Dragon Boat West

Just wondering how common shoulder injuries are. How many people on a team would normally have them? What are the causes and how can you avoid them?

Those stats would be inconsistent for a whole variety of reasons, like an individual paddler's past medical history, off-water training habits, and technique.  I'd say chicken winging the top arm would be one of the causes (rotator cuff), luckily I didn't run into that problem when that was a habit for me  :lol:  :pray:

Yeah, I'd have to say the most common injuries to a paddler that I've seen in my "years" of paddling have been rotator cuff problems. Even when it's not an injury per say, it's usually something to do with the rotator cuff that is bothering them. I'd say the most common method of injury prevention would be to actually condition your rotator cuff through simple exercises involving light weights.

Here's a site to start you off:
http://www.bodyresults.com/E2RotatorCuff.asp
and another site showing the same thing
http://www.weightliftingdiscussion.com/lflye.html

I'd say illuminate is absolutely right. And I definitely agree with the chicken wing. My nickname was chickenwing because that habit was so bad. My new team (2 years ago) fixed my technique right up, but by then, the damage has been done and I feel it in my right shoulder every time I take off my shirt. I still feel it every time.

Don't ever let your paddlers point their elbows to the sky.  :x

I have never had the chicken wing problem, been paddling for 5 or 6 years.  The season before last I started developing shoulder problems on my inside arm.  I suspect that part of the problem is the longer paddle that I switched to.  I have been to physio for the problem, which helped a bit, but I am still aggravated by the problem.

My injury is related to the rotator cuff, in that as the rotator cuff muscles fatigue, it causes an impingement of the tendons.  I was told to strengthen the rotator cuff muscles to prevent the impingement, which is helping.  It is a slow process to undo the problems the injury has created.

I would definitely recommend strengthening those muscles as a preventative measure.  There is lots of info on the internet about the exercises, but do your research...not everyone on youtube knows what they are doing.  :shock:

I've had trouble with the rotator cuff for the last season and a half. I jumped from what was a low rec team with not many practices per week to a comp A team, and didn't strengthen any related muscles.

I went for massage therapy between alcan and the nationals and found it to be a huge help for about two months. This season I'm going to take it much easier while working on strengthening those muscles. If you're interested in knowing the place I went to pm me but any good massage therapist can probably help.

I have suffered from impinged shoulders for several years. I suspect the cause was a combination of years of repetitive typing and several years of bad stroke technique. I agree with those who recommend exercise programs to avoid the problem before it becomes acute.

The pain is severe, unending, and debilitating. In my case, surgery may provide a solution; if not, I'll likely lose use of the arm. Best to nip this problem in the bud long before it nails you.

I too have an impingement of my inside shoulder. My physiotherapist says its because the muscles in the back of my shoulder are tighter than my front muscles due to only working on the front muscles. She has given me some forms of stretching and exercising the muscle, which seems to work for me. Luckily, she's a paddler too and understood my problem.

I used to have impingement in my left shoulder as I am dominant on my left. I had a shooting pain through the top of my deltoid when I paddled right.  I took last season off to rehab it.  Then I broke my humerus last year in a bicycle accident and because of that, my right shoulder has an AC joint issue or tendonitis.  There is a clicking sound under my right AC when I lower my arm. I'm unable to straighten my right arm fully so I think my db paddling career is done. :-(

Those who can't paddle should coach.   That is what I've been doing the last few years.

Me, too. I had to quit two years back, so I got certified, did NCCP A/B and have really enjoyed coaching. I may not be able to manage this year, because the pain precludes teaching technique by example, but I'm going to try :-)