C-Forum

Neck & shoulder pain-What to do? Sinced I started to paddle C-1, I have gotten a lot of pain in my neck and shoulder on my left side or my cross-over side (off-side). Has anyone experienced this problem and what did you do to resolve it? Any information welcomed!

Paul

How long is your paddle and how much are you paddling off side strokes? An armchair guess would be that it is coming from your roll or from cross strokes.

Whenever friends jump into my C1, kayakers or open boaters, they paddle around using painful looking cross strokes way too much. A good, comfortable cross stroke takes time to get your body used to. In cases like these, I would suggest to them to use a whitewater j stroke onside for most of their correction, and suffer the loss of speed. Better than being totally uncomfortable! The longer the paddle, the more strain on cross strokes as well.

If your roll has some funky business going on, could be over exerting your shoulders, then spreading into your neck. My 2cents worth.

Try a shorter paddle - shorter than you think you want (2-3" shorter than your current paddle), give it a week or two. When rolling, keep your forehead on the shaft or the back of your shaft hand all the way through to recovery - that will help keep you from using your arms and shoulders to muscle up the boat. On off side strokes, how high is your t-grip hand? Much higher than your head? Try reaching further, keeping your arms straighter.

Scott

More information about your shoulder pain may help get you a better educated guess since you could be pinching on the nerve plexus there (cervical plexus?) or pinching on a rotator cuff tendon (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor?). Regardless, I think James' and Scott's suggestion for a shorter paddle is a good one to start with (dammit, I ended with a preposition! ).

I trust that your left hand is your top/control hand, which would make your left side your off side. An analysis of your shoulder alignment while paddling, especially on your offside, may show significant shoulder elevation and maybe some forward rotation at the gleno-humeral joint (sorry, I just HAD to say that ) which contributes greatly to your type of problem.

Again, try a shorter paddle and see how that helps. Take the time to learn a comfortable way to take offside strokes as well as your forward stroke. A technique coach can REALLY help.

KNeal

Thank you all for the good advice. My Paddle is 55 inches long, short enough or normal for my 5''9 inches frame. From your feedback and thinking about how I paddle, I think I am over rotating my shoulder as opposed to twisting my torso on my on-side. I just learned to keep my left arm straighter on my cross over side paddle, using straitenning torso, instead of twisting my arms for propustion. My pain started after I was practicing edging with my slalom C-1. I must of flipped 25 times. Rolled up every time, but the advice about keeping my forehead on the paddle handle throughout the roll , I think is dead on, because I remember trusting my head and shoulders down to kind of muscle my way up, especially for the last 10 to 15 rolls, when I was getting really tired. I'll give myself a few days to get the swelling down before getting back on the river. Any other advice welcomed. Thank you,

Paul

I too had shoulder pain when I started C-1ing. I took a paddling course last year and one of the techniques I learned was to keep my T-grip arm pretty much straight out at eye level when paddling offside. Basicly the T-grip arm stays stiff like a hinge, and the shaft hand pulls or better yet you use your whole body to pull against the blade. In rolling I have a fatigue problem that is part technique. When I get tired I tend to reach out with the blade and use less hip snap. What I need to do is keep the T-grip tight to my skirt and use my head on the shaft like was mentioned earlier. You lose efficiency in your roll when you are extended.

Jim

I'm 6' 2" and paddle with a 56" paddle so 55" may be a bit too long for you, I've got a buddy who's 5' 10" and he's most comfortable with a 54" paddle
Also, try a wood-shaft paddle rather than aluminum/CF/etc., wood-shaft paddles tend to flex more and are supposed to be easier on your joints

Last year (first year) I paddled w/ a 62" paddle. I'm 6'5". I had a lot of pain in my onside (oh, it's in an OC) I switched to 58", pain is gone...

Also, consider going to a *really* good physio therapist, the kind that regularily treat all-star athletes. They may good diagnoses.

M.

Are you going from OC1 to C1? The shorter paddle advice is probably right on the money. I had the same problem when I started paddling C1 using my OC1 paddle. Problem went away after switching to a paddle three inches shorter than the one I use for OC1.

Another possible contributing factor is gripping the paddle to tightly (especially if you're a bit nervous about the C1). Tightly gripping the paddle shaft or T-grip can add to the stress on elbows and shoulders. Try loosening up your grip a bit.

A lot of good suggestions have been made so far, but the jist seems to be a shorter paddle. I'm 5'8" and have used paddles from 56 to 58 and finally settled on a 57. I've been using that for many years with no neck or shoulder pain. If I remember correctly Bruce Lessels is 6'7" and he used a 63" paddle. So IMO I'm not sure it's just paddle length.

Rolling could be an issue. I remember when I first started rolling I had some shoulder discomfort and found I was trying to muscle myself up with my arms. I has since developed a strong hip snap and have never had shoulder pain since. A good way to develop your hip snap is to have someone hold your hands and roll toward them. When you roll up, if you pull to hard on their hands, they should let go. This will help you hip snap more. Once your more comfortable with your hip snap, try practice rolling by holding the paddle backwards, ie. hold the paddle blade instead of the T-grip, T-grip is now away from you, and roll that way. This also forces a better hip snap.

The suggestion of a wood shaft is also a good one. I paddle with a carbon shaft and developed a bad case of elbow tendonitis last year. Once I recovered I used my wood shaft for a while and had no recurrence of pain.

Give your neck and shoulder time to recover before pushing yourself again. I did not touch a paddle for 8 months when I had the elbow problem. It has been about 6 months since I started paddling again and I have had no problems.

Good luck.