Anatomical understanding is needed in kayaking scapular and thoracic placement, key elements to the forward stroke, to provide a more insightful understanding of the frequent amount of injuries to these areas, and hopefully quell them. What can be done to help serious kayakers see the forward stroke from a biological standpoint with limited resources to address this topic directly? With more information and references, kayakers will have a better chance of breaking down kayak motion and be able to use that knowledge to enhance their kayaking life. With adventure sports, the body is an especially vital tool. Kayaking performance becomes very poor with shoulder and back dysfunction; this is like a car with flat tires. A well-functioning body, aided by relevant human biological knowledge is useful to the adventurous kayaker to help propel the craft forward. Kayakers typically have very limited understanding of human anatomy and physiology. They tend to have a strong outdoor knowledge yet a weak knowledge of their own indoors. Once hurt, or anatomically displaced, the kayaker knows he or she has a shoulder problem but may not know how to solve it. This is detrimental to their careers, expeditions, and sense of self. Kinesiology specializes in human motion but does not normally know what motions, forces, and other technical involvements are particular to kayaking. This paper aims to bridge a barrier so that the kayaker can understand how “their tires are aerated.”
