COMING BACK FROM INJURY
About 6 months ago I hurt my back whilst paddling at Hurley, thinking nothing of it two weeks later we travelled up to Marsh and hurt it again. We talked to a physio and all was good until 6 weeks later I tried kayaking again to find I had hurt it again. Feeling a bit disheartened we went to see a medical consultant after hurting it for the 3rd time. Quickly we got a scan and saw what the problem was.
Just to the left of the spine you can see a much whiter area compared to the other side, this shows where the stress in the bone has caused it to become more dense. We were told that the best way to treat it was rest, 6 weeks later I had another scan, this time show the area like the it should be.
Last Wednesday I got back into a kayak on flat water, it felt great, however a bit under used and achy afterwards. On the 27th we decided to go to the young’uns freestyle at Cardiff, promptly I asked Aaron if I could borrow a Zen for the afternoon as it is a lot more stable than playboats such as the rockstar.
It was as if I had to put no effort into making eddies, the lessened stress helped keep my back loose whilst on the water. To start with I paddled with Dan McGaley to make sure that my back was going to hold under the stress and after a few runs down I was left to my own devices. I started to surf some smaller features to try and get my feel for the water back. My new semi-dry cagdeck helped keep me cool in the warm summer sun, with a neoprene neck seal it was very comfortable and surprisingly dry!
Hopefully I will be back in my playboat soon ready for Canada in just under a month, it will be an adventure to say the least!
By Alex Walters
