Re: [Paddlewise] Kayaking and bone strength development

From: Peter Chopelas <pac_at_premier1.net>
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2002 16:59:45 -0700
Peter O wrote:

>To what extent does kayaking provide such exercise? I'm guessing that its
mainly the legs which are load bearing in a kayak, not the arms (except in
high winds) and not the spine (except when lifting the kayak). Certainly its
my legs whch feel stiffest after a days paddling.


last year George Dyson wrote and article for Scientific American about
native Aleut adaptation to specialized kayaking skills.  In it there was a
picture of an upper arm bone from a ancient archeological site showing the
mass and thickness compared to a modern Aleut upper arm bone.  The
implication was that repeated daily padding developed bone mass in the arms.
This seems consistent with what little I've read about bone mass build-up.
It appears the mass build-up occurs on the bones that are loaded directly
(reportedly caused by a die-electric effect in the calcium crystals).

If your legs are sore it could be from lack of movement, rather than
loading.  If it were me, then I would specifically exercise the arms and
back, preferably in a way that approximates the way the arm muscles are
loaded during paddling (rowing machine perhaps?).

Peter


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Received on Thu Jul 18 2002 - 21:32:18 PDT

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