Re: [Paddlewise] Bent-shaft paddles?

At 10:31 AM 2/25/02 -0500, Kirk Olsen wrote:
>At 09:17 PM 2/23/02 -0800, you wrote:
> >    I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with bent shaft 
> paddles.
> >I'm new to paddling and I have a wrist injury that I don't want to 
> aggravate.
> >In theory, they seem like a logical way to reduce strain on the wrists, 
> but I
> >wonder if they work in practice.  Do they reduce the strain on your wrist?
>
>A friend of mine has severe carpal tunnel in his wrists.  He designed and 
>built a paddle to alleviate the stress on his wrists.  It's a more extreme 
>solution than the crank shaft paddles.

It's not the paddle that causes carpal tunnel syndrome or wrist 
injuries.  I how one uses the paddle.

I have been a keyboard jockey (aka software programmer) for about 20 
years.  I've never used special keyboards or mouse pads which are 
advertised for alleviating carpal tunnel problems, yet I've never had a 
problem with my wrists.

I also use a standard Euro style feathered paddle and I've never had wrist 
problems from paddling either.

If, however, I spent a couple of hours a day bending my wrist back as far 
as it would go, over and over again, I would almost definitively develop 
carpal tunnel syndrome.

One *can* paddle without stressing the wrist if it's done using a technique 
with doesn't repeatedly bending the joint to it's maximum range.

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