When paddling, it’s important to maintain a square produced by your chest, arms and the paddle shaft. Although your arms will obviously bend during a paddle stroke, the important bit to remember is that the paddle should remain parallel to your torso as much as possible.

This is a strong position and will allow you to paddle efficiently and safely.  You should try to avoid breaking the box as, not only does this weaken your stroke, but it can lead to a range of injuries including shoulder dislocations in extreme circumstances.

Examples of breaking the box:

The position in the right hand diagram really puts your shoulder at risk

Ensuring you maintain the paddlers box is important during all types of strokes whether your paddling forwards, performing a turning stroke, moving sideways and even rolling.

The key is torso rotation: as your paddle moves along the side of your boat, you will need to rotate your body to maintain the box. If you’re doing a draw stroke to move sideways, you need to rotate your torso towards your direction of movement.