Surfski Knowledge Base

Downwind Surfski & Paddleboard original discussion

Gabriel Newton
Anyone out there dealt with numbness in the hands while paddling? I've tried a couple of physical therapy approaches without success. Any tips appreciated!

John M. Rybczyk
I've had issues in the past. The only thing that worked for me was the Theraband flex bar and a little less paddling. Do you have any associated pain in the elbow?

Alan Lipp
John M. Rybczyk I associate it with a pain somewhere else! 🤣

Gabriel Newton
Author
No elbow pain here

Sam Alexander
My right hand goes numb. All I can do is stretch out my wrist and forearm when it happens. Not sure how to keep it from happening

Liquid Surf and Sail

Maybe your grip is too tight? Are you opening up the pushing (top) hand on each stroke?

Joe White
I did. Then I started wearing a light duty wrist brace to help with blood circulation. It solved my problem

Gabriel Newton
Author
Joe White Can you share which one?

Gilad Erel
Practice in releasing the grip of both hands and of the opposite hand specifically. Hard at the beginning, but absolutely necessary, and it will also improve your blade anchoring.

Alan Lipp
Aloha Gabe, I have been dealing with this for years. You may want to try going down to a lower feather angle, which seemed to help me, though I still do get a bit of numbness on occasion. I also bought an Ihe paddle for my outrigger which has a different wrist angle at the hold point. That helped too, but again numbness still kicks in occasionally.

Jaromir Slama
Depends on what fingers are affected. Thumb, index, middle and half of ring finger = median nerve. Wrist flexion increases pressure in the carpal tunnel where the median nerve runs. Keeping the wrist in neutral may help. A wrist brace may be a good idea - apparently it helped Joe White.

Yves Cartier
Jaromir Slama Excellent. Wrist splint at night that keeps that joint in neutral may help . A nerve conductive test may indicate how severe is the condition and if you need surgery . Carpal tunnel release is an effective way to address this problem . Please consult a motivated and competent hand surgeon .

Gabriel Newton
Author
Jaromir Slama Those are exactly the ones!

Mateusz Jasiński
I had this problem, usually during sprints and in more difficult conditions on the water, when I tighten my grip on the paddle. It helped me to matte the paddle shaft in the place of the grip, with 2500-3000 grit sandpaper. It helped right away.

Kay Tea
Mine do, I have shoulder/neck problems and the nerves can get aggravated on a long paddle. Been working with a chiro to help the underlying nerve impingements

Steve Fisher
Definitely Carpal tunnel, I ended up having two operations to release. Main cause was large blades at long lengths for sprint kayaking.
Go smaller blade shorter lengths and therapy best of luck 🤞

Kerry Wilson
Lighter grip on the paddle, make sure you have all 4 fingers engaged, try a slightly thicker shaft, on exit make sure you are rotating your forearm and not the wrist, flex fingers on the top hand.

James Anderson
My hands used to “lock up” since my earliest memory of paddling as a 10 year old.
I have moved to an oval shaft and it only happens now when I don't relax my grip. Maybe its a related problem?

Nick Valentine
Jim Walker had a top tip: to ease your grip imagine the paddle is an over-ripe banana. Works for me

Erik Borgnes
Hi Gabe. Might also want to try an Epic small diameter shaft. It feels really odd at first but it should allow your wrist to relax more and still have all the shaft control you need. It’s all I use now.

Scott Cummins
Erik Borgnes are you back paddling again?🤗

Jason Crisp
Open your top hand as much as you can.

LaRayne Kayfes
Carpal tunnel! Try EMS Red Light therapy pads. I got mine from Amazon, under $40. Good for whatever aches. Builds muscle. Check out Mayo CIinic review.

Nick Hindley
Reduce blade angle

Jason Larkin
I have, for me it was tight forearm muscles, now that I keep them stretched I get no acheness in wrists or hands which always was there before numbness happened. I do way too many miles

Dean Sorley
A while ago I changed feather angle to about 10 degrees. Found this helped maintain a better wrist angle on the exit.
Small blade size and I use a Meek paddle (Aussie brand, think Jantex is similar) which has a much more forward part of the stroke feel to it and comes out of the water way more easily than the Epic paddles. If I go back to my Epic mid it feels like it’s a big effort to get it out of the water in comparison.
Have you had someone look at your technique to see if there might be an issue there?
I paddle a lot, maybe 50% sea kayak and have used a Greenland paddle for about 12 months. Incredibly gentle on your body but I don’t get will the same top speed, and have to paddle a boat length or so earlier to catch waves at our local kayak surfing spot.