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Welcome to Power House Physio!

My name is Lisa Lowe, I am a rower and physical therapist in the Boston area. I am living my dream combining my passion for rowing and helping people live the active and healthy lives they desire through both rowing knowledge and experience and physical therapy. It makes my brain and heart so happy to get to discuss ways to help keep people on the water rowing or ergometer rowing or to help them meet whatever rowing or life goal they might have.  

Why Power House Physio?

There are many reasons I fell in love with the sport of rowing. Like many of us, I could go on about rowing for days, which is a part of where this blog comes in. I get to talk about everything in relation to rowing, and you get to read or listen to as much as makes you happy. There are some aspects of rowing culture and training that I have personally experienced and have observed in others that I think can be improved or approached differently. We have learned so much about the science behind training, the fuel, the equipment, etc and there is always more to learn.  The goal is to stay healthier, row better and enjoy rowing for as long as we desire. At the same time, we have a lot more to learn. I started this site as a place to compile what I am learning while also building a resource to provide rowers of all ages, classifications and experience levels with some simple ways to increase their rowing knowledge to build a stronger foundation for whatever aspect of rowing keeps bringing you back to the sport. The content of this site blends the knowledge and lessons I have learned both through my own rowing career and my work as a physical therapist. The goal of Power House Physio is to teach you more about your body and rowing in order to help prevent injury and increase your days training. For those who appreciate short lists, below are some of the motivating factors behind why I started Powerhousephysio.com.

The Strength of a Rower:

  • Passion for the sport 
  • The community you’re a part of
  • Rowers are driven in many aspects of life
  • Strong work ethic
  • Enjoy Active Life Styles
  • We’re freaking awesome (yes I am biased)!

Common beliefs that often do more harm than good:

  • More kilometers you row, the faster you’ll be
  • Cardio is all you need, never strength train
  • Rowing in pain is OK, everyone does it
  • Never miss a workout
  • Fueling during a long workout is not necessary
  • Rowing over sleep
  • Drastic and fast cutting is the best way to make weight

Common Contributions to Injury:

  • Decreased proximal stability (shoulders, core, hips)
  • Poor body awareness (yea we’re not always the smoothest)
  • Over training, under eating and/or inadequate recovery
  • Difficulty admitting when we are not OK
  • The need to please the team or coach before anything
  • Thinking more strokes means more speed
  • Equipment set up
  • Decreased joint mobility

What are the big keys to making a change?

  1. Learn to listen to your body
  2. Spend time outside of rowing making yourself stronger mentally and physically
  3. Act early and quickly when something doesn’t feel right (aches/pains/energy level/mood)
  4. Keep learning about yourself, your rowing stroke, your fuel, your teammates, your equiptment, etc. 

How to stay on the water, feeling good and rowing faster:

This is the whole reason I love sharing what I learn on this blog. It makes me so happy when someone is able to find a piece of information that can grow their knowledge of how the rowing body works to stay healthy and rowing. I find that the more I can help rowers learn more for themself the more days they feel good. Empowering rowers with knowledge of how to help your own rowing or your rowers (as coaches and rehab professionals) by learning simple ways to take care of yourself so you can keep meeting your rowing goals. The blog will generally discuss the anatomy and physiology behind injury and current rowing research with my interpretation to help apply what is found to taking care of your rowing body (as a rower), your athletes (as a coach) or your clients (as a rehab professional). I also look forward to building a resource for non-rowing knowledgeable professionals to help increase your knowledge of the sport so you can take better care of the rowers you have the opportunity to work with. 

The more you know, the more you grow and the faster you can become! Keeping your body healthy to show up to practice every day and put in good quality strokes, without being in pain, goes a lot farther than driving your body into a hole and having to constantly climb your way out.  I am glad you’ve found my blog and hope you enjoy whatever content you find interesting to you!

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