Tennis Elbow?

[addicted]

First legitimate Timber Frame injury. 
 I'm assuming the official diagnoses is tennis elbow even though I haven't grabbed a racket in 20 yrs. Swinging an ash mallet on oak timbers took its toll. Never had any problems with the other species but as soon as I started working on oak consistently, my arm started acting up within a couple of weeks. I can barely shake hands like a cold fish.

Is this common?
If so what's the fix? and How can I avoid it once fixed.
 I still have thirty joists to go

Rusty

[canopy]

Rather than driving through the project and aggravating it further, switch hands. Start slow as hands will take time to get up to speed on their new roles. In general switching is good even for very short time periods to get both hands comfortable doing the work. Evens the work load, sometimes positioning makes left or right the more practical, and of course working around an injury.

[Edvantage]

I've been battling tennis elbow for a month. It's quite painful. I have stretches I do. Best thing for it is rest. I keep prolonging it by overdoing things. Just finished a day of chainsawing. I'll pay for it tomorrow. 

[Tom King]

Since switching to the Wood is Good 30 oz. mallet for this work, I've neither had a sore arm, nor a damaged chisel handle.  The last such job was 15 hours in a row, over two days.  Arm was a bit tired, but no pain.

The feel is a little different, but doesn't take long to get used to.  It's like each lick gives the chisel a push, instead of a jump.

I now only use them any time I need a mallet, and have 12, 18, and 30 ounce ones for different purposes.

Hope your arm heals up quickly.

[Don P]

I've also been battling it for a couple of weeks, I'm not sure mine isn't either golfers elbow or an impinged nerve. Tennis is the outside, golfers is the inside. I didn't lose grip strength or have tingling just pain and couldn't get a fork to my mouth, so it might have come from my neck, not sure. Luckily I'm ambitextrous at the dinner table. I switched up tasks over the holiday and it is letting up. We were made for hunting and fishing not for constant repetitive motion, do something else to mix it up.

[logman]

Since switching to the Wood is Good 30 oz. mallet for this work, I've neither had a sore arm, nor a damaged chisel handle.  The last such job was 15 hours in a row, over two days.  Arm was a bit tired, but no pain.

The feel is a little different, but doesn't take long to get used to.  It's like each lick gives the chisel a push, instead of a jump.

I now only use them any time I need a mallet, and have 12, 18, and 30 ounce ones for different purposes.

Hope your arm heals up quickly.

Once you use a heavy mallet you'll wonder why you ever used a light one.  I used a handmade mallet for a while which wasn't very heavy and when it broke I bought a heavy one (can't remember the weight but at least 30 oz.).  What a difference.  I've also worked out all my life so I believe that helps to reduce repetitive type injuries.  I was having some elbow pain for a little bit but switched the way I do pull ups and it pretty much went away.  My belief is if you want to work hard at timber framing keep your body strong with weight training.  Just doing the work is not enough.

[mike_belben]

I dont know the answers but pain in both elbows got added to the ever growing list about 2 years ago. 

[Tacotodd]

I attribute mine to uncle Arthur 😣

[firefighter ontheside]

My right lateral epicondilitis(tennis elbow) was building for a while, but then I took a lot of technical rescue classes all within a 6 month period about 13 years ago.  The final straw was structural collapse tech training that was 80 hours of sledge hammers, hydraulic breakers and drills and numerous other heavy tools.  First thing the doc made me do was wear a band on my forearm just before the elbow.  It puts pressure on the muscle and takes some of the strain off of the point where the tendon attaches to bone(epicondile).  That made it feel better when I was using it, but didn't make it go away.  Next was steroid injections.  The first one cured me for about 6 months.  The second cured me for 3 months.  The last one only lasted a few weeks.  Next was surgery.  I was out of work for 7 weeks.  One of the other battalion chiefs is out right now after having the surgery.  Essentially they cut off the end of the tendon and re-attach it to the bone, so now it is shorter and physical therapy is all about stretching the muscle to be longer.  I have it in the other elbow too, but it has never gotten as bad since I'm right handed.  A good stretch is to extend your arm straight out and rotate so that the back of your hand is facing in.  Now with the other hand pull the hand back towards your palm.  You'll feel the stretch right where you need it.  
As @Don P said, tennis elbow is the outside.  There will be point tenderness right on the bone on the top of elbow.

[Tom King]

I thought I had a picture of me using one of those Wood is Good mallets, but the only one I found was a couple sitting in this doorway.  The head is Urethane, and has just the exactly right density.  They aren't cheap, but neither is a hurt arm. The shape of the handle is pretty nice, too.

The head absorbs some of the shock, but does transfer the energy into the chisel.  I haven't used anything else, since buying my first one.



 

[kantuckid]

Well here we go again 8)... 

Being old enough, and having done too much hard work (and years of being an athlete) I've had tennis elbow on both sides and both at once too.

 It's a weird malady as it will appear then go away then come back-> like magic? Bad magic it is. 
 I have two of the common arm bands and have not had it since my mid to late 40's. I was a KY ARNG motor sgt at the time so still pulled some wrenches and that's when I noticed it-besides chainsaw work on my place.
 I will add that the arm bands not only work to contain the pain and move towards it going away, there are some arm bands (forearm straps)which are better designed than others. My issues were pre-web so should be easier to look around and find one thats got better a design. I had it come back a few times but not in over 30 years now has it returned. 

About that same age I had several bouts with calcium deposits in both shoulders. VERY painful! I was buddies at the time with a local young doc, a DO actually, and he quickly diagnosed it, gave me an Rx of little pills that quickly dissolved the calcium.  

[Jeff]

I attribute mine to uncle Arthur 😣

The one from bewitched?

[firefighter ontheside]

I tried two different arm bands.  One was from the doctor office and it had a little inflated pillow that was centered over the muscle.  It didn't seem to put enough pressure on the spot.  I got another one that was just a neoprene pad and a velcro strap that I liked better.  I remember the doctor demonstrating how it worked by just using his fingers to put pressure on my arm.  Then he told me to flex my hand and the pain was gone while he was holding pressure.  It is a strange malady.  They say sometimes it comes from an acute injury and other times it just comes from hard use.  I used to work as a part time carpenter back then too, so that didn't help either.

[Don P]

I used to work as a part time carpenter back then too, so that didn't help either.

:D I resemble that more every year. 3 shoulder repairs, 3 broken wrists, detached ulnar nerve and a squished C5. Ain't no telling where its coming from. As Jerry Clower would say, "Just shoot up here amongst us, one of us is bound to get some relief  :D". Just ran a tank out of the weedwhacker with no problem, they're a funny thing. Actually I think what kicked it off this time wasn't the jackhammering it came on after a few late night sketchup sessions, hours of fine mouse clicking and probably bad posture in the process. Motion is the lotion for me.

[firefighter ontheside]

"Motion is the lotion"  :D :D :D :D :D

[Tacotodd]

Uncle Arthur "Itis". Getting old SUCKS 

[kantuckid]

Uncle Arthur "Itis". Getting old SUCKS  

But you don't have to be old.
When I did admissions at my tech school it was a weekly occurrence to have ladies come in looking for a ticket out of a sewing factory and piecework sewing that had killed there hands and many were quite young. Thing is there were not many answers in a tech school where most all training is hands on-even the less physical jobs are keyboard related. A few had become so bad they were referred by KY Voc Rehab and sometimes had been thru the Workers Comp process by seeing a doctor then getting an Administrative Judge award (lawyers retained by workers comp) of what was mostly an insult to a working person. I saw the figure of $82 a week real often-try and live on that?
 The stories I could tell of workers crushed, maimed severely, lost limbs and yet a pittance came their way to live on. Lawyers that think that way are down there at the bottom of the food chain! Some couldn't even drive a vehicle,. CTS was by far the most common malady though. Some of those women I met with couldn't hold a water glass in their grasp. Sadly college jobs like a social worker or teacher were possibilities but these women had kids and bills to pay plus often they'd been out of school a long time too. Financial aid for students is often not for adult students at all and tailored to kids from HS directly into college. It's a mess for adults to re-train- my specialty I guess as I did it and worked to help others do it. 
Yes, as a former tradesman and having been in the job training business a long time I do appreciate the realities of worker injuries and medical concerns. 
This forum is full of folks who work at several of the most dangerous occupations we have. 
In my own case I've had my share of repairs but also glad I got out early from hands on work I once performed. Now I can go on "Miller Time" in the afternoon when it's hot or my stuff begins to hurt too much. 
Tennis elbow is in candyland injury wise but I know how much it still hurts. 

[Magicman]

A little old man shuffled slowly into an ice cream parlor and pulled himself slowly, painfully, up onto a stool... After catching his breath, he ordered a banana split.
The waitress asked kindly, 'Crushed nuts?'
'No,' he replied, 'Arthritis.'

[kantuckid]

I've got a "crushed nuts" story: Not so funny either. When I worked in a Goodyear Tire plant one of the pipefitters who worked in the presses where tires are cured was straddling a truck tire press he was repairing. The aluminum molds are in halves and we all knew his story as this guy Ralph-he managed to crush his nuts between the mold halves when they fell together. 
Makes ya cringe huh? 

Beats the other press story where the press top fell accidentally accelerating the ball bearing encapsulated "nut" that they ran up and down on- centrifugal force caused that assy. to fly apart and that man was killed.
 
Tire plants back then had a high incidence of back injuries mostly, not so many nuts or deaths-except for carbon black induced black lung deaths and cancer from Benzine. 

[metalspinner]

I've had it bad for a few months... tennis elbow, not crushed nuts.

Last fall my doctor prescribed physical therapy for me in the form of Dry Needling. The therapist inserts needles into the tissue and hooks up electrodes which makes the muscles, tendons, twitch. You can really feel the pulses between the needles. There were times she had 4 or 6 pair of needles going at a time.
Anyway, it did work and the issue was improving, but my insurance company would only cover so many visits, so I stopped going.

Prior to the needle session, they would have me doing various stretches with my fingers, wrists, etc. then afterwards would do some exercises to loosen and work out the forearms.

I think mine is a repetitive stress issue. My shop work is very repetitive. Cranking on wood clamps is horribly painful to me. And reaching out to pick up something that has some long weight to it gets me bad, too.

[addicted]

That wood is good mallet looks sharp. I'm currently using one  copied off of what Chapell describes in his book. I wonder if the longer "arm" of my mallet is the culprit.  I may have to try one of those urethane ones.

[firefighter ontheside]

The longer the handle the more stress is applied.  Torque equals force times lever arm length.  I may have gotten a C in physics in college, but I do remember that.

[kantuckid]

I sort of looked into various needle therapy's & accupuncture but it was all out of my area and out of pocket too. Plus it seems that many of them-I'm trying to be nice- have some hokey pokey stuff like meditation and aromas and other things I wasn't in tune with. There are enough western medicine doctors who also practice accupuncture to make me like the idea but I don't think Medicare covers them?

If there's anything good about tennis elbow it's that it goes away sooner not later for most people. 

I bought a small, re-chargeable electric StEM gizmo on Amazon and while it helps pain symptoms it's no panacea any more than the bigger ones Chiropractors use. 

[Wudman]

Uncle Arthur "Itis". Getting old SUCKS  

But you don't have to be old.
When I did admissions at my tech school it was a weekly occurrence to have ladies come in looking for a ticket out of a sewing factory and piecework sewing that had killed there hands and many were quite young. Thing is there were not many answers in a tech school where most all training is hands on-even the less physical jobs are keyboard related. A few had become so bad they were referred by KY Voc Rehab and sometimes had been thru the Workers Comp process by seeing a doctor then getting an Administrative Judge award (lawyers retained by workers comp) of what was mostly an insult to a working person. I saw the figure of $82 a week real often-try and live on that?
The stories I could tell of workers crushed, maimed severely, lost limbs and yet a pittance came their way to live on. Lawyers that think that way are down there at the bottom of the food chain! Some couldn't even drive a vehicle,. CTS was by far the most common malady though. Some of those women I met with couldn't hold a water glass in their grasp. Sadly college jobs like a social worker or teacher were possibilities but these women had kids and bills to pay plus often they'd been out of school a long time too. Financial aid for students is often not for adult students at all and tailored to kids from HS directly into college. It's a mess for adults to re-train- my specialty I guess as I did it and worked to help others do it.
Yes, as a former tradesman and having been in the job training business a long time I do appreciate the realities of worker injuries and medical concerns.
This forum is full of folks who work at several of the most dangerous occupations we have.
In my own case I've had my share of repairs but also glad I got out early from hands on work I once performed. Now I can go on "Miller Time" in the afternoon when it's hot or my stuff begins to hurt too much.
Tennis elbow is in candyland injury wise but I know how much it still hurts.

Our company has over 100 foresters working in all types of terrain and driving 200,000+ miles per month.  We were north of 2 million safe work man hours when we lost our perfect safety record.  It was due to a carpel tunnel surgery for an admin.  I was at the doctor's office yesterday with a shoulder that didn't want to move.....along with generally feeling crappy.  She put me on doxycycline for possible tick borne stuff and did a full tick panel that will be back in 5 days.  She said the pain in the shoulder was tendonitis from repetitive use....rest a bit and then lift some weights to build muscle.  The other aches and pains are because you are not 25 anymore........ :-\ :-\


Wudman

[kantuckid]

One chiropractor I've seen (trying to reduce pain from sciatica which he gave up and referred me to a neurologist) told me that in his anatomy training they saw that some people simply have a larger carpal tunnel than others. He meant that the band of cartilage through which passes the bundle of nerves, vessels that operate our hands didn't rub as easily in some people. I suppose that's a potential reason you'll see one old person who never had it while others can become bad off in there early work life..  

Those girls I see lately in the sports page news who throw a softball nearly 80 mph-guess what they will deal with soon enough? For every repetitive use there's something lurking to bite us. 

I would think the most dangerous aspect, and by far, of those 100+ foresters occupation would be the highway miles or the sedentary office time sitting at a puter, not cruising the woods.