I have also been experiencing various types of finger joint pain (including thumb) as I increase my paddling activities. I have found the following to be of great help: Warm up exercises: I have taken to warming up my wrists and fingers extensively before paddling. In fact, I now stretch my hands and fingers before I get out of bed in the morning. I also frequently stretch my hands while paddling. I often play the piano before and after I kayak. This is necessary for the BCU "rock star" rating ;~ ). Close attention to technique: As I was paddling, I discovered that I had too much tension in my hands and was pulling rather than pushing the paddle. I now try to think of the paddle as is if I were painting on a canvas rather than pulling a large weight. I try to hold the paddle as delicately as possible to avoid slipping into a white-knuckled death grip. (I save that grip for ferry wakes!). As was previously mentioned, I have also found that opening the hand on the push side decreases the level of tension. In general, it seems necessary to avoid any sort of locked hand position. As a trombone player of 40 years, I have some experience with thumb joint pain as the entire weight of that instrument unfortunately rests on the thumb-joint while playing. In order to deal with this problem, I have used accupuncture, massage, Qi Gong exercises, Chinese herbal liniments and electro-magnetic lamp treatments. All of these things have helped, but none have alleviated the problems. Not having access to the fountain of youth, there are still times when I must resort to Ibuprophen Jeff. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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