[Jewelry making - Article 00149] - Re: [Orchid] Tennis elbow advice

[Dar Shelton]

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    I don't have advice specifically about T.E., or any other specific
    injury, at least not today. What I want to share is my general
    experience dealing with repetitive stress related issues over the
    years,and what has helped. Those things are, in random order:
    exercise, nutrition, stretching, massage, electrical stimulation
    therapy, heat/ice treatment, and pacing. Actually, those may be in
    order of importance, except for pacing, which is right up there ;
    learning how much is enough and how much is too much. 

    I have sawed many thousands of blanking dies in steel, by hand (ok,
    with the aid of leg-assisted and motor-assisted saws for about 12
    years ) and have had to figure out how to to maintain my body parts
    for doing that job. Fortunately, I can split the sawing days up
    between that and other jobs, and split the week up with sawing days,
    layout days, heat treating days, etc., so that that form of pacing is
    used. 

    Really, the most important thing has been to maintain and/or build
    overall strength and stamina through (admittedly half-arsed)
    weightlifting, aka resistance training. But there is a fine line
    involved here, most definitely, because too much can lead to more
    problems and rest and recuperation time is vital. It just takes some
    time to figure out what your body can and cannot do, and what sorts
    of exercises, stretches and therapies work best for you. My approach
    is along the lines of : if I can attain a level of strength and
    fitness such that my work activities are not the most stressful thing
    I do, then I'll be able to continue the work on a long term basis. But
    if the work activity is the only, and the most, strenuous thing I do,
    then chances are much greater that it will cause problems. Now, that
    theory may not be completely realistic or practical but it is how I
    like to look at things and keep motivated. I've also learned the hard
    way that the alternative, weakness and work-induced deterioration,
    are distinctly bad options. 

    Considering the physical problems this work was causing me say, 15
    years ago, I'm pretty surprised I'm still going strong after 20
    years, and getting very very close to The Big Five-Oh. Heck, I even
    took up guitar playing again in '97, and it was one more potentially
    destructive activity, but I've worked it into the routine. Learning
    to listen to your body is essential, and getting good input from
    various qualified sources, plus using your own common sense and
    intuition, and never letting anything keep getting worse before doing
    something about it.... 

    Oh, I could go on but there's no time to go into all the details ;
    just some basic stuff I've had to incorporate into my working life,
    in order to keep going. 

Dar Shelton
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