Numb fingers?

Hi. I'm new to kayaking. As I'm learning, I just do a straight 90 minutes or so on flat water. It feels good, but I've been having lots of numbness in my fingers. I hate having to stop every 15 or 20 minutes to get some feeling back in my fingers, but I don't feel comfortable continuing to paddle when all my fingers are numb. Any suggestions?

That's a pretty normal exprience. I had a horrible ache in my left hand middle finger the first several times, but I don't get that anymore.

One thing is to change your hand positioning. For example, you can wrap your thumb under the paddle or keep it alongside your fingers. I switch back and forth between those two quite often. I find that I want to hook the thumb when I am fighting a wind or strong current.

Keenan

Actually, you should neither push nor pull. Your paddle power should come from torso rotation, not from arm motion. If you're flexing your elbows during the stroke, you're going to tire yourself out and put too much stress on your arms.

Torso rotation with a light grip will improve your stroke and get rid of many pains.

People tend to describe it as 'pushing' to help people move away from trying to emulate a canoe stroke. What is meant by 'pushing' is that force is not generated solely by 'pulling' on the side that is moving through the water, i.e. both arms (and the rest of the body) working together.

But I am glad to hear your description, because my arms have yet to wear out while paddling, so maybe I am doing more right than I thought

Keenan

Possibly you're gripping too tightly with both hands.

Use a firm grip on the side with the blade in the water and relax your grip on the other side.

Also vary the hand position. Sometimes thumb around the shaft, sometimes thumb along the