Paddling: Typical Injuries?
 

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

Paddling: Typical Injuries?
 

"(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

Paddling: Typical Injuries?
 

Forget his name now but there was a physio who for his project examined
the status of the backs of paddlers who work in the industry -
instructors and the like. He discovered that they had greater incidents
of back injury than nurses. Talk to the play boaters and you will
discover they all have bad backs.

Me I have hyper-extended cruciate ligaments in both knees for getting
pinned and wrapping my knees the wrong way around the cockpit rim but
this isn't a common injury.

In message ,
"(PeteCresswell)" writes
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?

--
Dave Manby

Paddling: Typical Injuries?
 

Open boaters.....knees
"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

Paddling: Typical Injuries?
 

Hard to say the cause and effect relationship, but after 10-12 years of
heavy paddling in trippers, with all those 200lb portages and hours and
hours pushing a thousand-pound boat with just shoulder rotation, I now
have a chronic bad back that can be debilitating. I have nothing but
anecdotal evidence, but I have no personal doubt that hundreds of
thousands of twists on my lower back (efficient paddle strokes means
you rotate your shoulders), combined with the pounding on my spine when
tumping or portaging, has been the primary cause. I suppose the
unbalanced diet of a river tripper (low on fresh veggies, high on meat
and canned goods) probably had its impact, too.

Age certainly plays a role, but I was perennially young far longer than
my friends until my back went out. Now I have seemed to have aged
beyond them, as I am less able to hike up big hills, sleep on the
ground for extended periods, or take off on a run or hike without
serious consideration of 'plan B', in case my back goes out.
--riverman

Paddling: Typical Injuries?
 

Mothra wrote:
Dislocated shoulder is by far #1. I've also suffered a concussion
while paddling. Other paddlers have died from a blow to the noggin so
this might be #2 just because of severity.

Kathy, how did you hit your head when you suffered the concussion,
and what type of helmet were you wearing?

I've had 5 sharp blows to my head, all wearing the same red Protec,
but don't believe I got a concussion. Didn't black out or have
headaches the next day, anyway. Then again I'm an open boater,
so I'm never upside down trying to roll. Two blows were to the
temple, so it's good I had a full-coverage helmet.

Dislocated shoulders seem less frequent now that kayakers are taught
to paddle "within the box" but tendonitis seems increasingly common.
I also know about a few broken ankles from portage accidents.

The AWA does not have an injury database, only a fatality database.

Paddling: Typical Injuries?
 

I was wearing a skimpy kevlar helmet that "blew back" and so I struck a
couple rocks dead on with my forehead. Due to a poor design that only
had a single stap on each side buckling in the center. I've found that
helmet strapping systems like the one Grateful Heads uses with 2 straps
on each side coming to a V below the ear and then buckling under the
chin can completely eliminate this problem.

I've hit my head hard enough with a GH helmet to "see stars" and cause
stress (but not breakage) to the helmet (which was retired and
replaced), but that didn't cause a concussion.

And you're right - when I was an open boater, I never had any problems
at all with head injuries.

Paddling: Typical Injuries?
 

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 ).
"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

Paddling: Typical Injuries?
 

"Maurice M" wrote in message
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).
Grip wrote:
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...)

If you get a paddle with proper blade feather for your anatomy (check out
Werner sea kayaking paddles with totally adjustable feather) and learn
how to paddle from your shoulders with elbows always at the same angle,
sea kayaking should not exacerbate your tennis elbox. It could even help.

I find that muscle soreness or joint pain caused by one exercise is
often improved more by a different excercise, than by just sitting around
and waiting (i.e. "rest").

Paddling: Typical Injuries?
 

Bill Tuthill wrote:
If you get a paddle with proper blade feather for your anatomy
(check out
Werner sea kayaking paddles with totally adjustable feather) and learn
how to paddle from your shoulders with elbows always at the same angle,
sea kayaking should not exacerbate your tennis elbox. It could even help.

No feather at all works just fine, too. Contrary to popular
misconception, there is nothing ergonomic about a feathered paddle.
There is nothing more natural than an unfeathered paddle used without a
"control hand".