Anybody care to discuss common paddling injuries, the type that results from repetitive motion?
I'm suffering from shoulder pain that I haven't been able to get rid of for the last 6 months. I initially had a hard time locating the pain think I've narrowed it down to two places From what I can tell, its on the back side of my shoulder at a point just above where the crease of your armpit starts (or ends depending on your perspective). Its probably what you would call the teres minor muscle. At other times the pain is on the surface of the bottom portion of my shoulder blade. Its where the teres major or infra spinata attaches to the bottom of the shoulder blade. I used to experience sharp burning pain on the right side whenever I'd paddle for 15 - 20 minutes. Then pain can also be felt whenever I'm on a 45 deg. inclined bench doing dumbell presses.
I've tried massage and accupuncture. Massage feels great but does nothing. Accupuncture helps for about a month, then the pain returns.
Has anybody experienced the same kind of injury and more importantly, does anybody have suggestions on how to overcome the injury?
BTW, I found a couple of websites which show the muscles associated with the shoulder. Here's one of them: http://www.clinicalsportsmedicine.com/chapters/14a.htm
Submitted by Snarfblat on Fri, 01/02/2004 - 12:01pm
thanks for the flyer..it's an awesome flyer.. so i've been iceing it, and thats been working, have felt no pain since i started the ice.. until today, i was just cruising around waiting in line at AT&T for like an hour to get a new phone when all of a sudden my neck began to cramp.. only the left side, the same side as my hurt shoulder... and it's been pretty terrible pain all day, i can't look to the left or tilt my head at all to the left.. i just have to walk around tilted to the right.. which kinda sucks.. any ideas? think it could be related to the shoulder pain? any reccommendations for what i could do? thanks
#1 Fri, 01/23/2004 - 8:30pm
Hate to tell you this, but the cure for basically all repetitive injuries is to stop doing whatever makes it hurt for awhile. I'm got acromioclavicular arthritis from paddling, and although I can pretty much just deal with it, it's not getting better. I have found that switching to paddling a fast kayak for a while with a wing seems to have relieved the canoeing injuries, while starting on its own! So, maybe you need to crosstrain a bit more with another paddle sport.
Andrew
#2 Sat, 01/03/2004 - 2:19pm
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I have shoulder injury prevention flyer from the u.s.canoe and kayak team it has a lot of good tips on what to do to prevent injury if interested leave your e-mail and i will send it to you . aloha
#3 Sat, 01/03/2004 - 6:03pm
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[quote="Anonymous"]I have shoulder injury prevention flyer from the u.s.canoe and kayak team it has a lot of good tips on what to do to prevent injury if interested leave your e-mail and i will send it to you . aloha[/quote]
Please email it to me at farknocker@hotmail.com
Aloha
#4 Sat, 01/03/2004 - 6:19pm
I'm getting a replay saying that e-mail address is no good
#5 Sat, 01/03/2004 - 6:56pm
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I'd love to get that shoulder injury prevention flyer, if possible
bitwiz@myrealbox.com
Thanks
#6 Tue, 01/06/2004 - 6:01pm
[quote="Anonymous"]I'm getting a replay saying that e-mail address is no good[/quote]
Try farknocker@angelfire.com
#7 Tue, 01/06/2004 - 8:25pm
[quote="Anonymous"]I have shoulder injury prevention flyer from the u.s.canoe and kayak team it has a lot of good tips on what to do to prevent injury if interested leave your e-mail and i will send it to you . aloha[/quote]
Maybe someone could try attach the file here?
#8 Tue, 01/06/2004 - 9:42pm
Hi Keizo......very interesting article....my husband has been suffering with that shoulder pain from last year. I think its from too much paddling. He goes from one man to six man with no rest. Yes....he loves to be in the water.....same story.....born and raised down by the beach. He took the shot before Molokai and felt so good that he hasn't stopped paddling since but now his starting to feel that pain again. Oh well.....the cure is probably rest but cannot convince a "hard head" to do just that.
#9 Wed, 01/07/2004 - 8:00am
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did that article help anyone
#10 Wed, 01/07/2004 - 8:17am
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wondering if its possible to still get that flyer? my email is levslin07@mckenna.edu
I've been having pretty constant shoulder pain for the last couple weeks, but it seems to go away like 15 minutes after i start to paddle.. numbs up i guess.. it's my first real pain from paddling, i'd always heard the older guys complain about shoulder pain and back pain and always figured i'd never get... I guess it means i'm getting old :(
#11 Fri, 01/16/2004 - 10:55am
When my shoulder was giving me pain, I started paying attention to how I was sleeping. I was always sleeping rolled over on that shoulder. I started focusing on sleeping on my back or front and it helped me a lot (I have very broad shoulders). Maybe it'll help you, maybe not.
Please email me the article, <email address in profile>
#12 Fri, 01/23/2004 - 8:53pm
With permission from Dave Jenkinson here is the USACK Guide to Shoulder Exercises that's being emailed around. He said he hopes to update it in the next few months, but regardless I thought it was one of the best reads for paddlers. Information everyone should know.
#13 Fri, 01/23/2004 - 9:33pm
I hate to say it but many injuries are caused by bad technique if you find a problem comming back often look at your technique first
#14 Fri, 01/23/2004 - 10:20pm
last night i made sure to sleep on my good shoulder... i woke up for my morning paddle feeling pretty good, a little pain but not so bad. So I went to my mini resevoir where I paddle, braved the freezing temperatures (my fingers and toes are still numb), warmed up for a couple minutes, stretched very well, and started going at 80%. I was fine for about 3 minutes, until I honestly could not take another stroke because of the pain. I stretched, and limped around finishing my circle of the resevoir at a super slow rate hoping the pain would numb up like it has in the past.. It just got worse and worse and hurt pretty equally on both sides.. A sharp sharp pain unlike anything i've had before, in the back of my shoulder and going up my neck.. I switched to a shorter blade because of the persistent dull pain I was having, and after using it only twice now i have this incredible pain that I'm getting kinda freaked out about.. :( anyone have anything similiar ever? A dull shoulder pain turning into incredibly sharp pain persistent pain that doesnt go away?
#15 Sat, 01/24/2004 - 6:21am
[quote="waterboy"]I hate to say it but many injuries are caused by bad technique if you find a problem comming back often look at your technique first[/quote]
Waterboy, I wouldn't consider technique as a major factor in a shoulder injury. I mean lets face it, paddling is a pretty intensive and repetitive motion for the shoulder joint however you do it. I think it has a lot to do with wether or not a person has other activity besides paddling to help balance out the muscles in the shoulder.
Also in the case of luke or myself where we've been paddling pretty much year round since age 12 or 13, I think we are probably more prone to injury since our shoulders were not fully developed. Quoting the article [i]
it has been found that over 70 percent of junior paddlers had marked weakness in the rhomboid muscles of the shoulder which puts them at high risk of shoulder injury. This weakness combined with ligamentious laxity (“loose shoulders”) often found in young paddler has led to a crisis of injuries in the paddling community. [/i]
And Luke, that sounds horrible. :shock: Did you try the weight exercises in the article? I have tried some of them and have found my shoulders to be amazingly weak for certain motions. The rotation one for example, I was having trouble with a 5 lb weight with my left arm. ha, and I don't even think my gym has any weights less than that. The one with the bungie cord looks good for rotation also. Anyway, I think you better do something about that.
#16 Sat, 01/24/2004 - 7:02am
Keizo, I’m sorry but I will have to disagree with you in this case. It has been my experience that many shoulder injuries are caused, or at least rooted in poor technique. I can think of at least 3 friends of mine that have had chronic shoulder problems due solely due to technique. One friend in particular was going to give up kayaking all together until she got the needed technique help at the Olympic training center, she has not had trouble since. One way to see is to have some one video you and then analyze your technique. I guarantee if you are having shoulder pain you will most likely see a problem that you had no idea about. Remember that flyer is for Olympic kayakers, and or people who are assumed to have good technique. I’m sure many things can cause pain, but I always try to find the root cause of the pain.
#17 Sat, 01/24/2004 - 10:15am
Hi waterboy,
I definitely agree, form, technique, and efficiency can always be improved. I'm sure certain motions will cause more stress than others and thus cause injuries faster. But the point I'm trying to make, and I think it's also the purpose of the article, is that your shoulder should have all around strength and stability in order to best prevent injury.
#18 Sat, 01/24/2004 - 1:01pm
My technique has always invoked plenty of criticism from pretty much everybody.. but, i've had exactly the same stroke since i was 12.. howcome the pain only came now?
#19 Sat, 01/24/2004 - 4:45pm
[quote="luke"]My technique has always invoked plenty of criticism from pretty much everybody.. but, i've had exactly the same stroke since i was 12.. howcome the pain only came now?[/quote]Luke,
The best thing to do is to stop paddling,get a message, get adjusted and rest until the pain goes away,no shoulder exercises at all. Then if the pain returns go get MEDICAL
help x-rays etc.
#20 Sun, 01/25/2004 - 6:52am
snarfblat.
Recently, i have been having pain in the location you described. I've noticed that my head tends to comfortably shift to the right. every day, i sit (a little elevated off the ground) facing my bathroom mirror and go through the motion of paddling while strictly watching the placement of my neck/head, shoulders and hips(its really key that you watch how these three main parts react together in the corse of the paddling motion). withen the last couple months of tediously practicing my posture along with vaa training, i can assuredly tell you that my shoulder pain is vanishing rapidly.
#21 Tue, 10/12/2010 - 9:54am
Aloha
rotator cuff tears are apparently super common in paddlers. Had great physical therapy at fysiotherapie to strengthen and stabilize but kept on experiencing pain. While able to paddle, I experienced significant pain too. Finally went to doc, Edward Weldon at Straub specializes in shoulders and elbows (?). He likes to make sure you really need surgery before cutting, so be prepared for a lot of tests. He finally repaired 3 of 4 tendons in there and reattached bicep .. Now, good to go...no pain during Na Wahine or after it! If you go this
route, be prepared to do nothing at all for weeks and stick to their program. Good luck..bad shoulder is a bummer.
#22 Tue, 10/12/2010 - 12:56pm
My doctor suggested physical therapy, bu tI don't want to go, it takes a lot of time away.....i get that link too for the article
#23 Tue, 10/12/2010 - 2:12pm
Is this article still available to get?
kainalu.24@gmail.com
Thanks!!!
#24 Thu, 10/28/2010 - 7:26am