However in the men’s kayak slalom British medal favourite Campbell Walsh crashed out of the competition finishing in last place.

The canoe kayak event is split into two main fields, the flat-water and the whitewater. The flat-water event demands a high level of endurance with the whitewater a more precision and technical based discipline. Competitions are either in the format of a race or a time trial.

Competing in the canoe kayak event places great stress on a competitor’s spine and so it is important that they have thoracic spine flexibility.

Canoeing consists of repeating the same cycle of body movements with a large output of force. It is for this reason that they suffer mostly from overuse injuries – usually of the spine. When dealing with such injuries, many aspects of the athlete must be considered and addressed. In canoeing, as in all sports that involve continually performing the same sequence of movements, technique plays a vital role in preventing injury. Poor technique will cause athletes to become tight in certain areas. If a canoeist is weak or has poor muscle endurance, then he/she will not be able to row with good technique.

A canoeist must have good core stability and strength around his/her scapulas to hold the correct body position in the canoe. Technique and strength are areas where athletes should strive for continual improvement, but achieving excellence in these areas is a long process. In the meantime, canoeists must still train hard to improve performance and, in consequence, parts of their body will become tight or stiff. The thoracic spine is one such area. The thoracic spine is the second most commonly injured area in the rowing field, after the lumbar spine. It is considered the least mobile area of the vertebral column, due to the length of the transverse processes, the costovertebral joints and the decrease in disc height when compared with the lumbar spine and rib cage.

Movements that occur in the thoracic spine are mostly rotation and flexion/extension. But both rowers and canoeists tend to become limited in extension because of the amount of time they spend in a seated position and their tendency to fall into thoracic spine flexion, especially when fatigued.

Extension stiffness is often associated with limited movement into rotation. It is essential that canoeists perform regular flexibility exercises to maintain their thoracic extension and rotation; otherwise, they place themselves at risk of rib stress fractures, facet and costovertebral joint irritation, which can often refer pain to the chest wall or muscle trigger points in the erector spinae, rhomboids, levator scapulae or upper trapezius. Stiffness in the thoracic spine can also place additional loads on other structures, such as the lumbar spine and shoulders.

To learn more about flexibility exercises for the spine and the best way to train for rowing events read this training for rowing report.