Back in 2016 we shared John Nestler’s request for information relating to shoulder injuries suffered by paddlers and whether or not the paddles used (bent or straight shaft) made a significant difference. Two years on and John has kindly shared the data.

Shoulder Injuries Study - Bent Vs Straight Shaft

Back in 2016 I released a survey on my website looking at a number of different factors surrounding shoulder injuries in whitewater kayakers. The original intent was to simply see if injury rates differed among boaters using straight shaft or bentshaft paddles, but the scope quickly grew beyond that. Thanks to all of you that did the survey back then – over 2,700 people responded!

I’ve been sitting on this data for two years now and just don’t have the time to do a thorough statistical analysis, so I’m putting it out here into the community.

It’s interesting to read the comments made by respondents to get their analysis of what caused the injury, and steps they’ve taken to prevent those injuries from reoccurring.

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