# Injury Incidence in Traineras: Analysis of Traditional Rowing by Competitive Level and Gender
## 1 Introduction  
Rowing sports are categorized into three main disciplines: outdoor flat-water rowing, open water disciplines [1], and indoor variants. Traditional rowing can be considered an open water discipline and often employs a fixed seat, in contrast to the more widespread Olympic sliding-seat rowing, which consequently has been subject to more extensive research [2; 3; 4]. Given their similarities as sports in relation to the phases and paddling cycle, comparisons between traditional and Olympic rowing have been common in the literature [1; 2; 5]. Traditional rowing typically involves athletes using a single oar gripped with both hands and oriented either to the port (right) or starboard (left) side. The Olympic category includes events such as the eight (a boat for eight sweep rowers with a coxswin for direction), the four (for four sweep rowers), and the pair (for two sweep rowers), with options for coxed or coxless boats [6]. Despite the diversity of disciplines, all rowing forms require a cyclical movement pattern where the synchronization of leg and arm work is essential for maximizing stroke efficiency and achieving peak performance [7]. Although fixed-seat rowing modalities are widespread throughout the Spanish peninsula [8], Traineras rowing can be considered the modality that has acquired most importance in recent years [9]. In Olympic rowing, all athletes need to perform over 2000 m, women and men, while in Traineras owing, 5556 m, or three sea miles, must be completed in the shortest possible time during a regatta for males [1; 2; 3; 4; 10], and half of this distance, or 2778 m, needs to be completed by women [11]. Moreover, approximately between 5\({}^{\prime}\)30\({}^{\prime\prime}\)-7\({}^{\prime\prime}\) effort time (200-240 strokes) is required in Olympic rowing depending on the boat type and weather conditions, while 19\({}^{\prime}\)-20\({}^{\prime}\) (700-800 strokes) are needed in a Traineras male rowing competition [1; 2; 10], and 11\({}^{\prime}\)-12\({}^{\prime}\) (350-450 strokes) in women regattas, time that can be extended when the sea conditions become rough. Another characteristic that makes traditional rowing different from Olympic rowing is the _ciaboga_ maneuver, in which male Traineras turn around three times and women once in each regatta, which means that the boat loses speed that need to be recovered after each _ciaboga_[2], instead, in Olympic rowing boats go straight from the beginning to the finish line. Strength-endurance capacity becomes crucial for performance in both, Olympic rowing [12] and traditional rowing [1]. Among the differences while Olympic rowing takes place in calm waters such as rivers or lakes, traditional rowing modalities such as Traineras are mostly played on the sea [1; 2; 10], and their main characteristic is that the seat is fixed, so rowers do not use a sliding seat to propel on the sea, and instead a more pronounced flex-extension of the trunk is required [1; 10]. Among all rowing modalities, Olympic rowing is the most researched worldwide [13], and it can be considered the main reference for many fixed-sit rowing modalities. In Olympic rowing research, different aspects have been analyzed e.g., physiological variables [6; 7; 14], physical training [6; 15; 16; 17; 18], nutrition [17; 19; 20], anthropometry [21; 22; 23], psychology [24; 25], coaching [24; 26], or technical and biomechanical aspects [27; 28], seeking to improve athletes' performance. Likewise, we find how fixed-sit rowing has also been analyzed from different perspectives to seek athletes' performance [1; 8; 29]. e.g., form perspectives such as physiology [1; 2; 5; 30; 31; 32], physical training [33; 34; 35], nutrition [2; 36; 37; 38], anthropometry [2; 39; 40; 3], leadership and behavioral based investigations [41], psychology [42; 43] or biomechanical aspects [2; 4]. Despite the investigations carried out to improve athletes' performance, everything changes when a sports injury occurs, and injuries across sports have been consistently reported [44].