Elbow pain

[PonoBill]

To feather the blade I am rolling my top hand wrist to point my thumb forward.  Is this good technique?  I haven't quite understood that part of you post PonoBill.  Got the rest of it I think, shame the physio has stopped me from paddling to try it out.

Ahh--there's your problem, at least part of it. Your upper arm is in a lousy position to feather the blade or to lift the paddle. You do both with the lower hand--which is in a much stronger position. Rotate your lower hand inward as you lift the shaft with the lower hand and arm. The upper hand is just along for the ride.

Most of the time your hands should be open--not gripping the shaft. As you reach the end of the stroke you close your lower hand lightly to do the lift and feather.

[hbsteve]

Adding to what PB said about feathering:  With a lightly closed lower hand, when you start to feather, the blade will want to continue its rotation, to being parallel to the board.  This is not something you have to force. 

[PonoBill]

It will if your blade is foiled. If it's flat it might turn a little on it's own because of the offset, but it won't pop itself out of the water.

If you have a Ke Nalu kicking around, try turning it in flat water while you're moving. If you turn it inwards it pushes itself out of the water. If you turn it outwards it pulls itself down. Slick, huh?

If you're using your lower hand to feather, and you keep the blade feathered while you do the recovery stroke, as you reach the end of the stroke your wrist will automatically extend and rotate the blade outwards. If you are putting the blade lightly into the water near the end of the stroke and then pushing it forward to get a full reach (as many coaches recommend) then the rotation will help pull the blade down.

I bet the new Quickblades do that too, and certainly a Malama does, though you can't feel it so much because of the weight of the wood. It's a combination of the foil of the blade and the reverse kick at the tip.

[mrbig]

Homeopathic remedies and gemmotherapy (mascerated plant buds) and my 66 year old carcass with a lot of trauma is currently pain free.

[Just Cruising]

Hey thanks so much PB.  I just stumbled across your message.  I was doing the lower hand thing a little while I was having elbow issues but not too much as I thought it was bad technique that could cause a separate issue.  Unfortunately it's not easy to get advanced coaching in a relatively new sport so we have to use these forums to find this stuff out.  There is a heap of people to get you standing up and sell you a board but most are YouTube taught like me.

I have only just started having good sessions on the water again pain free.  I had started feathering the blade by dropping my top hand to bring the paddle almost horizontal.  It felt slow and crap but pain free.

Can't wait to get out on the water and try your way properly. 

Just a word of warning for folk trying out the theraband flex bar.  It is easy to overload your forearms with this thing.  It gave me pain like RSI at work using my mouse after I stepped up from the green to blue model.

[SUPladomi]

Is there possibly a misunderstanding about the OP's elbow pain? I believe I have what the OP describes and am looking for answers as well. I just want to make sure the suggested therapies are effective.

I have developed olecranon bursitis, an inflammation of the "cushion" over the point of the elbow. 

I noticed a very, very small amount of tenderness consistent with tennis elbow

I don't know if the pressure of the wetsuit on the point of my elbow caused the inflammation

I'm not sure, but I take "tenderness consistent with tennis elbow" to mean the pain we are experiencing is the same kind of discomfort one would experience with tennis elbow. A lot of people have been referencing tennis or golfers elbow when making recommendations. Maybe I have misunderstood but should we rather be addressing bursitis at the point of the elbow and if so are the the suggested therapies still applicable?

DelawhereSUP would you comment and I'm curious to know if you had made progress?

[WingSuit]

RAT gives very good advice.  Any type of tendonitis issue can best be resolved with ice and complete rest, til ALL the pain goes completely away.  If you keep using an inflamed tendon, you do more damage as all those microtears generate scar tissue, a condition known as tendonosis, for which the cure is surgery. My lateral epicondilitis surgery recovery time was 5 months.  Everyone else is on the mark, elbow pain is a technique issue.  Dont arm paddle, core paddle.  Check the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery website for Orthoinfo, a regimen of stretches and exercizes for any body part you need to work on.  Lastly, the Arm Aid (see Climbing Magazine ad) is a very effective way to keep those forearms supple.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I467 using Tapatalk

[ilmsup]

I started struggling with this back when I took up whitewater kayaking.  With Kayaking we are taught to high brace with our elbows in so as to save our shoulders but that is what puts stress on the elbows.  Thought I had it under control but it came back when this new sport particularly while paddling choppy conditions and when testing my limits and using a lot of bracing.   Lately I've been having trouble sleeping on my right side. 

I think the rehab exercise make a big difference and must be done religiously.  But improving technique is also important. We all know that we are suppose to use our core muscles but sometimes we just get sloppy and lazy. When I waveski surf I always feel sore in my core muscles since all your balance on a high performance board is centered around the core.  In that sport I altered my paddling out technique to avoid braces that would be hard on my elbow.  I began applying the same reason with SUP paddling.   No sore elbow was going to keep me from taking advantage of three days of good waves last weekend.  While paddling out, I took note of the moves that aggravated my elbow and the moves that did not.  After three days I started to notice my core muscles were getting pretty sore and my elbow, while still tender, did not bother me as much as before.  I also became of aware of when I was grabbing the paddle too hard.  Tension doesn't help the situation.   On one big wave, though, I lost the paddle when the whitewater slammed into me so I don't recommend getting too loose.  But when paddling around it is important to maintain a loose relaxed grip.