One thing I have noticed in Germany is that the old people never use walkers, they use trekking poles and they seem to stand up very straight and do very well with them.
When I say “old” I mean 90-100! They walk by the footpath next to my house every day into town and then back up a very steep hill. We just can’t believe it and I am studying them very closely. I think they are lifetime walkers, a few miles a day maybe.
Love trekking poles for my daily 40-60 minute walks. Take pressure off my blown knee. Also, good defensive tool against aggressive urban tom turkeys that think people are competitors for their hens!
sing
Thanks again everyone
I’ve ordered the shoulder brace and I’ve sworn off battling headwinds like the one yesterday. I could have gone on the lee side of that island BUT male ego …
Ironically, we had rescheduled the same trip from the day before because of wind and rain.
Hope the brace does the trick for you.
As I’ve said before, that Y chromosome can be a heavy cross to bear!
Too much arm, not enough core, hips, feet.
Try this – instead of the short toes - to - butt paddle stroke you’ve been using, experiment with a longer bow-to-stern stroke. Trust me, you can’t accomplish it without rotating your core.
Pair it with a strong push off from your foot pegs. [Warning, I find I push off so hard, I had to reinforce the glass where the foot peg bolts are mounted]
And lengthen your cadence . . . one stroke for your buddy’s two. Enjoy the glide while you reset for the next stroke,
You’ll find you are setting the pace, and have plenty of energy in reserve for when you need a quicker cadence.
The first thing is to see you doctor to rule out any injuries and maybe engage in a course of PT.
That said if you are past a certain age that is very young and you do NOT do resistance training you will be in a lot more pain. I am not talking pumping iron and looking like He Man being a Master of the Universe with biceps bigger than most people’s torsos. I mean even a light but consistent regimen of resistance training.
I am old now, in my mid 40’s which is past the human normal natural life expectancy. The way I decreased and see age decrease is with fitness obviously. Reminds me of a surgeon I trained under who told me that when I grow up (I was 19 at the time, a young kid in perfect physical specimen mode) I need to be active. But specifically he said I have to do some of ALL three things: resistance/weight, stretching/flexibility and something aerobic. You can specialize in something, in our case say kayaking/paddling, but a minimum of all three must be done to ensure that good physicality will have its best chances of continuing as long as possible (no guarantees, just probabilities).
He was right. But that’s a LONG story.
I engage in resistance training several times a day pushing or pulling myself out of chairs.
To exit a chair I typically do a roll.
String, When was the last time you had an experienced ACA or BC instructor look at your forward stroke. I’ve followed this thread and jyak is the only person I’ve noted that suggested evaluating your stroke. Just a guess, but that is probably where the pain originates.
When much younger during the first 16 years of sea and SOT kayaking, I used to have regular arm pain after paddling. Over the last 12 year since learning about and focusing on torso rotation and maintaining a paddlers box (especially in wind and rough conditions) , I have never had tired arms or arm pain. FYI, soon to be 69 yo.
I’ve never been evaluated for stroke. I learned from a video by Brent Reitz.
It took me 16 years before I took a lesson. It paid off for me once I was evaluated by someone trained to spot stroke errors.
@kayakhank I relied on power when i was in my sixties. When I destroyed my rotator cuff, I had to isolate the pain. Even though steve.zihn doesn’t prefer the Aqua Eagle over the Kalliste, his imput helped me improve efficiency. Nobody can tell you what paddle to use. Its up to you to figure it out. I paddle 70 to 80 strokes per minute (about 4,500 strokes in an hour), while Craig_S paddles 25 to 50 spm with Aqua Bound and Werner paddles. I can’t match his speeds. I’m close to matching what I did years ago because I listened to whst other paddlers are experiencing. You cant beat improving efficiency in paddle technique. Its less about speed that getting more for less. Evolve!
Mid 40’s 
past normal human life expectancy?
They make ejection recliners now. 
I have one. Not old enough yet to use it.
The “normal human life expectancy is 40” fallacy is oft repeated due to low life expectancies at birth in primitive cultures. Elderly individuals in a fair degree of health have been present in most cultures at first contact with industrialized explorers. At the same time, it is true that health problems after age 40 are much less strongly selected against than problems at a younger age, as most individuals who will reproduce will have done so by that time
Still not correct. Should we figure average life expectancy in Ukrainian front lines or here in the USA?
I don’t think that question is directed at me, because I am agreeing with you that 40s is not, and never has been, old for a human. If it is, I don’t understand the question.
All I know is I’m past my prime!
US life expectancy was 40 years +/- back in 1881. Can’t find older global data, but in 1950 it was about 45 years. Probably safe to say there was a significant post-WW2 jump as antibiotics became widely available outside of the Allied military.
