Could it be my Paddle?
 

So Tuesday I paddled about 8.5 miles for the entire day. By the end of the day I noticed some slight pain in my left wrist right about where a watch would be worn. So my thought is could it be the length of the paddle I'm using, the type of shaft, or just that I did a lot of paddling and my wrist was not use to that. Anyone else ever have anything like this?

Get A Hobie and your wrist problems will go away.


Ken
Team Dana Point Jet Ski

Thanks Ken, I knew there would be at least one Hobie post. I loved your video of the spotties you were nailing the other day.

If I were paddling 8.5 miles, I'd be sore someplace. Probably need to change your style or rhythm slightly. When I first started paddling, the handle was pinching up into the bone of my thumbs - I wrapped tennis handle grips around the handles - helped a lot. Just saying you might need to make modifications.

I use to spend alot of money on equipment that made my body ache, finally figured out it was'nt the equipment but the body! Now i spend lots of money for the doctor. :canabis:

Are you feathering the paddle? I would consider technique.

Andy, wth is feathering?

Yes it's feathered and it's also a very inexpensive paddle. I was thinking of investing in a crank type shaft and longer. I don't think the one I have is the correct length and the blades I think are wrong for me.

Technique
 

It has a lot to do with weight and technique. I have an Onno one piece paddle that is only a 210 mm. I used it comfortably on a FND at 36 inches wide. With a short paddle use a high stroke and be sure to use your torso as well. A lighter paddle will have a lower swing weight. I'm not sure of my paddles weight but it is the lightest I have ever held.

"feathering" is offsetting the blades.

The bent shaft alleviated my wrist pain completely, less twist and torque.

I was watching a video on how the bent shaft puts the wrist and arms at the more correct angle for paddling. I think that's going to be the ticket is getting the bent shaft. Thank guys for the heads up. I can tell you that I know my technique that day was all over the place. I was tired and I know when that happens we tend to not be as focused on technique. Probably if I would have just relaxed and paddled one way the entire time I would have been fine.

Sure have... Think of this in mechanical terms.

When you paddle a long time your working joints muscles etc... Since your wrists and hands are the are right at the paddle they are getting constant stress and torque put on them. It's like the ball joint at an end of a drive shaft. All the energy you are creating through your shoulders is going right through your wrists.

Hours of paddling, if it's not something you do all the time is going to make you sore, and your wrists are likely places to get irritation or pain.



Just like your shoulder muscles apply force to drive you foreward the small muscles in the wrist and arm control the position of your wrists and hands, and how the distribute that force to the paddle. Those muscles can get tired and change the way your holding the paddle without you even thinking about it.

Next time try varying your grip and where your hands are on the paddle.

Sometimes I've found my wrist is hurting and realized that I'm holding the paddle closer to the end with that hand, or that I'm just pushing to hard and gripping the paddle too tight.

Altering your grip will slightly change how your paddle stroke is putting tension and energy from you shoulders through your wrist. They idea is you want a relaxed grip that doesn't add stress, but that applies the torque to the paddle in a fluid steady motion.

Ultimately when I get pain I just think I need to paddle more. From back pain to shoulder pain to pretty much anything involved muscles controll the alignment of joints bones etc... the stronger the muslces are the more likely things will have the propper alignment under load.

Unless your doing something that is actually causing a repetitive injury these type of things will disappear as you paddle more and strengthen the muscles involved.

Jim

There you go....:cheers1:

Jim

Man I love this site. I am loving the feed back that I am getting on this and it makes perfect sense. Thinking about it now I think I was gripping the paddle too tightly. I'm sitting here at my work desk and when I grip like I was holding my paddle I feel the tenderness in the wrist. Now I think I was gripping too tightly and that was putting the strain on that muscle. I remember my right has was loose and relaxed and my left has was solid and tight. I see it now and I know how I did it.

I have a nice Werner bent shaft paddle; it took a little (very little) while to get used to, but I have no wrist issues. Go see Andy, he'll hook you up.

I remember the first time i went out for 8 miles i was in pain, but the real pain didn't come until i tried to sleep on my side. It was so painful, i was so sore. Then i kept on paddling and my muscles kept getting bigger and the pain slowly kept diminishing.

well my muscles aren't that big, but i see the difference. :D


You might try out this paddle, I have been looking at this paddle for a few weeks now, but i can't justify this purchase with my wife.... :*(

http://www.outdoorplay.com/Bending-B...&cvsfhu=383236

The only pain I'm having and it's really not pain. This is day 2 since my 8 mile paddle and the soreness is going away which tells me it's muscle pain. I must add I slept like a baby that night, nothing was going to wake me up.

I love the workout that I get from Kayaking Do you know that Kayak on average burns about 475 calories per hour? Yes, I'm also a health and fitness nut.

being a health and fitness nut an 8-10 mile paddle should be a piece of cake.:eek:

8 to 10 miles paddling for the first time wasn't so bad. Running 8 to 10 miles would have been no problem at all. Trust me the muscle memory for paddling that many hours in a day has not been built up yet, but it will be. With all that said I plan on upgrading my paddle and working on my technique. Seeing how this was my 6th time out on a Kayak, I think I'm doing pretty good. Each time I have gone out I have increased my paddling distances greatly trying to get ready for La Jolla, I think I'm ready honestly.

I own a Hobie now for kayak fishing, but I used to just kayak/paddle on a sit-in. My advice may not be too helpful since sit-on-top kayaks sit a bit higher then sit-in kayaks.

I was taught not to use my wrist at all when paddling. There were two concepts I remembered that may be useful.

First - when you paddle you are actually using your torso to move the paddle through the water. Your arms will fatigue sooner than your body will. Go grab a paddle and a big inflatable ball and sit on the ground. I'll wait....:) Now go ahead and hold the paddle in your hands like you are going to paddle out to Lake La Jolla. Wedge the ball between your chest, arms and paddle; or imagine there is one there. Now pretend to paddle. You notice you have to dip your paddle into the water by moving your torso and twisting your body. Many paddlers do not twist their torso, but just move there arms. There should be very minimal arm movement when paddling.

Second - Most paddlers use only a push movement when they paddle when they can use a pulling action at the same time, thus sharing the burden of moving the paddle through the water. This concept is really hard to describe yet very easy to show. Go grab your paddle again. If you are putting your left blade into the water you would pull with your left hand as well...but wait. You can also push the paddle with your right hand at the SAME time. If you do this you can move the paddle through the water using a push and pull movement and NOT just the push movement. If I was to freeze frame your hand posture in this example above your left hand could be in a cradle (not fist) and your right hand could be an open palm. Now you wouldn't paddle this way, but you can do this to visualize the idea I'm trying to show. This concept is really useful when you are cruising and not necessarily looking for a burst of speed. For example, don't do this while your are launching through the surf.

Your legs and knees come into play as well, but I think it is more pronounced with sit-in kayaks. The basic idea is to paddle with your body not just your arms/wrists.