K, so i am doing a research project on white water kayaking for school (sports massage therapy) and i need to hear about your injuries, stupid, accidental or otherwise!!! Strains, sprains, bruieses, broken bones.... please anything... cheers, Alana:skull:

Torn left rotator cuff. Did it learning how to roll. Dont practice for 8 hours straight people its just a bad idea. Excepcially when you are teaching yourself how to roll. BAD IDEA.

Torn string of finger
Few week no kayaking!

Wife and I went on a \"Touring\" trip. Recent rains (flooding) created a ClassII at the beginning of the river run. Never been through (or near) ww with our Tsunami 140 Light Touring Kayaks.

I went through or in, or water pushed me out, as I had no clue. I hit holes, but for some reason, stopped paddling about 3/4 way rthrough - i guess i though I could ride it or something - afterwards I learned I had to keep paddling.

That evening, thought I twisted out of kayak wrong, and pulled a lower back muscle. I read and wife confirmed that on third day (sports?) injuries are the worst, and sure enough I was in pain and couldn't sleep.

After looking at where it was I thought maybe I bruised something, a rib, instead of pulling a muscle. Wife looked at area, and said i bruised a kidney.

There ya go.

Not really an injury but... I read a rapid wrong on a multiday whitewater canoe trip and we ended up having to do a majoy multihour portage. During which my wife suffered from so many bug bites she had to be put on antihistamines to keep her airway clear. We also had a possible spinal that was later ruled out on the same trip. I ended up with that client in the front of my boat for many class II/III rapids. Just like paddling a corpse, dead weight.

Sholder dislocation by playing in a hole, cartilage teared off, 2 h operation, 3 months no working, 6 months revalidation and 1 year no kayaking

5 years later still chronical tendinitis in my sholder

Bas

hey BAS how exactly did you dislocate your shoulder?? im just curious cos i want to try and avoid it myself.
i found this accident database thing which should help you out:
www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Safety/view/
although only the bad injuries/deaths seem to get reported.
Main ones seem to be shoulder dislocations, impact with rocks, broken back from poor landings off waterfalls, and drowning in holes/stoppers. ive also heard of people slipping on rocks on the river bank and chipping teeth.
www.irishfreestyle.com/node/792

Well one of the easiest ways to dislocate your shoulder is extending your arm all they way upstream sorta bracing. then getting power flipped upstream you will end up tearing your shoulder out the MOST painful way.

I broke my nose on my paddle after boofing a 16' footer, and thats about it.

My Friend broke his toe when my lecturer got ina mood and hit the front of my mates boat with his paddle. to be honest his toe is weak anyway as hes broken it loads before. but i thaught it was kinda funny.
Iv cut my hands when i capsized in shallow fast moving water. but nothing serious.

Dislocated shoulder going down a narrow chute capsized. Paddles got stuck, I was holding them and I kept moving. The paddles didn't.

Didn't get it sorted out properly and dislocated a further 7 times and sublux'd about 10 times in the following year.

Had an operation to stabalize the joint (reattached torn ligaments) in January and just getting back to paddling over the last month or so.

Cheers,
Ross

I broke a tooth on a rock while I was getting flipped up side down. From that I learned you should stop smiling while being capsized.

A friend of mine broke his ass while swimming down a rapid.

Ive concussed myself playboating and fracture my T-9 vertrbrae running a drop. I also hurt my ass a lot swimming down stuff on a WWS&R course.

Nothing serious, but i badly bruised my shoulder and right arm after going down a shallow weir sideways...then upside down.
Luckily i've never seriously injured myself kayaking, although i've had a few near misses.

I broke a tooth on a rock while I was getting flipped up side down. From that I learned you should stop smiling while being capsized.

A friend of mine broke his ass while swimming down a rapid.

I am really appreciating the response... I know this project is going to kick ass over my friend who is doing hers on cheer-leading accidents... (insert gaging sound here) Has anyone seen a massage therapist for their injuries? Cheers, Alana:skull:

Broke his ass? haha, I am going to add that one at the end of my presentation... thx

malanalan wrote:

Has anyone seen a massage therapist for their injuries? Cheers, Alana:skull:

Does it count if you go to your girlfriend?

No, not for kayaking, yet...
But to a physio for compressing the third vertabrae in my neck from a car accident. Took more than 3 years to come right, mostly.. If I take a beating on the river my neck can still act up

A rock spider bit me on the white nile. Big black one. left a scar......
[img size=150]

Hey AD share some of your thumbs man. I only have 1 and you have like 15.

kotzejoe wrote:

Hey AD share some of your thumbs man. I only have 1 and you have like 15.

Hehe, wish I could. Check out old Mr Playak himself Tuomas, Urge, Scotty, etc. Long time posters

When are you going to join us on the Ash? I'm puttin on a lekker video this week still...

Hmmm.... I have picked up a few along the way, mainly by doing stupid stuff.

I have chronic disc bulge in my lower back (what used to be known as a slipped disc) and a misalignment at the top of my spine caused by trying to surf a huge shore dumping wave in a prozone (a new boat at the time). Needles to say surfing the wave did not work and I got dumped upsidown on dry land with a boat and the full force of the wave on top of me, it hurt rather.

I have a pretty messed up shoulder that I initially sub located playing no paddle canoe polo in a swimming pool, I did a hand roll and managed to throw my arm out of socket, it snapped strait back in but not before it could catch a load of nerves, tissue and muscle to get trapped in the socket. While recovering from this I managed to screw up a drop, take it upside down and land on a rock on my bad shoulder, this still gives me grief. My other shoulder is slightly iffy but I don't know what I have done to that one.

I have snapped a few toes and fingers but they hardly count and I have picked up surfers ear but that is more of a condition than an injury.

I think that is it all, If I injure myself again I will update ;P

Denzil

Got my right arm biceps strained while rolling behind a wave in a big eddy - thought it would be alright in a week instead got 1 year of recovery from that condition and still not sure whether tis gone. When it hurt while on water felt like smashing anyone's face for nothing - the strain is a very irritating indeed.

kayakSA wrote:

Alot of drinking injuries and does having river-guts count? Had a crap load of those so far.

hehe, nice one Philip. Drinking injuries? Why do I find that so easy to believe? River guts, yes, had that on the odd occasion. Think the Buffalo trip was that dodgy Chicken Licken...

Yup That's the Philip I know

I would say that counts. Swaziland always seems to have some ROUGH parties, with a capital 'R' Safer in good old South Africa hahahaha

Ah, yes the famous Adrian Vroom, aka Ginger Bread. (Aquaman) He also seems to have a nasty habit of swimming into undercuts!

Carl van Wyk went over in Fish Pond, Ash River. His helmet got crushed at the back and was enough damage to go through the helmet and give him some stiches. Too bad we had to end the trip right then and there.

I was there when Brendan's shoulder popped. Bit unpleasant and a huge hike out for him.

Seen a couple of shoulders out. Doesn't look like a good time..

I've seen some bad swims. Worst trip was with this one dude who couldn't roll. He attempted to paddle a 38km, overnight section with us at a high level and didn't tell us he couldn't roll. Upside down, he managed to keep his head above water in some class 3 & the odd 4 and wait till the end of the rapid for help. He swam many times, almost into an undercut once. On the second day he got creamed again and he ended up in tears and walked out. Poor dude. I really felt for him. Long swims are highly unpleasant. At least the water was about 26 degrees C warm.. ahhh

broke my paddle across my face while getting slammed upside- down in the seam of a big recirculating eddy- fed keeper ledge hole onto a nasty cheese- grater rock at the bottom of the river. I dropped one half, rolled up with the other, and busted it the hell out of there. I turned out OK except for a minor concussion and huge bruised welt. I also screwed myself up pretty bad when I accidentally left my sprayskirt open in a big class IV. My shoulder used to pop out all the time from a mixture of kayaking and baseball, which probably isn't good considering that I'm only 15, so I saw a Physical Therapist and got that all straigntened out. I've also hurt my back boofing a little too flat, and quite a few other stitches and injuries just like any boater. Something else to add, and I think a few others will agree with me on this, My helmet has saved my life more times than I care to count. Definitely not a piece of equipment to overlook.

Tore my right rotator cuff when i was learning to role with out a paddle. In the pool at role class and the dude running the hole thing ask who wants to role with out using you paddle and i said me. Jump for word in time about 4 years. it is fine and i am starting to kayak again:dance:

Low back pain . Broken hand finger.
And some emotional disorders.

i had a nice accident last november doing the north esk
i wasn't really concentrating and backlooped in the drop before the fish ladder.
I ended up face planting some rocks whilst backlooping and loosing my front teeth.
If that wasn't bad enough it was the day before my english exam
That's what i get for smiling when i screw up:grin:
got a nice set of dentures now so it's all good