The most common injury in flat water paddling is a torn rotator cuff. It can happen even to very skilled and experienced kayakers after an awkward paddle stroke, but is very uncommon everyday paddling. The increased chance is often related to increasing age and general wear and tear. The most common cause for a rotator cuff injury in the general public, reaching behind oneself for something in a car.
Biking has a lot more chance for a serious injury mostly related to falls, not just biking itself. Whitewater kayaking also has a great deal of more serious injuries, not just to awkward paddle strokes, but being separated from the boat and colliding with rocks and other objects in the water.
My brother dislocated his shoulder doing white water. He had taken classes, but apparently made the wrong moves with relation to elbow and shoulder.
My rotator cuff damage was a combination of factors. Micro tears, repeatative stress damage, lifting stone holding them straight out (surgeon and my daughter, physical therapist assistant, and her husband a PT, could figure it out). Two tendons detatched and the ball hangs below the socket. Iāve learned to adapt without it. After 41 trips over two seasons, within .16 mph of best time registered over the same course 12 years ago. The body adapts.
So I think ww c1ing was pretty destructive on my own knees and possibly the hips. I didnāt expect to get two hips replaced at age 54 but the result is much less pain now and switching over to a kayak has kept me boating. So wear and tear can be a part of it.
In general, folks that use a canoe paddle experience less dislocations. In a wwc1 I dislocated a finger pretty good seal launching off a rock. My finger got caught under the boat as I was sliding down the boulder. My other traumatic injury was a dislocated shoulder. It was an impact dislocation when I flipped in the bottom of an 8 foot drop but I was kayaking. The base of the drop was very shallow thus the injury. My recovery went well for that and regained most of my range of motion and donāt feel susceptible to reinjury.
The aca has pushed āthe paddling boxā concept to keep ww paddlers safe from shoulder dislocation. Keeping strokes in tight and rotating the core helps as well. Sometimes access to streams requires a bit of scrambling, which can lead to injury. Plenty of stuff can happen portaging or carrying on dry land.
Back in my marathon racing days I developed extensor tendonitis while training for the U.S. Nationals. All these years later, I still need to be careful and have found crankshaft paddles helpful at keeping me paddling. It is a minor injury compared to other possible injuries from other sports.
Again, I disagree with the blanket statement that you are more likely to get injured while paddling whitewater. My personal experience from years of paddling whitewater, and from being friends with lots of people who paddle lots of whitewater is that injuries are very rare, to the point of almost being nonexistant. For folks who are paddling at their skill level with a supportive group, injuries rarely happen. Kayakers at that level pretty much have a bomb-proof roll, and work hard to maintain it. Even for someone like me who is going to separate from the boat if they swim, knowing how to swim in whitewater, and having a team that is going to assist with a quick rescue makes all the difference. Thatās not to say that it canāt happen (like tdanielās dislocated shoulder), but fortunately it rarely does. I still maintain that you are more likely to be injured driving to the put-in, or (as tdaniel said) lugging your boat down to the river than paddling.
The key is that you are paddling at your skill level, which means not taking crazy risks. For us old fogies it also means that you need to make adjustments as you age. I have already seen friends and acquaintances starting to make the transition. Iām hanging in there, but I have always been a pretty conservative paddler anyway.
Agree with eckilson.
I have cut way back on my WW compared to sea because the first is where my diminished skills create a bigger risk. It is easier to adapt the sea kayaking stuff. I cannot be the only person who has done this.
Also, it is nearly unheard of for WW paddlers to go out alone. If you take a look at the fatalities related to sea kayaking or inland lakes, you will often see that someone was alone or greatly separated from their group when things went really bad.
Tdaniel, you provide great examples, but you were definitely pushing the envelope. You surely have some great adventures as a result, but thatās where injuries are most common. As Eckilson and Celia points out, toning down the adventure part reaps great rewards toward protecting our bodies.
The recurring comment is that weāre in greater danger driving to and from the water and loading/unloading the boat than we are on the water. Probably true, because we have less control over the high speed driving environment and lifting the boat stretches that frayed connecting tissue. The doctor told me my shoulder muscles had many scars and micro tears, probably from years of abuse.
The raw power of our youth diminishes over time, but fortunately that gets supplemented by skill and better judgement. That allows us to compensate. More of my trips are solo these days. I tend to paddle less, because Iām more selective about the conditions Iām willing to confront; safety has become more important than adventure.
Shirlan, I often go back over a post to put all the comments in perspective. I came across your post way up at the top, where you said, āA body in motion stays in motion.ā Thatās so very true. When walking on uneven ground and my foot catches on a root or other object, my body stays in motion until I crash and roll.
Ehh Yep! 70+ years. Risks? How about accommodations? (Two paddles to help you stand after a dozen miles? ) I have loved white water, still do. But can I paddle for it? White water requires bursts of tremendous effort, paddle snapping pulls (I have snapped many paddles.), and in some of the longer rapids that extreme effort may go on for minutes. Can I maintain that level? Nope !
First, I do not portage. Bad enough that I have to pull 100 pounds of canoe up, out, and load it onto the roof of the truck. (And stop right there ! The wonderful, beautiful little dinky canoes that weigh 46 pounds will not, cannot survive being loaded to 800 pounds and bashing bow into a rock. Even my tank of a canoe, Kevlar, S-glass, I had a rock come up through the floor last year. I carry cloth, resin and the tools required. ) I still do long trips and white water, in fact, I will be loading the expedition canoe in just a few minutes.
Am I about as good in a canoe as anyone can get? Yep. There are a few dozen or a few hundred here on this site that are better, no question, but not many. Am I able, sufficiently to continue? No. Am I going to stop? No.
So I am going to swim a few. Saving a life? A long life is not measured in seconds, minutes, or years, that is a mistake. A long life is measured in miles and joys. So risks, be damned.
As a 76 year old sea kayaker, this exchange is helpful on so many dimensions, especially getting support for pulling back on certain things. For me, the challenge will be to get back into dealing with ocean surf down on the Ga coast, including keeping calm when getting knocked over. Not sure if I should even be in the surf. Also, on boats: Iāve been paddling an Impex Force Cat 3 which I love for its soft chime, which makes rolling easier (for me). But itās gotten heavy, so I bought a Stellar, which is around 10 lbs lighter, but I have less confidence in my ability to roll it. Gotta practice, which brings its own challenges. But one thing that I donāt think has been mentioned is the benefit of swimming. Iām a fairly strong swimmer and have been swimming a few times a week for years, but I realize that many are uncomfortable in the water. All I can say is that swimming is a relatively easy way to stretch, to learn new body positions, and generally to develop new skills. Sure, there are rotator cuff dangers, but if you take it easy and vary strokes, risk are reduced. And the water can be quite soothing. Again, thanks to all for sharing common challenges and helping to face them together.
The main thing Iāve gotten from this board is āI am not aloneā! Iām 75 and since my new hip 3 years ago have not dump on entry or exit; I used to be my paddling friends entertainment. Balance is definitely slipping but Silver Sneakers (courtesy of your favorite Medicare C) really helps focus that skill. I am curious how folks are handling trip duration. Not much comment here on ability to sit 4-5hrs straight like I once could. Now itās more like 2 hr max.
I do the same thing while walking my dog and she has to sniff things for extended periods of time. A few yoga poses while waiting helps balance, the neighbors are used to seeing me doing weird things.
Three weeks later, my physical therapist has worked wonders on my lower back pain. She has seen me only once a week, however I was assigned homework which I have been diligent though not perfect about following (skipped a total of 4 days in 3 weeks and never two days in a row).
Highly suggest seeing a sports PT if you can coordinate it with you MD & insuranceā¦and you really want to reduce the level of muscular pain.
Unless you WANT to go through the surf, instead find an āonrampā to the ocean via an inlet off the ICW.
If I want to play in the surf, Iāll just go over to the coast and launch into it.
If I want to paddle a section of coast, eg: to go around Cumberland Island, Iāll enter it via an inlet, eg: St Marys inlet.
Little or no surf - just be aware of the currents and tides.
me too. Several years ago my back went out on me. I made a self prescription for myself to never buy another kayak over 40lbs.
Has worked for me so far (Sterling, TurningPointBoatworks, Stellar). Just make sure that your Stellar is padded out well enough.
As I said earlier, I donāt really consider paddling to be a risk.
I donāt paddle like I used to, I paddle smarter, not harder.
I donāt need to dare seas over 3 foot anymore and I live in Florida, which has gorgeous rivers and almost no WW. Three of my four boats are under, or right at, thirty pounds.
I also exercise differently, I am not trying to power lift anymore, but the resistance work is closer to the PT model, higher rep, lower weight.
Caver69, thatās a question I havenāt answered yet. Last year I got back into the boat, and it took a while to build back. The first trip was abysmal. The pretty pictures and nature posts inspired me to just paddle, view, admire, explore and smell. It was one of the most fabulous trips. I was in the boat a total of 7 1/2 hours and covered twenty mile. I think it was about a 2.9 mph average speed. Thatās the longest uninterrupted time spent in the boat, and I felt great. My guess is there was no effort compared to other trips. Over the last two years, my longest trip has been 16 miles, but I canāt recall how long I was in the boat. Going to try my favorite trip next season which is 21.5 miles.