Jamie Vassallo: Hi, I'm a seventeen year old who up to eight months ago was extremely fit, training six days a week, running, rowing, weight training and playing competitive rugby as a hooker as well. However, I managed to sustain an injury to my lower spine, from over-training, and after several months and being airlifted off Snowdon, I was diagnosed with a narrow spine and several significant bulges on the spine. I was told to stay away from the gym this summer, but tried to keep up my fitness by swimming around five kilometres a day. Now, I have been told to give sport a go, and go about getting back into sport. I have been regularly taking cycle-rides, about half an hour a day, but I'm still a bit paranoid and uneasy about running again, thinking whether or not the high-impact will cause me more difficulties. Is rowing sensible for me, and do you think my injury is going to hinder me further?Terry O'Neill: I'm sorry to hear about your back problems. When considering your options I would say that swimming is the most effective way back to fitness. The next thing is body weight circuits where the focus is on flexibility and core stability, building up the muscles that support the spine.Although cycling is weight bearing it can stress the lower back because it is not symmetrical.Rowing on the rowing machine is symmetrical and stable, which rowing boats aren't; many sore backs start in boats that are not balanced and lurch from side to side.However, rowing on the machine requires the back to be used in a dynamic way, which from a positive point of view will strengthen the muscles but if there is a weakness in the back it could be aggravated.If you have the all clear from the medics then you can start a gentle recovery programme. Set the damper on level one and row for ten minutes to start with, being careful to warm up first and carry out some flexibility exercises afterwards to reduce the risk of stiffness.If there are no negative side effects then you can increase the time spent on the machine by five minutes each session. Once you get up to 20 minutes I would recommend you get off the machine and carry out the stretching routine so you are never seated for more than 20 minutes at a time even if you are doing an hour programme.A slow and sensible start to recovery will prove quicker in the long run as you reduce the risk of relapse.