Exactly why is SUP paddling hard on shoulders?

[SUPpaddler]

     Can anyone with some understanding of physiology explain what components of the SUP stroke are causing shoulder overuse injuries?  I realize that the upper arm largely stays at shoulder height, or maybe higher with an aggressive stroke or longer paddle.  But that position alone wouldn't seem to account for much.  Nor does holding the weight of the paddle, which is largely supported by the lower hand or by its buoyancy in the water.  

     It would be easy to explain if you had to hold a significant weight at arm's length and lift it upward with a straight arm using your deltoids.  But the SUP stroke is mostly pushing downward with the upper arm, which would seem to involve contracting the lats, not the shoulder.  

     So exactly which component(s) of the stroke is the culprit and how does it involve and affect the shoulder?

[kneil]

Funny you just started this thread.  After five years of distance paddling almost daily, last month in the midst of a downstroke I felt a weird yank in my shoulder.  Did not really hurt, and I finished my 6 miles.  A few hours later, I could not raise my right arm higher than my neck OUCH felt like a lightning bolt.  Luckily went away after two days, but since then I have been taking it very easy paddling.  Scared myself reading up on rotator cuff injuries online, sure sounds like what I did.  One key thing mentioned in all of the descriptions, is that this injury can be caused by excessive repetitive arm motion, particularly at angles higher than your head (sounds like SUP?).  This was a stroke I made no different than a few million others, but it just pulled something in my shoulder, sort of on the outside of my very upper bicep.  Icing helped, but I would sure like to find a strength training exercise that would strengthen that part of my shoulders WITHOUT risking same injury.  Too many rotator cuff horror stories out there, I really want to avoid injury because paddling is what I love.

[balance_fit]

Hello SUPpaddler, kneil and others afflicted because of shoulder issues (myself included)
As physiotherapist and trainer i learned that the shoulder joint, by design, is optimized for mobility at the expense of stability. Because of this, it's support structures are prone to injury if repetitive loads are placed upon them. This includes rotator cuff, tendons, cartilage, etc.
What can we do?
Physical preparation, technique, training sensibly (periodization), rest, and common sense.
Regarding stroke related injury, to evaluate the case, i need much more info:
How, where did it happen. Where does it hurt and during which movement, etc.
A possible culprit, even with sound mechanics and paddle length, is the issue of how to exert the pull. Does the strength come from the shoulder or through it?
In recovery, is the upper arm internally rotated as the paddle is lifted?
Two very hard questions to answer if the practitioner can't evaluate the stroke and knows about the sport.
A physio who paddles or a trainer too, can be excellent resources to help find the cause of the issue. Then the problem can be addressed.
be well !

[surfcowboy]

Kneil, I have a similar thing and so far my chiropractor has diagnosed it as a strain. If it's hurting down the upper line into your bicep, I'm betting it's a strained bicep tendon.

If I reach over and rub my shoulder just above the nipple line there's a tendon in there that feels like a steel cable. I'm getting mine stretched out again, but man it is a killer. Also that shoulder is now higher than the other when I reach up just due to muscles being tight so I'm working to loosen those up and drop that shoulder.

[PonoBill]

So I am the absolute, total, best in the world expert at this. Why is that? Because when I kick my doctors will be squabbling over who gets to display my shoulders in a jar. I can picture the label, one of those cheap stick-on things with a old west style border and a legend written in a shaky hand with lavender ink: "And he actually had some mobility!?!"

As far as I'm concerned, SUP paddling is the primary reason I can raise my arms above eye level. Therapeutic. But you can definitely wander to the dark side and spend a lot of evenings toasting your liver with ibuprofen.

In my completely unschooled view, SUP paddling stretches out all those little muscles that run in random directions like the rubber band man's ball. keeps everything pulled out, engorged with blood, and warm. Right up until you overdo it and feel that hot little pain that registers in your reptile brain as "hey, buckwheat, you just screwed the pooch".

Couple of ways to keep that from happening. First, make sure your paddle is cut so your upper arm is parallel to the water when you make your max reach and have the blade fully submerged.

Why is parallel a good thing as opposed to slightly raised? No idea. Works for me. If it works for a guy with no discernible rotator cuff and collar bones that look like swizzle sticks than it might be okay for you.

Second, give a microsecond of hesitation before you pull. Our video shows air on the face of lots of paddles. When you pull hard on a paddle with air on the face it gives a little jerk that shows clearly on our data recorder. I don't think those jerks are good for you. A tiny hesitation lets the air bleed away and makes the catch much smoother. Don't wait too long--your board is moving, once your paddle is in the water it starts moving toward your feet. But a moment is good.

Third--let the paddle do the work. You don't have to yank yourself off the board. A soft, smooth tug and quick recovery is actually faster than a hard pull and slow recovery. And it's WAY easier on your shoulders.

Last but not least. I honestly think making our paddles was the best ting i ever did for my shoulders. I don't lay there in bed thinking "damn, my shoulders hurt." Not at all. In fact I did a long paddle this afternoon, including some training sprints, and my shoulders have that warm, loose feeling that I've come to love--the precursor of a good nights sleep.

[bts]

It's more "why is sup hard on MY shoulder",

To answer that, you need to know what's causing your pain.

To sort that out probably requires a trip to a sportsmed or ortho shoulder doc. If it was my shoulder,  I'd probably would just try ice, rest, and advil or similar anti-inflammatory meds at first.  If pain persists and prevents me from doing what I really want, I'd make an appointment to see a doc.


In my opinion, most of the musculoskeletal ailments that bother us older weekend warriors are aggravated by our leisure activities, not caused by them.  For example, I've got wicked tennis elbow caused by clicking a mouse and tapping a keyboard 10 hours a day.  It goes nuts when I windsurf, but it's not really caused by windsurfing.

[Piros]

Some really good advice already posted the only thing I can add is when you are surfing on fat days that's where it gets me. You really seem to dig deep and pull really hard to get down the face , your effort is better spent watching the wave hunting and positioning yourself in the pocket for the take off . It takes so much less effort to catch the wave and in turn you reduce those shoulder crunching strokes.

[pdxmike]

There's already been lots of good advice.  I'd just add that applying force when your arm is extended way out or rotated is bad. 

So, for instance, don't bear down hard with your upper arm if that elbow is up higher than your hand.  Keep your elbow down, or at least drop it before applying force.  Also, the bulk of your force should come when your arm isn't moving within your shoulder joint--the force is coming from your larger trunk muscles, and you should be moving your whole trunk with your arms not moving much relative to your shoulders. 

Imagine your arm bones rotating around inside your shoulder socket, and no lubrication in there.  Move your arm into a weird position and then rotate your arm around.  You can almost feel the bones grating together.  Avoid that. 

[BobT]

A lot of overuse injuries come from a lack of muscular balance. If the muscles on one side of the shoulder are much stronger than the other side, then the shoulder capsule tends to get pulled out of alignment by the stronger muscles.

For example, many people who spend too much time on the bench press and little time rowing eventually develop a shoulder impingement. Their shoulder is moved forward by a tight and strong pectoralis minor with nothing in the rhomboids to compensate. This closes down the available space in the shoulder capsule and allows the bones to rub when elevating the shoulder. The fix is to stretch the tight muscle and strengthen the weaker antagonistic muscle.

My SUP technique may not be the best, but as far as I can tell, my elevated arm is primarily using the pectorals to stabilize while my torso pivots, the lower arm seems to be using the lats. The antagonistic muscles would be the rhomboids and upper traps for the top hand and the deltoids for the lower hand.

One way to work these antagonistic muscles would be some high rowing (face pulls) and some overhead or handstand work. It also seems to me that both arms are internally rotated, so some external rotator cuff work would probably be good too.

Disclaimer: I am neither a MD or a physical therapist, but have paid attention while rehabbing various body parts over the years. Your mileage may vary.

[robcasey]

Kayakers, especially whitewater paddlers have struggled with this for years. I knew few guys over 60 who can't lift their arms above their shoulders, and many have had shoulder surgery.

 I got tendinitis from a super long sea kayak paddle and a low angle stroke. I solved that issue by using a shorter paddle and high angle stroke.  Also yoga really helped and hand using 10lb to 15lb hand weights - on bench pushing up, and facing down on bench pulling up.  Other low impact ideas that help include swimming and massage. 

When I started to SUP in 2007 I was renting my gear.  I immediately noticed that for me, the wide bladed paddles tweaked my shoulders, even with the best torso powered stroke possible. So I use the Werner Nitro which has a narrow blade.

If I do feel any tweaks while paddling, I remind myself to loosen the grip on the shaft, relax, short cadence, and use the torso and straighter arms.   

New problem: while loading my sea kayak on my rack last May, I tweaked something in my elbow (getting old) and occasionally I get the tennis elbow feeling both in everyday life and sometimes on the water. am working to sleuth that issue.

[PonoBill]

Two things I forgot, and they are really the most important.
1. Relax your lower hand. People get a death grip on their paddle which induces more wobble than it stops. If you paddle wobbles a bit, let it. Open your hand a little, relax, and in a relatively short time your body will minimize the wobble in other ways. If your paddle has some dihedral it's not going to wobble badly and if it is it's probably because the tight grip you have on the shaft is keeping the blade from tracking true. The wobble wouldn't do much if you were taking ten strokes, but after ten thousand it's gonna do damage.

2. Push your paddle up with your lower hand, don't pull it up out of the water with your upper hand. The upper hand should be hanging on the handle and be carried up by the lift. Break your lower wrist inward to feather the paddle, push it up out of the water, then gently punch forward to make your recovery. When your lower arm gets fully extended your wrist will straighten and the paddle will de-feather into just the right angle for entry.

These two things are a big deal for shoulders.

[Big Al]

Very timely post for me.  I have been surfing a larger board and found that a paddle 4 inches over my height was perfect - it forced me to bend and pull and seemed to relieve a lot of the stress in my shoulder.  

Now for the problem - I've recently stepped down in board size and find that my current paddle caused me to bend too much and the board is not as stable!  I'm thinking of going back up in paddle size but am worried about the shoulder issue.

Any one have any insight into paddle lentgh and shoulder pain? Any relation between the two or is it related to my technique?

Paddling with the Kialoa Methane

[hbsteve]

On PB's post item #1:  In rowing, we were taught not to grip the oar, but to make a hook with the fingers.  Not strong as steel like Captain Hook.  Use just enough to pull yourself up to the paddle.

[paddlebuilder]

I think BobT has it right regarding shoulder muscle balance.   If the musculature around the shoulder joint isn't balanced, the ball won't stay centered in the socket...definitely not what you want to occur.   Many of us tend to do the same type of activity over and over creating an unbalanced muscle structure.   A good shoulder work out should have components of what is prescribed by physios post shoulder surgery...create a workout routine that achieves a balanced set of muscles around the shoulder joint and build the structure up gradually.  I fight this issue every session.  My main defense against overuse injury is that I continue to do the post surgery exercises years after the last surgery.