Hello everyone. I paddle competitive canoe and surfski (marathon canoe, outrigger canoe and surfski). I just took up sufski this season. I am noticing knee pain in both knees that I have not felt before. It feels better after a rare day when I do not paddle. It is hurting when I drive my legs in the ski. This weekend, it bothered me in the OC6, but that might have been because prior to getting in the 6, I had been in the surfski for a few hours driving hard. It’s mainly on the inside of my knee caps. It hurts now when i walk up and down steps - especially down. It gets better if I lay off the paddling. Has anyone experienced this kind of pain brought on by paddling? I dont’ know if it my foot position in the ski or what. I have not experienced this pain from paddling before but then again, I only started on the ski this year. Or maybe… i’m just getting old?
Please let me know if you’ve experienced similar or if you know of a way to arrange the foot pedals on the ski or a different way for me to drive where I can perhaps get rid of the pain.
I would be very grateful for any advice.
Thanks,
Hype
PS I paddle epic V10L ultra
Try adjusting things
so you can keep your knees slightly flexed even when “driving” with the foot.
This makes a big difference. I use cut up pieces of pool noodle boosters under the knee to make sure I do this even when not thinking about it.
Other than that, more cross-training in other land-based endeavors helps, such as jogging and biking. Doesn’t take much. You will notice also, to keep knee pain at bay in those sports, it is preferred to keep the knee slightly flexed even at maximum extension of impact… “themes…”
my knees are trashed and paddling
was probably a major culprit, backpacking and teleskiing without cable bindings on longboards also took a toll as well. I paddled c1s and open canoes for many years and kind of limp around now. I still boat but primarily kayak (the dark side) and occasionally take out a raft or rec canoe in a sitting position. Kneeling is now a "no go" for me.
After a day of ww paddling in my kayak, my knees typically hurt and I tighten up a bit afterward- meaning I limp around a bit. You use your legs a lot kayaking, that's just part of it. You can tighten up the hip pads (for ww) to help take some pressure off the knees and that can help a little bit. Probably having a boat with deep thigh hooks (more contact with the boat) could help as well.
My Doc told me to lay off the jarring creeks one morning in her office. I Went out and boated piney creek (beckley wv) that afternoon. One last hoorah! Could hardly walk at all the next day but it was so worth it to drop almost 1,000 feet! Dang that was fun.
Suck it up, walking is over rated, paddling- heck that's what keeps me goin'! None of this stuff prevents me from drinking beer!
Sorry I couldn't provide any specific advice for your boat and environment- just keep paddlin'. Any day spent on the water and you come home in one piece is a day well spent- aching knees or not.
Knee
I bicycle n once ran up to 13 miles.
STOP EATING RED MEAT
Chondromalcia exercise
Vastus medialus ex
Check heels all shoes for wear. Replace heels or add counters inside shoe.
Change shoes try sneakers ...
Try stretching ex ...books available
What IS the discomfort ? sharp short pain, burning sensation ?
The mechanism is bedded into a common range of movements...
If the range changes without injury then the knee may 'burn'
If you yanked a cartilage out of place but intact that would be painful rubbing...if there's a nerve .
I pulled both sides apart n there's no pain ... the mechanism no longer function s.
Rest. Rest rest rest...Doahn use the knee.
Vastus ex... see EXRX.COM ... strengthen a
Neglected muscle necessary for balancing the joint
Chondro strengthens the tendon below knee to shin n lubes the knee mechanism. Good with glucosamine when beginning. Used stretching before cycling.
I work ankle lift's int
o the chondro with a jug of water rope looped at the toes...avoiding ankle lateral ankle twists.
Read where suggestions are for maintaining a mechanism as the front end of your vehicle in that the problem is mechanical not an organic cellular malfunction.
Ceptin the red meat.
Are You Only Pushing With Your Heels?
Try pushing off with the balls of your foot, instead of the heels. This way the load is spread to other parts of the knee while the overworked part rests. I do this to alternate between muscle groups.
Try adjusting the ski’s pedals, so they are closer to you and your knees are raised higher. This will affect stability, so get use to it.
Might try switching to a smaller blade paddle, like an adjustable Onno Small Wing?
Like golfers and tennis elbow, this will take a long time to heal. So wear a knee strap/brace and ice afterwards.
Regarding 6-man, try not to use your legs and rotate. Don’t push off, instead, drop your body weight onto the blade at the catch. Legs are used for bracing with either both feet planted in front of you, or the onside leg forward and the offside leg under you. I also use a smaller blade for this: Gillespie 8.75 wide double bend paddle
liken it to pedaling a racing bike
I’d suggest a call or inquiry into bicycle racing. To the best of my knowledge, bikers endeavor to keep their knees fairly close to the bicycle frame to minimize air resistance. This posture would seem to be similar to that of foot positioning in a ski…
how a ski
injures knees ?
OP was injured elsewhere prob from incorrect ex as explained above.
If we tote up injuries here , knees are not at the numerical top end.
cycling strengthens knees with the above noted ex.
injury comes from falling n using too low a gear up hills not spinning a higher ratio.
Difference in wear n tear on knees tween running n cycling is absolutely amazing.
hyper extending
Makes me think of hyper-extending locking the knees. You pretty much never want your knees to be totally extended for any period of time or during heavy exertion. I’m no doctor, but I can suture a dead chicken.
We are sending 6 in a small CF cooler …
Uh yeah ...that's possible ? My physio gives immediate pain approaching hyper ex ... is hyPerez (sw) a common kayak malady ?
Prob the usual source of too much energy in a energy expenditure direction NOT inclusive of body signals....
I have an inflatable banana cushion ...I'll ask the foul if traveling with is OK.
I slid apart ligaments/tendons twice ...once stepping off a curb whilst turning torso abt 30 degrees. The lead up to that injury was but a mild lifestyle change of walking to work on a solid surface where I had not walked like that for 10 years. No solid surfaces...
Hyperex in yaks is like your Mother said...you should no better...
'Foot rests are adjusted for comfort' -Dr.Shoals
Walking is overrated until you can’t without support. That’s the reason I paddle.
Sounds to me like it a cardiovascular problem. You are not getting enough blood flow through legs.
I had the same problem in my Mako 6. The single foot well pretty much locks your feet into one position and that stupid hump forces you out of an ergonomic position.
Cross training on a bicycle helped me, though if I spend over 1 1/2 hours in that boat it takes a while to be able to stand up well.
Another thing to do is roll up a towel and put it under your thighs, against the hump. Move it around until it feels comfortable. Sometimes that allows a more restful position.
The Think and Stellar boats have lower humps and that might be where you will have to go.
knee pain greatly reduced when I got both hips replaced, they (the knees) still ache a bit during and after paddling but is amazing to me to see the improvement after having hip surgery (almost 2 years ago). I guess everything is connected- nerves- pain- alignment. I can now walk better, and enjoy paddling more. I get the whole “I can move better on the water than on land”. The important thing is to go out and do what you can for as long as you can. Focus on what you can do and not on what you can’t. I’ve really worked steadily on relearning to roll. I’ve practiced about 50x this year and my roll is still a work in progress (not ww combat ready yet). Mostly, I’m just happy to be on the water paddling.
I used to really think Doctor Smith was quite the bore.
“Oh, the pain, the pain, Will Robinson!” Geez he was a snore!
But now as I limp like robot gimbally displaced,
“Warning! Warning,” to myself, man is (CUSS!) lost in space!