What happens when you paddle a bent shaft backwards?

[Alan Gage]

I'd been thinking about trying it but after gumpus mentioned it too I had to give it a shot.

If you look at Fig 7 in the file that Glenn linked below your post the simulations from varying blade angle from -30 degrees to +30 only impacted boat speed by about 3% (!) so maybe using a bent shaft backwards isn't as big a deal as it seems.

Same setup as my other paddle tests. A 2.2 mile out and back course while holding the heart rate steady at 120 bpm. The paddle was a 50" ZRE medium.

First up was a bent shaft held backwards:

Time - 28:01​

Average heart rate - 120​

Average speed - 4.7 mph (7.56 kph)​

After about 5 minutes to recover I did the same thing with the paddle held the correct way:

Time - 26:11​

Average heart rate - 119​

Average speed - 5.0 mph (8 kph)​

​

While the wind was not very strong I think it died down a little on my 2nd run with the paddle held correctly. That might explain some of the time discrepancy but definitely not all of it. It was a lot harder to paddle with the blade held backwards than I anticipated.

Paddling with the blade backwards felt really odd. For the first half of the paddle I was planting the blade farther forward than normal to get what felt like a solid catch and it was very taxing on my forearms and shoulders. It felt like paddling with a paddle that was too long. At the turn around point I switched to a very short stroke and stopped planting the blade so far forward because my arms were killing me. My forearms were so tired it affected my grip and the switches were getting sloppy because of it.

The shorter strokes on the 2nd half of the paddle were a little better but not much. No matter what I tried I didn't feel like I could get my core into the stroke as with a normal sit and switch stroke with a bent shaft. I felt like I had to pull incredibly hard to keep my heart rate up to 120. Even though my heart rate was the same with both paddles it felt much, much, harder with the blade held backwards. I'm assuming that's because I was using the small muscles in my arms and shoulders rather than my larger core muscles so it took more effort to drive the heart rate up. When I finished the paddle my forearms, shoulders, and upper back felt like I'd just got done lifting weights. Not something I've ever felt after paddling for 2 miles.

Normally I only wait a couple minutes between rounds but this time I waited 5 minutes because my arms and shoulders were so sore. Once I switched the paddle to the correct orientation everything felt good again. I was getting good core activation and paddling felt easy.

I'm not quite sure why I was getting such poor core activation with the paddle held backwards and I'm not sure why the paddle felt too long. It sure wasn't fun using it that way though. I honestly didn't think there was going to be a very big difference between the two going into it.

Alan

 

[tketcham]

Paddling with the blade backwards felt really odd.

Yup. There's theory, and then there's everything else. From my own experience and from what I've read, pulling with your arms isn't as efficient as pushing with your core.

 

[memaquay]

Lol, great test Alan! I did the same one yesterday with my straight shaft. I was really surprised that it felt the same on both sides!

 

[gumpus]

Hey Alan, have you ever seen the video of Patrick Moore paddling with a shovel?

I just thought I'd mention it.

 

[ABT]

First off let me say that I love these side by side tests, and think that these are of great value to the forum to have available for future generations. Great setups and execution, I have really enjoyed reading these.

This one also brings up another point worth mentioning, and that is that while they are great tests and remove a lot of variables with the side by sides (which is key to their great value), the experiences may not exactly match someone else’s due to the other variables that can come into play (I know others have mentioned this too). Arm length, torso length, overall height, seat height, etc all play a large role in what feels “comfortable” to a paddler, and how much work they perceive their paddling is. Several months ago I switched to a 56” paddle because it just felt better in all of my boats. Better reach, mechanics, etc. however, I recently picked up a Phoenix with sitting drops, and while it is the same height off the bilge as my Prospector, for some reason the 56” felt awful. My hands had to be way too high for a good recovery, and shallow water was terrible, felt like I was manipulating the paddle with my hands above my head. Went back to my 54” paddle and even though that’s not really a big length difference, it was night and day how comfortable it was in that boat, with that max beam, with that seat height, and with my body dimensions.

I think this also applies to some of the other tests as well, I.e. a certain body type may see a bigger difference in efficiency with a bent (used correctly) vs a straight than someone else, whereas someone else may only see a negligible improvement for most paddling scenarios (as has been already discussed by others). I still see the merit of the bent shaft in general, but there may be less benefit to be gained when limited (by arm length for instance) to a certain length of paddle that might limit the efficiency of the stroke in other ways, negating some of the bent shaft benefit.

One other thing I’ll add that I’ve found interesting is that I often see people talk about proper paddling mechanics using their torsos/core, which is also pretty indisputably more efficient in my opinion. But I also see people talking about sore shoulders after a long day of paddling, which I find unfamiliar. I’m very far from the pinnacle of human fitness, but I have never had sore shoulders or arms after any sort of paddling (long days, sprinting, etc). I also think I tend to use my arms more than my core because it’s comfortable for me even if less efficient. But it makes the soreness comments more perplexing as it seems if anyone should have an issue like that, I should. Yet I don’t. I can only attribute it to the “other variables” as mentioned. I’m 5’9” with a long torso, short legs, and short to average arms. How that interacts with my boats and my paddles is going to be much different than someone 6’3”, that kneels predominantly, with long femurs, and a long wingspan. Do they need a longer paddle than my 56” due to the extra height (probably)? But because they have a longer reach does it not need to be quite as much longer as you’d expect (I.e their extra reach can make up for a couple inches of paddle length and still be comfortable for them)? Do longer paddles put more stress on their joints due to the increased leverage vs what I experience with short arms/paddles? Or if the ratios are about the same does it all end up similar? I don’t know the answer, just something I’ve wondered about.

 

[Alan Gage]

I think this also applies to some of the other tests as well, I.e. a certain body type may see a bigger difference in efficiency with a bent (used correctly) vs a straight than someone else, whereas someone else may only see a negligible improvement for most paddling scenarios (as has been already discussed by others).

For sure. Good points. Everyone will have different stroke mechanics and those mechanics will probably change based on type and length of paddle. While I think we all have a length and shape of paddle that just feels like it fits our style I think most of us can adapt to different sizes and strokes, within reason, with some practice. It takes a while to get over muscle memory. I have no intention of paddling a bent shaft backwards on a regular basis but I was surprised how poorly it worked with my regular stroke and I am curious to play with it some more to see if there is a stroke that feels ok with it.

One other thing I’ll add that I’ve found interesting is that I often see people talk about proper paddling mechanics using their torsos/core, which is also pretty indisputably more efficient in my opinion. But I also see people talking about sore shoulders after a long day of paddling, which I find unfamiliar.

I think it depends on the type of shoulder pain.

The shoulder pain I experienced last night was muscle soreness, a burning sensation, that went away as soon as I stopped paddling. If someone was new to paddling I wouldn't be surprised if they had some muscle soreness for a couple days after. But even if someone isn't using much torso rotation and the shoulders are working overtime I think the muscles would soon adapt to this stress and not hurt/burn.

I've also experienced shoulder pain that was sharp and continued to hurt after paddling had stopped during extended tripping. This was in my right shoulder, which has always caused me issues (especially when throwing). I'd feel the pain when my right hand was the bottom hand and I was pulling (as opposed to muscle pain which usually feels worst on the top arm). I had surgery on it last year and am hoping those issues will not come back.

When I used to race canoes I overheard many racers who had already had, or needed to have, shoulder surgery so it sounds like it comes with the territory. I'm sure some of this comes down to technique and some of it to how your body was built. I have very low shoulder mobility and I'm guessing that, along with a childhood that consisted of 95% baseball (I finally had to quit in high school due to my shoulder) and an adulthood that consisted of 95% canoeing factored into eventually needing the surgery. Someone with better shoulders could probably do the same things as me and never have an issue. Same for someone with the same shoulders as me who did not do things to aggravate them.

Alan

 

[yknpdlr]

I think it depends on the type of shoulder pain.

A few years ago, in the early fall of the year I slipped off an old cabin roof while giving it a coat of aluminized asphalt paint. I thought I was being careful, but must have dripped a drop behind me. That is all it took for me to go flying down, right onto a rubble pile of a concrete cinder block chimney we had just dismantled. All the way down in slow motion I distinctly remember thinking "how many bones, how many bones?". Upon landing, remembering to do my most perfect AF learned parachute landing fall, while still holding the formerly partially filled 5 gallon paint bucket, now empty. I stood up without any issue of pain except that I looked like the "tin man". All else appeared o be ok until the next day when I could not raise my right arm above the level of my chin. X-rays and an MRI later, a sports specialist surgeon insisted it was bad enough that I definitely needed the famously dreaded rotator cuff repair surgery. Now I had known other paddlers who had the same infliction and I knew the answer to my next question: "Doc, how long do I have to hold my arm fixed across my stomach?" Three months was the unwanted answer I already knew.

I asked if there was another solution, since I was scheduled to race on the Yukon River the next spring, and needed to begin paddle training right away and through the winter season. Well, since the x-ray and MRI pinpointed exactly where the tear was, the doc offered a targeted cortisone injection to see if that might help. So I went for it. It worked wonderfully well until about April when the pain returned while on my canoe paddling machine. Local waters were about to lose their thick coating of ice and I was anxious to get out there. The doc said we could try another injection, which worked just as well as the first and I headed off to the Yukon on schedule, fit and ready to paddle a thousand miles.

Since then, I have had no issues with pain in the shoulder. Once in a while I can feel a twinge of discomfort in certain positions as a reminder, but that is short lived. Almost ten years later now, I credit many hundreds of miles of races and race training with what appears to be a permanent non-surgical solution fix to my torn rotator cuff.