Tired, cramped inside lower- arm during pieces.

Question
Hi there,
Today during a piece,I realized that my inside lower-arm (the one that I am feathering with) was very painful during and after the piece. The pain extended from my wrist to my elbow, and slightly up into my shoulder. It felt very weak, and when we were done, my entire  forearm ached.  During the piece, it even caused me to catch a crab because I had a hard time feathering. I think the cause of this pain might have been that I was pulling mostly with my inside arm, rather than simply feathering with it. Do you have any advice?

Thanks so much.

Answer
Hello Katie: Since you have been rowing for several months now, I don't think it's a matter of your wrist not being up to the task of feathering for long periods.  I remember being a novice and having problems with something similar to what happened to you from starboard side.

I think you may have diagnosed your own problem.  The inboard (feathering) arm goes along for the ride.  Use the outside arm for pulling.

But it might simply have been a case that you were tired that day.  If it becomes a persistent problem, I recommend you do some strength training with your feathering wrist.  Do forearm exercises with weightss (like barbell wrist rolls) or see if you can buy one of those gyro ball exercisers that you hold in your hand.  Sharper Image sells them.

AP