I have been paddling for just a few months and have possibly overdone it. To begin with, I already have arthritis in my hands - it's quite manageable, just some soreness after periods of inactivity, or too much activity. After a weekend of morning paddling each day, and a day of lessons the next weekend, my hands are still unusually sore several days later. It is one specific area - the muscles around the base of the thumb, and going up into the thumb, and the muscles inbetween the thumb and the rest of the fingers. I wear my bicycle gloves (a padded palm, fingers cut out) to paddle, so as to prevent blisters. I already am working on loosening my beginner's death-grip on the paddle, and perhaps this is all the problem. My question to more experienced paddlers is this : how do you handle this? Once you know what you are doing and are reasonably proficient, do you still have problems of this type? Are there particular hand stretches or activities that are helpful, once you are in this condition (or to prevent it)? Could the gloves themselves be part of the problem? Could it be from too big a paddle shaft (even though it doesn't feel too big)? And, most importantly, will somebody please tell me what I want to hear: it will only get better if you go paddling MORE! Thanks Anne Burton *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Jul 27 1998 - 19:39:43 PDT
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