© Photo thanks to Brian Andrews
Andrews tried the indoor rower on paraplegics and
it worked, o;ering the highest intensity exercise
without overstressing the upper limbs. “These
people use their arms a lot and a good proportion
of them end up with repetitive strain injury because
of overuse in their upper body.” There was a further
bonus as the pulling action in rowing is the opposite
of the pushing action of moving a wheelchair, so
the rowing action helps to balance the wheelchair
pushing action. Further, the elevation of oxygen acts
to prevent heart disease and obesity and potentially
bone density loss.
Since using FES Rowing Gibbons’ muscles have
developed in his paralysed legs. “My legs look
able-bodied,” says Gibbons. “I also stopped the
reduction of my bone density.” It is typical for a
paralysed person to have bone density loss and
therefore severe risk of fracture, but Gibbons has
managed to increase his bone density since an
accident that left him paralysed at the age of 45.
Gibbons is now 54 and his bone density is stable.
FES Rowing has now been developed
to a stage where it has been used
in a boat on the water and since
2004 FES Rowing has been part
of the British Indoor Rowing
Championships. In 2006 it was
used at the CRASH-Bs Indoor
Rowing Championships in
Boston, USA.
FES works by sending electrical impulses to
the nerves that supply the muscles by sticking
electrodes onto the skin. This stimulates the nerves
to fire the muscles to contract. For rowing, the
quadriceps muscle is stimulated on the drive of the
stroke and the hamstring muscle is stimulated on
the recovery of the stroke. This is controlled by a
switch on the handle of the indoor rowing machine
so that every stroke is managed by the rower. Thirty
electrical pulses are put through per second and
these can be up to 150 volts. The amount of volts
is chosen by the rower and can be adjusted during
the workout with changes brought on by fatigue.
Gibbons has had further success as he can now
stand for a couple of hours every day. “I know
the benefits it’s done for me both physically and
psychologically.”
Gibbons’ daily workout doing FES Rowing is about
30 minutes long. He says this is the right length
of time to avoid pressure sores. “My backside is
paper thin (a consequence of being
a paraplegic) and it can get pressure
sores within a few minutes.”
The success of FES Rowing can be seen in Gibbons
and the Paralympic Champion in the arms and
shoulders men’s single sculls, Tom Aggar (Great
Development and refinement
continues on FES Rowing
and Andrews is working
with a company that is
developing a prototype
for those with spinal cord
injury with a group at Harvard
University’s Spaulding Hospital, led
