Lester B. Waddel, D.C.

Professional review of the PaddleAir:

I ordered a PaddleAir the week prior to paddling a race that was twice the distance that I had previously raced. An adjustable inflated bag worn under a garmet to relax the back muscles. It sounded good, I needed something to ease the stress that would be imposed on my back during the prolonged prone paddling. During the first test of the inflatable device I found that it provided much more than just back stress and pain relief.

When paddling on a board, using either double or single arm, a surfer must arch the back in order to raise the shoulders high enough for the recovery of the arms. This causes: 1.  A straight arm recovery that I believe is the major cause of many shoulder complaints with surfers and... 2.  Tightening of the gleuts and paraspinals causing over use and strain of  those muscles, compression of the lumbar disc and pinching of spinal nerves with possible associated radiating pain.

Use of the PaddleAir raises the chest pneumatically. Which eases the strain on the gleuts and paraspinal muscles allowing pain free or longer paddle/surf session. The 'bag' that is inflated not only raises the chest to allow for higher shoulders for easier arm recovery but, when single arm paddling, enables the paddler to rotate much like a swimmer to get each arm higher out of the water on the recover. This higher recovery, I believe, will reduce shoulder complaints and injuries of anyone using this device.