Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: H Rhodes on December 03, 2012, 03:58:16 am
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I have had trouble with my elbow lately and have been forced to lay off bow building for a while. I have read up on it and found that it is a real common problem with bowyers. Mine got so bad last week that I couldn't brush my teeth or comb my hair with my right hand! Elbow wouldn't bend all the way or straighten out all the way. It hurt like hell to unscrew the mayo lid!
I was wondering if any of you have had similar troubles and if you have any advice on dealing with it... I am suffering from withdrawals here!
I have always gravitated toward using hand tools and don't employ the power tools that much. Now it seems that I am going to have to rely on them a lot more, if this doesn't heal up soon. I have been icing it, doing some physical therapy, wearing a brace that I bought at the drug store, and can tell that it is improving. If y'all can think of anything else that might help, I am all ears.
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It's my left elbow and shoulder on me. It started when I pulled a buddies 85# compound back and something sounded like a stick breaking in my shoulder.
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Ouch.... it's my right elbow and I am right handed. I never noticed any particular moment when it was injured. I think it was mostly caused by a helluva lot of chopping, rasping, sanding etc.... It has really put a damper on my bow building the last couple of weeks :(
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I have it horrible in both elbows and its miserbale Howard. I take a few Ibuprofens before I get started. I have given up on it getting better. I took almost a month off from shooting and working wood and didnt start to matter for me.
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I had it in a strange place - my right pectoral muscle where it attaches to the sternum/ribs. Had it for months. Got it because I was scraping staves so much in a specific movement. Stopped doing that and combined ibuprofin and deep tissue message and it eventually went away. As the years click by I'm finding that posture when doing work counts more and more. Keenan's stavemaster is looking more and more enticing!
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Welcome to the club...lol. :laugh:
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yep it's a common problem with blacksmiths, bowyers, cowboys, baseball players and carpenters unfortantly i do all of the above on a regular basis
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The Dr. told me mine was problem brought on by 40+ years of punching and kicking. The syptom is called boxer's elbow, also.
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I got the same problem in my left elbow and I'm not even a bowyer. Got mine from years of hard, manual labor. I've had to go down alot in poundage (target bows only) and wear an elbow brace whenever I shoot...but at least I'm still shooting.
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Hey Howard, sorry to hear your having pain bad enough to hamper your bow building. I had the same problem around about four years ago from running a pressure washer for two long days. Working from a ladder and reaching out all day holding that washer wand steady
with one hand did it to me, well that and being over 50 I suspect. Mine hurt for six or more months more or less and still comes and goes. I take Ibuprofen when it gets bad to take the edge off and yeah draw knifing stubborn sapwood makes it flare up again real quick.
Hatchet work too now that I think about it. Hope it improves for you so your able to get back to bow building soon buddy.
Greg
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I had tennis elbow years ago.........went away luckily. I found the best thing for it was massage the whirlpool and Weight training. Another thing try positioing your arm in a different manner if that's possible..Just my 2 cents worth.
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I believe it is one of the "over use" syndromes. Repetative notion. My hands are my problem. I've done physical lasbor all my working carrier from boat mechanic to landscape maintainance to everything in between. I cut, split and stack 4 to 5 cords of hardwood firewood each fall, I work the garden with hand tools and build bows and arrows with mostly hand tools.
I think a bandsaw along with ibuprofin and ice treatment is the way to relieve the pain.
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I'm in the exact same boat, hrhodes. :-\ Mine started a few weeks ago and I haven't been able to do squat. I think mine originated from my Aikido practice but bow building and shooting sure don't make it feel better. I'm really frustrated by it and it's not encouraging to hear about so many of you suffering chronically. I was really hoping this would go away. I need to see the doctor and get some physical therapy for it. I think building up the muscles around the tendon will help me. I'm not a beefy guy but I work and play hard, it's starting to take it's toll.
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Okay, so now I don't feel like nature has singled me out! :D I will be using the bandsaw more. Thanks for the advice fellows. I think that reducing staves with the hatchet was probably the main culprit. Ibuprofen, ice, elbow brace and more sawing/less chopping - that is my plan. To stop building is bows is not even an option. I would keep trying with my toes if I had to!!
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i get it in my left elbow through work mainly (bricklayer) but it also flares up through rasping and filing. thankfully its never been bad enough to stop me. but i know one day it will. i wear a copper band with magnets in all the time, on my left wrist and im sure when i first started wearing it it helped. maybe worth a go they are cheap to buy.
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I have the same problem with both elbows,broke them about 40 years ago,right one in 7 places and left in 5 places from a motorcycle wreck,neather will straighten out or rotate out to flat,they hurt most of the time but I guess over the years I have just learned to deal with it. Man if I had known I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself. Good luck with you injury,most cases I see [and I see a lot in archery] go away if you will lay off of them for a little while. :) :)
Pappy
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Try the magnets, and try "DHEA", and DHA, and Arnica Montana. (leopards bane) I had the tennis elbow real bad when I was working construction. it hurt like all get out when I picked up a hammer, and sometimes it was all I could do to make it through the day. I got some DEHA, and it helped, took about two weeks, but it finally started to go away. About a year ago, I was trimming trees, and hedges around the house, and over did it, reaching out to cut limbs and such with a chain saw in one hand, and it came back, and is just now fairly better, but it I do anything that pulls that muscle, it lets me know it is still there. My chiropractor gave me an exercise to do, slightly once in a while, till I build up to be able to a few sessions a day. You just lay your forearm out on a table or other flat surface, and take your other hand, and place on top of the hand of the affected arm, and put a little resistance on it, and raise your hand against the resistance . Do this for about five to ten reps, and leave it till later in the day, and do it again, and then every day, and slowly build up the number of reps, and times you do it in a day. Don't over do it at first, or you will just inflame it. He helped me get rid of my Plantars Faciitis. All the above vitamins and herbs, I mentioned are good for inflammation. The Arnica Montana, is really great to prevent brusing, and helps in the healing of pulled muscles, and sprains. My
girlfriend's dogs spilled water out of their water dish, in the kitchen, and she stepped in it on the tile floor, and her feet went out from under her, and landed on her side against the cabinet. I had sent her some Arnica, about a week before, and she was taking it for her knee, and then this happened. She was sore, but never bruised, and healed pretty fast, after a visit to the Chiropractor's office. I was splitting wood with a maul, and a piece of wood flew out and hit me on the left shin, and it swelled up big time but never bruised, and is almost all gone now. Thanks to the Arnica montana. I was cutting a big pile of logs here, with my neighbor, and was tossing the sized sections out of the way, near the wagon, and then stacking them in the wagon, and then taking them up the little incline, to where I tossed them in a pile, to be split, and stacked. Well the inside of my elbow was screaming like mad! Still sore, but nothing like it was, every now and then I would bump it, and holey cow did it ever hurt. But I stared eating the arnica like candy, and taking the Dhea, and DHA, and it is starting to feel pretty good now, but if I put any kind of strain on it, like lifting something heavy, in a curling motion, it lets me know not to do that yet. So I am going to start doing light resistance work on it also. Sure be glad when it gets better.
I hope this will help you. You can get the arnica at any healthfood store. I get it here,at a little health food store in a little bottle for ten bucks, with 500 in the bottle. The ones I got before were in a little tube type bottle, and you only got a hundred or so for about the same price. It may take a little while, but it is great stuff. All three of them help with inflammation, and the healing of the tissues. If you have an impact on your body, or pull a muscle, or strain, take the Arnica Montana immediately, and you will not bruise, and you will heal much faster. ;)
Wayne
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Yep, I have the same problem when I do a lot of hatchet and scraping work. I wear a band around my forearm and it seems to help somewhat.
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Thanks for all the advice fellows. I have laid off of the chopping and rasping for a couple of weeks now and it seems to be improving. Wayne, I will give those a try, thanks. What kind of band do you use Gordon? I bought one of those elastic elbow braces from the drug store and I plan to wear it while working on bows.
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Hatchet work and heavy rasping really flair my elbow up. Usually just lay off of it for acouple of days and it will clear up. I also have acute tendinitis in both shoulders. Bow making flairs it up also, but it usually only hurts at night while trying to sleep and goes away when i get up and moving so i just try to ignore it. A few years ago i had carpal tunnel so bad i had to all but quit bow making but surgery cleared that up.