Author: admin | May 15, 2023

“One performs at the level of the crew,” wrote American rower Stephen Kiesling in his 1982 book The Shell Game. “When every part of each body says stop, inexplicably the boat still continues.”

While rowers seem to endure unthinkable amounts of pain, the question persists: do rowers actually have a higher pain tolerance than athletes in other sports?

Research at the University of Oxford in Great Britain may have some light to shed on the matter, and the answer appears to have less to do with rowers than with the nature of how rowers train and move together.

Behavioural synchrony

Cohen and colleagues concluded from their research that engaging in synchronous behavior was a key part of withstanding higher thresholds of pain – such as rowers moving in time with one another. This isn’t exactly new information, but there are many unanswered questions according to Cohen.

It comes down to trust                                                         

“Togetherness and cohesion are important indicators of the quality of social bonds among individuals,” explains Cohen. “The effects of social reward and support on pain depend not just on the presence of others, but on the quality of the relationships – people in close relationships support one another and can rely on each other when the chips are down.”

The bonds of trust that exist in tight-knit teams take on an even greater significance in light of this information. It’s in our genes to seek out and benefit from the support of others. “Humans have evolved self-regulatory systems (in pain and other area) that take such social support into account,” Cohen says.