Any of you suffer with persistent lower back soreness?
It is a nag and takes away from my enjoying a day out.
I have tried a few things but am looking for more ideas.

Stormy,

One thing that has helped me with lower back pain and my legs going to sleep has been to add support for my thighs just in front of my seat. On overnight trips this is just my sleeping pad rolled up and wedged athwartships. This gives my legs support while allowing my knees to be comfortably bent. There are a couple of suppliers that offer inflatable padding specifically for this type of support.

Michael

I think Mikekayak hit part of it on the head- thigh support. Having done ALOT of long distance paddling, and having had severe soft tissue injury to my back from a car accident- following is my checklist for back pain would be:

1- Is the seat and seat back perpendicular to the keel? Do not guess...measure it!

2- Consider a hard back seat vs a back band. The additional support seems to help me.

3- Make sure both foot pegs or pedals are the same distance from the seat back.

4- Getting a good shoulder rotation when you paddle will strengthen your back muscles and reduce back pain.

5- Support the lower thigh directly infront of the seat, a chunk of closed cell phone will work good. You just want enough thickness to support the muscle until the angle of the leg going up to the knee lifts the muscle higher than the seat. The only warning is that after 2 or 3 consecutive 20 hours days in teh boat there will be some chaffing...

BillH

Try stretching your hamstrings, but don't expect immediate improvement, it takes time to get more range of motion. I've found that additional flexibility and range of motion help me. Also I swim a lot, and doing flip turns keeps my back limber. Use it or lose it seems to be the rule

Good ideas. I've tried some of these but now have some more options. Probably an age thing. I'm not that flexible, but am willing to work at that too. Cheers!

With due respect to all replies and as a person who has delt with severe chronic lower back pain and sciatica in the past, I strongly recommend Dr. John Sarno's book: Healing Back Pain. It saved my life, not to mention my paddling. The real answers may suprise you.

HI stormy!!!yepper I do!!!!!I have degenerative spinal desease,[also suffer from -mini-strokes] always up for a challenge!!!!believe it or not my drx reccomended kayaking for my problem back!!!!!also he said to do "warm-up exercises"prior to paddling!!also a nice "jell seat"makes things VERY NICE.I paddle dailly [approx6hrs]on the HAW river[near the house]at one spot I have to PORTAGE my kayak[or canoe]about 300'to the put-in[not great for a "back prob person.I hope this will help-along with everyone elses idea's!!!!good paddling&fair winds to ya later gumby/zenkayaker&solo canoer

Zenyakker, you are a trooper! I will complain much less now and am looking for that book Rkkayak.

Stormy,

It's a pretty popular book (Healing Back Pain) you should be able to find it easily. Make sure to check out Dr. Sarno's bio, so you understand he's not a quack but a very well respected doc. He's treated many notable people including John Stosle from ABC's 20/20. He met Dr. Sarno while doing a story on pain management and was at first very cynical about Dr. Sarno's methods.

Like I said before, He saved my life.

Rk

Back's starting to mend up. About time!