Paddling: Typical Injuries?
Nice guy! Sheeesh, there is no "self proclaiming" about it! As I'm sure YOU
do, I do what I do which alot of WW, before I got that bug I sea kayaked for
a couple of years, so I'm not generalizing, but trying to be helpful to a
fellow paddler and have the experience to attempt so. I also support the
flat water side of our club, and look down on NO one, not even rafters and
rec boaters! So save the retorts for someone else thank you, and may your
feather always be 90 degrees
"John Fereira" wrote in message
.. .
"Grip" wrote in
:
You'll simply have to try it. I had the tennis elbow thing once too,
but paddling did not hurt it further, and I'm an aggresive white water
guy. Sea kayaking is far more controlled ( well can be , some are very
aggresive there as well ).
I love it when self-proclaimed white water kayaker make generalaties about
sea kayaking...but that's not going to stop me from generalizing about ww
kayaking. One thing that sea kayakers, even those that regularly paddle
what might be considered "intermediate" conditions, have to deal with more
than ww kayakers is the wind. Even on a reasonable small lake the effect
of
the wind can be much greater than on a river, primarily due to the fetch
across the water. For that reason, most sea kayakers use feathered
paddles
(I'm not sure why most ww paddles are feathered at all) so that when a
forward stroke is taken the out-of-water blade cuts through the air rather
than pushing it with each stroke. Otherwise, when paddling for several
hours in a strong wind, it can put quite a bit of pressure on the wrists.
Even with a feathered paddle and using good torso rotation rather than
"arm
paddling" the cumulative effect of strong winds blowing on the blade can
have an effect after a long day.
Unfortunately, using a feathered paddle can excaserbate wrist problems as
well if one uses only their control hand, bending the wrist to it's
maximum
range to control the feather on the offside blade.
I've seen lots of experienced paddlers attribute wrist problems to the
paddle (specifically, the feather angle on the paddle) or that getting the
"right" paddle will cure wrist problems. I, however, believe that
technique
more than the choice of paddle influences whether or not might have wrist
problems.
"Maurice M" wrote in message
...
your scaring me now,
looks like I'll have to give tennis away for an extended period
because of a tennis/golfers elbow that wont heal and I was hoping to
get into sea kayaking pretty seriously (boat hunting at the moment).
does anyone have an opinion if paddling would aggravate this sort of
injury? (I think I really know the answer but I'm hoping someone will
say its a completely different muscle group/ rotation mechanism etc
g)
I still swim a few klms per week and the shoulders hold up ok to that
although breaststroke pings the ol' elbow too much for comfort.
maurice
wannabe sea kayaker
"Adolphe Menjou" "Adolphe wrote in message
...
"(PeteCresswell)" wrote:
Boxers damage their brains
Runners wear out their knees.
Mountain bikers break collarbones.
What about paddlers?
Shoulder injuries, for sure... but what else?
I'm thinking about my vertebrae when I paddle - on every stroke, I
visualize them grinding back and forth as I twist my trunk, maybe
wearing out the cartilage like a runner wears out the knees/hips.
Is there anything to this?
Other typical injuries?
--
PeteCresswell
Arthritis in the shoulders and elbows.
JAM
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