After paddling for about 40 minutes my lower back begins to give me a lot of discomfort. Im in good shape run 3-4 times per week, gym 3 times per week. No problem after doing these 2 things .Any idea of cause and how to fix this.
Thanks

JOHN

Could be something to do with your technique too. Check out www.davidkalama.com/category/technique/ Plenty of great tips from arguably the best paddler in the world

rager said..

Could be something to do with your technique too. Check out www.davidkalama.com/category/technique/ Plenty of great tips from arguably the best paddler in the world

++++++ that

KellyM said...

JohnKudryk said...
[br]After paddling for about 40 minutes my lower back begins to give me a lot of discomfort. Im in good shape run 3-4 times per week, gym 3 times per week. No problem after doing these 2 things .Any idea of cause and how to fix this.
Thanks

JOHN

Hi John,
Your lower back is getting saw from your technique, more than likely your bending through your stroke before your lats and abs are connected at the catch. You can pm me and I can give some simple drills to fix that
Kelly

Even better! Personal technique tips from one of the worlds best sup racers with arguably the best techniques in the world.

I have always had back issues since rupturing a disc back in the 80's.
Over the years I tried everything to keep doing what I loved - surfing, snowboarding and paddling.
But most most activities involved twisting of the lower back so there were always issues around back pain.

With paddling, technique and paddle length are critical, but for me, they are not enough on their own.

The one thing that became really clear was that it did not matter how fit I was or how much I worked out, if I lacked core strength and flexbility, my back was always going to give me problems.

After trying just about everything I found Pilates, which focusses specifically on flexability and core strength.
After slipping numerous discs I took it up and did it for 10 years and it has kept me out of trouble since.
When I took up MTBing I stopped Pilates as I lost weight and gained fitness and did not feel the need for it (there is not much lower back twisting on a bike).

Slowly but surely though the back issues came back to a point when I slipped a disc 6 weeks ago.
As soon as I was good, I got back into Pilates and was back in the water 2 weeks later with a new back.
The transformation was striking and I am told that the 10 years of Pilates is what helped my rehab.

For me it is like a magic wand. It wont be for everyone but like all body wearing issues you have to try everything until you find what works for you.
The beauty of Pilates is that you can do it from the rehab stage all the way through to full fitness.
Keep it up and you will avoid many of the injuries that plague us in the middle of life.

Be ware though there are many different forms and permutations. It is not controlled by any body and anyone can hang up a shingle on their door.
Do your research and find a practitioner who is highly recommended from various sources.

rager said..

KellyM said...

JohnKudryk said...

After paddling for about 40 minutes my lower back begins to give me a lot of discomfort. Im in good shape run 3-4 times per week, gym 3 times per week. No problem after doing these 2 things .Any idea of cause and how to fix this.
Thanks

JOHN

Hi John,
Your lower back is getting saw from your technique, more than likely your bending through your stroke before your lats and abs are connected at the catch. You can pm me and I can give some simple drills to fix that
Kelly

Even better! Personal technique tips from one of the worlds best sup racers with arguably the best techniques in the world.

Yep id be taking up that offer! the only place i get really tight in is my hammies.And some shoulder sorenesss , but thats just old injuries.So many people have back problems , i was no different SUP has helped me heaps with it , mainly due i think to stronger core!

goatman said..


I get lower back issues, which for me stems from tight glutes. I find SUP tightens up my glutes unbelievably so as long I am consistent with my stretching before every surf and on inbetween days there are usually no issues.

I've also been accused of being a tight-arse. Never realised that refusing to shout at the bar had anything to do with my lower back issues.

back stretches on the big fitball work for me.

I've always been susceptible to lower back pain, but it never seemed to be an issue when SUP surfing and only became an issue when I started racing.

When I started racing I did a couple of race clinics to improve my technique and was told that my paddle was too long. Over the next few month I had countless people tell me the same thing, so eventually I cut it down and immediately, I started to notice lower back pain. It got to the point where I had to stop all sports for about two months to let it recover and this eventually led to me selling my race board.

Jump forward a few month and I'm telling this story to a friend. He told me that he had been having the same issue and thought is was technique, so he did a race clinic and was told, that in his case, if his lower back was the issue, he would be better off using a longer paddle.

From what I understand, a longer paddle puts more loading onto your shoulders rather than your lower back, but if your lower back is your weak point as it is in my case, then let the shoulders take the flogging.

Specialised stretches and pilates is also good for your back, as is rock climbing.

kissa said..

I think all these comments highlight that everyone is different.

Spot on there Kissa and contrary to Mbuzz's experience, I don't get back problems racing, only in the surf when I get pounded and the wave force compresses vertebrae into discs.

PTWoody said..

kissa said..

I think all these comments highlight that everyone is different.

Spot on there Kissa and contrary to Mbuzz's experience, I don't get back problems racing, only in the surf when I get pounded and the wave force compresses vertebrae into discs.

I think those long compression tights that we've heard you wear have something to do with you having a good back while racing PT.

I do 30-50km's on my race board every week and my back is generally perfectly happy. If I go out on a small tippy Surf-sup then all hell breaks loose. It's not the paddling, its the waiting around bracing with the paddle out at 45 degrees which just puts a strain on my lower back. Highly frustrating because I can paddle the board but my back won't allow me to stand around on it. Doing alot of stretching is helping but not solving it entirely......if I use a bigger board that doesn't require bracing, then I'm fine.....probably having to face the fact that the days of marginal sup-surfing are numbered........

I've been diagnosed with muscle imbalance due to years of abuse and slowly trying to get myself, literally, straightened out.

Try flexing your stomach muscles each time you take a stroke with the paddle. Also stretching before hand is essential for me.

Interesting topic as I always thought it strange why I suffered back pain on my race board but not whilst surfing, it seems others have the same issue, which IMO is quite a worrying statistic, im 40 years old BTW. I don't race as such but am into touring, but its still an issue.

I have residual problems from an old back injury so although im not claiming my technique is wonderful but I don't feel it is that as the whole problem.

You would think that on a surf sup with wipe outs and body twisting of all kinds it would be the other way around wouldn't you.

The physio will say "Bend your knees". This will engage the gluts not the lower back.

I am 42 and a year ago started training on a race board a few days a week on flat water and found that I would often have lower back pain during or after paddling. In my first race my back blew up after only 2-3km. Soon after that I saw a video of myself paddling and realised I was bending over way too much when paddling - way more than some more experienced paddlers I trained with. I have since had a couple of technique sessions and made a conscious effort not to bend so far (pulling the paddle out of the water at or just past my foot helped) and it has really helped. The technique change, and religiously stretching the back before a paddle have me now generally paddling with little or no pain.