Was going a late drop the other day and got pitched , got the wind knocked out of me and spent the rest of the session in some discomfort (too much fun to go in) Afterwards and as the day progressed realized I done a number on my ribs and putting two and two together figured I had more than likely landed with my paddle under me.Which got me to wondering what other sorts of damage people had done to themselves with their paddles.

I was lucky, and each time I fell hard on my paddle stuck on the board or flat on the water it broke, avoiding being hurt.

I heard somebody had sprained his wrist by holding the paddle in the middle and the blade forwards in wipeouts, where the paddle would do a quick 180.

No actual injuries from the paddle directly but from SUP
Yes did my ribs hitting the close out section and doubled up and landed on my board. Apart from taking anti inflammatory it just takes time to recover.
Over Xmas there were spring tides were the low tide was half a meter lower.
My brother hit a sand bank and partial ligament tear in his knee.
A mate crompressed his back badly.
Injuries happen but take longer to recover when you're over 50

I have a distressing habit of occasionally failing to commit to a drop and flipping my board over mid foot change, then landing thigh first on a fin. I might have to think about how to avoid..

But the prize for endeavour goes to the supper who I helped someone else rescue last week, who had managed to snap their leg above the knee by falling off their SUP at the end of the wave. And I mean like SNAP - the bottom half of the leg was wobbling. No idea how it happened but good job the other guy in the water was an ex-clubby.... 500m from the shore, 1/2 hour before dark...

I had a nasty paddle injury while in Costa Rica. I straightened out and shot the board away when a nice overhead wave closed out. While somersaulting underwater, the paddle blade hit the bottom, and my face slammed into the end of the handle. It opened up my cheek down to the bone from my nose all the way to the outer. Worse, it drove my eye back into the socket, causing an orbital blowout fracture. It blew out the bones on both the bottom and the medial side the orbit (eye socket). It took a surgery and some plastic held in place with metal screws to put things back together. Considering that I thought for a moment when I was underwater that I had lost my eye, things have worked out okay. I have permanent double vision whenever I look up, and high speed sports can also mess with my vision.
In retrospect, my mistake was in only holding onto the paddle with one hand while I was tumbling underwater. If I had both hands on the paddle, I don't think this injury would have happened. I think that it also didn't help that the paddle was in my left hand. In 90% of my surfing, the middle of the paddle is in my right hand, and I think that I have more awareness of controlling the paddle during a wipeout with that hand.

No direct injury from my paddle when falling or tumbling. But had a few from my SUPs.
Currently left wrist joint problems that I noticed after a long session. Now I believe its from turning the paddle whilst in the water to keep the blade behind me whilst facing an on coming wave. I keep my wrist too loose which bends my hand sideways. But I believe my hand should be tense & straight when doing this.
It hurts the most after a SUP session & when twisting my hand inwards like when you want to look at your watch for the time.

Here's a good one, I ran home to change boards but when I got there I realised that I had left my keys back at the beach.
So I waited till someone drove out of the Apartment block and I ran across to get into the carpark before the sliding gate closed. Unfortunately the gate had nearly closed so I stuck my paddle in front of the gate to activate the infra red sensor.
Missed the sensor and the gate totally crushed my paddle. Great injury to ego and bank account.