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Short Bellied Lines Lead to Injuries
In a report released today in the Northwest Journal of Sport Fishing Kinesiology, disturbing evidence that recent trends in spey casting are leading to discomfort, injury and even death. The report, authored by doctors David Long, Nancy Lines and Steven Rule of O. Mykiss University is the culmination of an intensive research study looking at repetitive injuries received from Skagit casting.
“We started hearing that we might have a problem in pockets of Western Washington”, said Dr. Lines. “Once we started the research though, it became apparent that in the last few months, it has reached epidemic proportions and spread throughout North America and across borders.”, she added. Dr. Rule reports that the “the level of physical injury we discovered mirrors that of the famous Opti-Grab fiasco documented in the 1980’s movie The Jerk.” “It is the only other thing that comes close to the magnitude of people injured from what they thought to be a helpful product”, he said.
According to the trio of highly respected researchers, the injuries fall into two main categories: abnormal and non-symmetrical muscle build-up from repeated line stripping and second, injuries associated with proximity to extremely high line speeds. In both categories, the trio has documented numerous cases of personal injury and even death.
Repetitive stripping syndrome (RSS) is by far the major offender in terms of shear numbers of casters injured. Dr. Lines commented that “our bodies were not meant to make that motion over and over and over and over again. Forcing our bodies to do so results in non-symetical muscle mass build-up. Basically, he said, you end up with people that look like Popeye on one side and Pee-Wee on the other”. The group has documented cases of severe curvature of the spine as well as numerous chiropractic irregularities.
At least one recent death was attributed to RSS. In this case from central Michigan, the first Skagit casting death outside of NW Washington, an angler slipped in heavy current and was washing into a slow deep backwater. Although an accomplished swimmer, the disproportionate muscle mass on his stripping side resulted in the man swimming in circles until he finally became fatigued and went under.
The other main category of injury is even more startling. High Line Speed Interaction (HLSI) has quickly replaced Powerbait allergies as the leading cause of angling injury. “Those that are proselytizing this casting method are able to obtain almost superhuman line speed”, said Dr. Long. Documented cases of second and third degree burns to fingers and faces are commonplace. “These simply are from being in close proximity to the line as it blasts out” said Long.
The group has identified at least thirteen deaths in the last year attributed to HLSI. These range from blunt force trauma from accidental impact with 4-5” long weighted lures to a Concrete, WA man who knocked himself unconscious and subsequently drowned.
A high number of additional cases of hearing loss have been tied directly to HLSI. “Such high line speeds are achieved that these guys are breaking the sound barrier and the resulting sonic-cast-boom is damaging hearing”, reported Dr. Rule. Complicating this is the tendency for these Skagit casters to use short double-handed rods which keep the resulting sonic explosion in close to their ears.
The group, while saying its findings are quite concerning, admits that things could be far worse. Dr Lines says it appears that the negative impacts would be much greater if these casters were also focusing on arrow shaped loop generation. “Some think these loops are just pretty, Lines said, but this is where the real danger lies!” He likened this to letting a child play with a scalpel or a hand grenade. “You wouldn’t do that would you?” he asked.
Another factor greatly limiting injuries appears to be the very low number of people able to teach this harmful type of casting. There appears to be a large number of people that think they know how to do it but only two or three that understand the intricacies enough to fully comprehend it, reported Dr. Rule. If these three become injured or deaf, the problem might just self-select out.
It appears that in addition to the health issues involved in Skagit style casting, there are economic costs as well. The Organization for Tackle Fashion has recently begun a project to quantify the costs to consumers from custom garment tailoring as a result of single-side bulking up due to RSS. A Bush administration spokesman had no comment when asked if the White House was concerned this phenomenon might hamper the nation’s economic recovery. Even so, as of the time this article is going to press, at least 5 state legislatures and the Republic of Puerto Rico are considering legislation to ban Skagit Casting.
Byline: Harry S. Kelts
Double Handed Weekly
:whoa:
:whoa:
In a report released today in the Northwest Journal of Sport Fishing Kinesiology, disturbing evidence that recent trends in spey casting are leading to discomfort, injury and even death. The report, authored by doctors David Long, Nancy Lines and Steven Rule of O. Mykiss University is the culmination of an intensive research study looking at repetitive injuries received from Skagit casting.
“We started hearing that we might have a problem in pockets of Western Washington”, said Dr. Lines. “Once we started the research though, it became apparent that in the last few months, it has reached epidemic proportions and spread throughout North America and across borders.”, she added. Dr. Rule reports that the “the level of physical injury we discovered mirrors that of the famous Opti-Grab fiasco documented in the 1980’s movie The Jerk.” “It is the only other thing that comes close to the magnitude of people injured from what they thought to be a helpful product”, he said.
According to the trio of highly respected researchers, the injuries fall into two main categories: abnormal and non-symmetrical muscle build-up from repeated line stripping and second, injuries associated with proximity to extremely high line speeds. In both categories, the trio has documented numerous cases of personal injury and even death.
Repetitive stripping syndrome (RSS) is by far the major offender in terms of shear numbers of casters injured. Dr. Lines commented that “our bodies were not meant to make that motion over and over and over and over again. Forcing our bodies to do so results in non-symetical muscle mass build-up. Basically, he said, you end up with people that look like Popeye on one side and Pee-Wee on the other”. The group has documented cases of severe curvature of the spine as well as numerous chiropractic irregularities.
At least one recent death was attributed to RSS. In this case from central Michigan, the first Skagit casting death outside of NW Washington, an angler slipped in heavy current and was washing into a slow deep backwater. Although an accomplished swimmer, the disproportionate muscle mass on his stripping side resulted in the man swimming in circles until he finally became fatigued and went under.
The other main category of injury is even more startling. High Line Speed Interaction (HLSI) has quickly replaced Powerbait allergies as the leading cause of angling injury. “Those that are proselytizing this casting method are able to obtain almost superhuman line speed”, said Dr. Long. Documented cases of second and third degree burns to fingers and faces are commonplace. “These simply are from being in close proximity to the line as it blasts out” said Long.
The group has identified at least thirteen deaths in the last year attributed to HLSI. These range from blunt force trauma from accidental impact with 4-5” long weighted lures to a Concrete, WA man who knocked himself unconscious and subsequently drowned.
A high number of additional cases of hearing loss have been tied directly to HLSI. “Such high line speeds are achieved that these guys are breaking the sound barrier and the resulting sonic-cast-boom is damaging hearing”, reported Dr. Rule. Complicating this is the tendency for these Skagit casters to use short double-handed rods which keep the resulting sonic explosion in close to their ears.
The group, while saying its findings are quite concerning, admits that things could be far worse. Dr Lines says it appears that the negative impacts would be much greater if these casters were also focusing on arrow shaped loop generation. “Some think these loops are just pretty, Lines said, but this is where the real danger lies!” He likened this to letting a child play with a scalpel or a hand grenade. “You wouldn’t do that would you?” he asked.
Another factor greatly limiting injuries appears to be the very low number of people able to teach this harmful type of casting. There appears to be a large number of people that think they know how to do it but only two or three that understand the intricacies enough to fully comprehend it, reported Dr. Rule. If these three become injured or deaf, the problem might just self-select out.
It appears that in addition to the health issues involved in Skagit style casting, there are economic costs as well. The Organization for Tackle Fashion has recently begun a project to quantify the costs to consumers from custom garment tailoring as a result of single-side bulking up due to RSS. A Bush administration spokesman had no comment when asked if the White House was concerned this phenomenon might hamper the nation’s economic recovery. Even so, as of the time this article is going to press, at least 5 state legislatures and the Republic of Puerto Rico are considering legislation to ban Skagit Casting.
Byline: Harry S. Kelts
Double Handed Weekly
:whoa:
:whoa:
