Can you suggest resources about exercise and lymphedema?

vlnrph, I can hardly believe I'm going, and I'm soooo looking forward to it. I love that anecdote and had forgotten about it. Surely I'll work that into the WCOL discussion somehow! Thanks for reminding me.

Jelson, thank you! I had not seen this, and getting ideas from others is exactly why I created this topic. Much appreciated!

I kayak extensively, but not competitively. It's me vs. the river. I've measured the number of paddle strokes in a day (put my fitbit on my paddle) when it's an all-day paddle--about 19,000. My arm gets exhausted, when the nonaffected arm is still feeling strong. But so long as I'm in compression, no LE flares, although I certainly use night compression and do MLD to nudge things along each evening.

Jelson,

I will say that my arm barks at me when I kayak, that's for darn sure. At the moment I'm suffering from a rotator cuff problem with my non-LE arm, so both arms bark at me! Fortunately, there is another solution. We own a two-person Hobie kayak with what they call Mirage drives...you use your feet to propel the kayak. I prefer paddling the old fashioned way in my single person, sit-inside kayak with a rudder, which except in high headwinds or against current is pretty easy to move. DH prefers the Hobie, and we put our dog in the front seat (he gets a free ride, the free loader). The foot work is not like riding a bike, as the feet do not go in a circle. Rather, it's more like a pushing action, alternating feet. Underneath, there are flippers that mimic a seal's breast stroke action. Totally fun, and I do often use it when we go out on the river without the dog. It's probably more efficient to use big quadriceps muscles instead of little triceps and lat dorsii muscles, too.

I like the back seat. DH cannot tell when I'm slacking. The Hobie is quite heavy and I find it's less maneuverable than a traditional kakak, but that's probably just because it's longer than my one-person kayak. The Hobie uses a rudder that you control with your thumb. And Hobie is so sure you don't need the paddle (but there's one mounted on the side just in case)--they give you cup holders. You do need the paddle in extremely shallow water, when there's no room for the underside flippers. That's pretty rare, in our experience, but it does happen; or when we go through weeds in shallow-ish water. So, if I ever have to give up on using my arms to paddle, I have a good alternative, although I'm not sure where we'd put the dog when we camp from the kayaks, if I took one of the Hobie seats!

We go for up to a week at a time camping from kayaks in various rivers in Michigan, and it's gorgeous. We live on the Kalamazoo River, so that paddling is at our door step. Eagles nest near us, although the nests are not in sight from any river stretch we've been on, but they are in the neighborhood all the time. In winter we have 3- 5 eagle sightings a day, usually in groups of 2-3. They're attracted to the moving river water, when inland lakes are frozen and fishing is limited. It's common to see them in our back yard trees, close enough to see the pupils of their eyes. They are magnificent birds.

All of the above, and your experience too: the best reasons not to let LE take over. And I should mention that I've been lifting weights in the gym for years, and I get help and supervision from a personal trainer who was kind enough to attend a PAL workshop (learned about the PAL Protocol, i.e. guidelines and precautions for strength training when we have or are at risk of LE). So my arm is well conditioned for the repetitive motion and the resistance of paddling. That's no guarantee I'll avoid trouble, but I think it helps.