Out of action for a few days.

[WillC]

Thanks Guys, a little better today so i'm on the mend:biggrin:

 

[Seth]

I am somewhat hesitant to lecture but here goes anyway. There is no surgery or therapy that will rid me of chronic spine pain; or shots in the cervical spine, or anything. I shamelessly take enough pain killers that would put you guys in a coma. There is nothing worse than having doctors tell you there is nothing that can be done other than manage pain. If you are young or middle aged and get cervical spine pain take this stuff very seriously. If your work involves bad body mechanics as said above do something about it. Here are a few thoughts:
- gentle neck stretches in the shower; the heat of the shower helps
- take breaks as often as possible from activities that put you in bad posture
- be mindful of tension in the muscles in the neck area; there are lots of tiny muscles here
- try a soft collar next time you plaster your ceiling
- stay away from chiropractors who do violent neck snapping. It's way out of fashion now and dangerous according to neurologists
- good diet that nourishes joints (we should be good at that)

That's the end of the lecture. Will and others, please take care.
~s

 

[WillC]

Thanks Seth, I completely agree with everything you've said. I went through this before with a lower disc. I kept working on it for 6 months and could barely stand or walk by the time they operated on me. So I know I have to make changes and stick to them. I never want to end up in that situation again. Im with you with chiropractors too. I had one which made things much worse when I had lower back problems. I am seeing am osteopath on thursday. I'm hoping regular visits, keeping up with my yoga and making some of my work areas more comfortable will keep problems at bay.
Thanks
Will

 

[Bulldogbacchus]

I hope you feel a lot better soon

 

[DeepCSweede]

How are you feeling Will? Hope you are on the mend.

 

[WillC]

Bored but its given me time to read. I've got most of the way through this
http://www.feine-klingen.de/PDFs/verhoeven.pdf
But it keeps sending me to sleep
The osteopath says its muscular rather than a dodgy disc so thats good. Hope to be at work next week.
Thanks for all the well wishes.

 

[zitangy]

Hey Will,

inspite of your condition, much appreciated that you did send out the 2 knives. Much appreciated.

You know what to do to correct the neck pain problem.. Is all up to you.

Tks and have a relaxing week-end..

rgds
D

 

[DeepCSweede]

Bored but its given me time to read. I've got most of the way through this
http://www.feine-klingen.de/PDFs/verhoeven.pdf
But it keeps sending me to sleep
The osteopath says its muscular rather than a dodgy disc so thats good. Hope to be at work next week.
Thanks for all the well wishes.

Thanks for the link Will. As a perpetual student of all things in life, I am interested in reading this just to understand metallurgy and knives better.

 

[WillC]

I've read and re-read bits of it and it still hurts my head. And this is written in a language for blacksmiths? The stainless section is very useful, there is a whole section dedicated to aeb-l.

Thanks David, no worries, yes I know what I need to do. I think its as simple as lowering the present height of my grinder. And also breaking up tasks a bit more so i'm not doing one thing all day.

 

[WillC]

Right i'm up and running, after a fashion, did a full day today, giant billets being welded up in the press, more blanks being drawn out and ground. Sparks were flying today big style. So be prepared for a whole load of photos of stuff coming together by the end of the week. But now to soak in the bath and do my yoga to keep myself ticking over.:biggrin:

 

[zitangy]

hey,nice to see back you in action... go easy .


Look fwd to the photographs...

rgds
D

 

[van Zanten]

Hey Will, how are you doing right now? I'm familiar with a few of the problems you have. Years ago I was to enthusiastic at the gym, and overloaded my shoulders. Have had problems in shoulders, elbow and pulses ever since. But I always thought my problems were physical (they were for a certain part), but I found out that stress was a huge factor as well. Last winter was not so good for me, I was very stressed at school, had my computer business, and my forge, things going bad with my girlfriend etc, and all that gave me a lot of pain in the neck. This pain transferred to my elbow etc. I had a therapist pressing somewhere at my back, and I felt it in my bycep tendon.... Pains can come from far. Anyway, what I wanted to tell you is, make sure you don't work too hard, giving you mental stress. People with a lot of (work related) stress, won't get old. I cut down on a few of the things I was doing, and now I'm focusing on bladesmithing, I'm happier and the pain in my neck is gone.

I hope this will help you. Blacksmithing is a killer job when you don't mind your body. I was always thinking I could do any physical thing to my body, but from now on I'm very careful, and I plan all my activities.

Johan

 

[WillC]

Well thanks for asking. It is certainly all due to my lower back discal problems in one form or another. I had an opp a few years ago which sorted one bulging disc but they noted the lower 2 were also bulging. So I think its all nerve related. I had back pain pretty bad again a few weeks back and worked through. It is now just a numb foot, but quite annoying. I try to break my day into a mixture of standing and sitting work. I don't think I'll be making any 3 ton sets of gates anymore put it that way. At least not without a whole crew of people. I'm finding it hard to get enthusiastic about anything apart from knives and damascus at the moment and whilst i'm taking smaller jobs. I'm pretty much re-gearing my workshop to smaller scale work and comfortable work environment. But yep struggling a bit but i'm getting better rather than worse which is good. Many thanks
Will