> zero problems with shoulder pain but lots of problems > with arthritis in my hands Craig One of the advantages (that I hadn't expected) with the move to a GP (Greenland paddle), was the reduction in hand-fatigue from gripping a shaft smaller-than-optimal for my hand size. At the end of my first year of paddling ('Euro' paddle), I was a couple of days into an 8-day trip with friends when two long & very sunny days left me with painful sunburn on both hands. The only gloves I had were thin poly-pros (in my emergency get-warm bag). They worked fine for sun-protection, but were an absolute bugger for gripping the fibreglass shaft. The next day was a very long day, but at the end of it I knew a lot more about pulling a euro paddle through water with balance and a light touch - to reduce flutter and the need for a death-grip. I had not realised how much I was unconsciously resisting the rotation of the paddle shaft, while I drew it through the stroke - and how tight a grip this necessitated. I often challenge newish paddlers, proud of their strokes (as I was), to perform the same self-training exercise - as I think that learning to paddle with a light grip has long-term benefits for arm tendons and all the joints in the wrist & hand. Some years later, I was following John Heath's instructions to figure out my body measurements, prior to cutting up the wood for my first GP. It wasn't until then that it occurred to me that hand size might lead you to using a different diameter paddle shaft. Even talking to Olympic paddlers, it's not common for them to worry about shaft diameter. Thinking how significant grip diameter used to be in Tennis and even how popular it was for touring bicyclists to increase the diameter of the grip on their handlebars - I have wondered ever since why paddlers don't care. I certainly like having my GP paddle loom large enough to grip easily and find that my hands tire much less now than they did on a standard glass loom (even after my inadvertent training). Perhaps you would do the arthritis a favour if you built-up the loom or shaft a bit using some foam or cork, covered with a wrap of cycle tape ? There may be better ways to do it experimentally - so you could just rip the whole affair off if you don't like the result ;-) Best Regards Paul Hayward Auckland, New Zealand *************************************************************************** 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 Thu Jul 16 2009 - 20:33:47 PDT
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