[TheForge] elbow

Sun May 4 19:20:00 2003

To All,
As one who has been the whole nine yards with lateral epicondrilitis (sic ?), 
my first bit of advice is put the hammer down, take a couple of ibuprofen and 
relax for a while.
What hurts is the tendon inside of its sheath at the point where it attaches 
to the bone.  It is irritated because of a repetitive injury so some rest is 
indicated.
If it happened two weeks ago, it is too late for ice unless you are still 
using it.  If you are using it you can ice it down afterwards to keep the 
inflamation down.  Ice the first day, moist heat after that.
I tried working through the pain when I first hurt mine and the only way I 
could move my arm for a week was to lift it with the other arm.  It looked 
like I had a stroke.
You will need to keep the range of motion going and gentle stretching and 
excercise will also help.  If you need to use it get an adjustable arm band 
with an air pad.  That will help to isolate the tendon from the point of 
attachment and reduce further damage.  Warm up by doing wrist rotations, 
slowly and gently.  Also do wrist flexions, i.e., bending the wrist up and dow
n.  The best exercise is to get some 1/4" wide rubber bands and put them over 
your fingertips.  Then spread your fingers and thumb slowly. Repeat a few 
times.  If it really hurts, you are not ready to do this.
I went in to see my Orthopod as soon as I could get an appointment.  Over an 
eight month period I had 6 steroid shots, I was on Voltarin the whole time 
and ended up having surgery anyway. I would get the shots on Thursday night 
and go to the forge on Saturday morning like nothing had happened.  The drugs 
made me feel too good.  The fact that it did not get any better was my own 
fault.  
I had my surgery 12 years ago now and all is well.  I can tell when it is 
going to rain with greater precision than the local weather man.  I do warm 
up before picking up the hammer, I start my sessions slowly and I wear an 
elastic compression tube when it is cold. 
You do not have to stop working but you have to be a whole lot more careful 
now.  Peter Hapny became a lefty for a while.

Hochewa

In a message dated 5/4/2003 5:10:28 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
[email protected] writes:

> Good forging weather (cool rain) here in Minnesota. But I hurt my elbow a 
> couple of weeks ago. "Tennis" elbow I think. It seems to be slow going 
> away. Does anyone have ideas for treatment/exercises etc.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Bob Schade
> 

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