On Sep 6, 2004, at 5:16 PM, PeterO wrote: > Thats my experience, sore legs and upper body no problem, in fact > paddling > fixes up my computer caused arthritis. Yeah. Paddling or rowing are the only effective treatments for my low back pain, (as well as my various mental illnesses). > The thing I don't understand is how flexing those leg muscles in a > kayak > generates the forward movement. It seems self-evident to me. The leg is used in such a way as to be the cause and force of torso rotation. Here I sit in a swivel chair. My left leg is partially extended bent slightly at the knee. The ball of my foot is against the wall. Being careful not to use any other body parts I am able to make my seat, (hence my upper body), turn about 30 degrees to the right by pushing against the wall and fully extending my leg. In the boat, all that is needed is to hold my left arm out so that it pushes against the paddle loom as my body turns. I do not rely on my abdominal muscles nor on the muscles of my lower back to achieve torso rotation. Instead, my legs do it. As I do this in my chair I think that I recognize a slight lateral component to the leg movement; pushing to the left a little as well as forward? Cheers, Michael in Florida *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Sep 07 2004 - 05:46:32 PDT
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