Hand and wrist problems

Frank Hunter

Frank Hunter

Well-Known Member
I've been making knives since 2008, and prior to that I was a structural steel welder holding a MIG gun 60 hours a week. This last few months I've been having some tightness and itchy-type pain in my first knuckle of the index finger on my left hand, first two fingers on the right, and my right wrist. I'm not surprised at this considering what I do, I'm just curious as to how bad it can get, and ways of managing it if it does become an issue.
 
On Sundays I will do no knife work,
and I let my hands rest as much as possible! It's not just the hours its the years of this kind of work.

Cheers, You will make it!

Laurence

wwwrhinoknives.com
 
I suspect some arthritis has happened. Yes it may get worse but continuing to use your hands will help to keep your fingers, and wrist woring. Frank
 
Like Laurance said, I dont do any knife work on Sunday. One day a week probably isnt going to heal your ills, but it cant hurt. I have noticed that stuff doesnt work like it used to when I was young. I try to compensate the best way I can. Think of ways you can do the work, and mix up the way you go about it. It might help.
 
Another thing that I will start up doing again know that we are moving into colder weather is take a old cooking pot or vessel deep enough to dip your hand into up to your wrist.
NOT your Wife's favorite!
Melt Canning/Paraffin wax in it. not too hot but you want it melted. about 120 degrees maybe a little hotter.

Dip your hand into it and hold for a few seconds, then withdraw and let the wax cool and flex your hand/fingers so the wax breaks off back into the pot. Then do the other hand. This really helps with the stiffness and reduces the pain.

No doctor visit or cost. My pain Management Nurse told me to do this when I told her the kind of hand work I do making knives.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
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consider getting a medical check done for Carpel Tunnel..if left untreated, it only gets worse.
 
Also get a second opinion if the tell you that you have Carpel Tunnel.

I was told that about 10 years that I had Carpel Tunnel by a Doctor at UCLA Medical center.
While standing in line to get into a knife show a man that was behind us overheard a conversation I was having with a friend about the diagnosis.

He asked If I would mind if he took a look as he worked the field, Just killing time waiting in line, I said sure!

He felt my hand, wrist & elbow and said your elbow is slightly out of joint, Can I fix it for you?

Having nothing to lose I let the man gently twist and rotate my elbow and I heard this pop and the pain and discomfort in my hand wrist and elbow were gone almost instantly!

He said that Carpel Tunnel is the most used blanket Diagnosis used these days for many other treatable joint problems.

Carpel Tunnel is real, Just isn't always the case.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
Hand, wrist and elbow pain sort of comes with the territory. I started bladesmithing and knifemaking when I was 20 and by 22 I had severe tendonitis and arthritis. It was so bad I couldn't turn a door knob or open a can of beans. The doctors said I either needed to quit, or take anti inflammatory drugs the rest of my career. That was 33 years ago and I'm still making knives, haven’t taken any medication for at least 30 years and have learned how to avoid much of the pain. Technique has a lot to do with it. In other words, how you use your body. Poor technique is also inefficient. We often tend to be so focused on the work itself that we don't spend enough time thinking about what we are doing to our bodies. I learned to listen to my body. We experience pain for good reasons.

I think pacing yourself, minimizing shock and strain through more efficient technique and breaking up repetitive motions into shorter sessions all can help. With forging, keeping the elbow tucked close to your side most of the time, keeping the wrist fairly straight or stiff (not over flexing it), standing up straight and close to the anvil, keeping the steel hot can all help.

This is a very complicated topic in my opinion and don't think I can answer it completely in just a few paragraphs. The main thing is just to try and be more conscious and aware of how and what you are doing to your body,... what parts of your process are causing the discomfort and what you can do to minimize the shock, stress, strain etc.

... In essence just paying more attention to your body and what it's trying to tell you.
 
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I guess I should ad that numbness or a tingling sensation in the hands, can be from pinching nerves. For me, it was a result of holding files for extended periods of time without proper handles. The sharp corners of the files were pinching nerves in my hands. I ended up wrapping the far end of the files with cloth when draw filing and using a proper handle on the tang end.

This is just an example to help give you a better idea of what I'm talking about. For me, it was mostly just making lots of little adjustments to my technique and tooling.
 
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Good information and first-hand experience from you all. Thank you. Like I'd mentioned, this is just beginning and I'm fairly young and don't have too many years at this yet...so anything helps to get a handle on it before it does start to slow me down. I've got some places to start now aside from just ignoring it.
 
Frank Hunter said:
Good information and first-hand experience from you all. Thank you. Like I'd mentioned, this is just beginning and I'm fairly young and don't have too many years at this yet...so anything helps to get a handle on it before it does start to slow me down. I've got some places to start now aside from just ignoring it.
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Frank,
You will be older before you know it! :biggrin:

Tai Goo mentioned some very good points about watching your posture & stance along with taking breaks.
I never work more than 45 min straight and then go stretch and flex my hands, arms, torso & legs. Walk around a bit if possible. Go to the puter and see what the other knifeDogs are up too for a few? Then back to the grind!

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
rhinoknives said:
Frank,
You will be older before you know it! :biggrin:

Tai Goo mentioned some very good points about watching your posture & stance along with taking breaks.
I never work more than 45 min straight and then go stretch and flex my hands, arms, torso & legs. Walk around a bit if possible. Go to the puter and see what the other knifeDogs are up too for a few? Then back to the grind!

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
Click to expand...

Good advice, Laurence. My hands are older than the rest of me due to nerve damage from a past filled with bad decisions and my time in the Military. For a while I was confined to using a jig to grind and as we all know from the many threads, jigs limit your designs and grinds. :) Thus, I had to adapt a work regimen that allowed frequent "stretch" breaks and helped me avoid the need of NSAIDs. Also, keeping a diet that rich with natural anti-inflammatory foods and exercising, helps more than most will believe. Fittingly, being overweight and having a poor diet works against your health as much as poor technique and overworking. :)
 
Mike928 said:
Good advice, Laurence. My hands are older than the rest of me due to nerve damage from a past filled with bad decisions and my time in the Military. For a while I was confined to using a jig to grind and as we all know from the many threads, jigs limit your designs and grinds. :) Thus, I had to adapt a work regimen that allowed frequent "stretch" breaks and helped me avoid the need of NSAIDs. Also, keeping a diet that rich with natural anti-inflammatory foods and exercising, helps more than most will believe. Fittingly, being overweight and having a poor diet works against your health as much as poor technique and overworking. :)
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Mike,
I am a true believer in, You are what you eat!
What kind of anti-inflammatory foods do you find beneficial?

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
Black cherry juice helped me get off the prescription anti-inflammatories, but honing my tooling and technique got me off the cherry juice. The black cherry juice worked every bit as well as the prescription drugs, but was equally as pricy and would upset my stomach if not taken with a good amount of solid food.
 
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Laurence, I use a bunch of hot peppers (home grown) turmeric, garlic, onion, ginger, dandelion greens, almonds, pecans, cashews, peanut butter, olives, cantaloupe, guava, black cherries, cantaloupe, and pineapple. But its also important to keep those foods which promote inflammation, to a minimum. A nutritionist friend of mine turned me onto this site http://nutritiondata.self.com/ for information. Easy to access, search and read.
 
I eat a fair amount of most of those, Except for Peppers of any kind!
Yuck!! Not only doesn't my stomach tolerate them at all anymore we have this modern invention called refrigeration!

Hot Pepper's & chilies were to cover up how old and rotten tasting the food was. The poorer you were/are, the spicier your food is.

The spice Turmeric is noted as a up and coming wonder anti inflammatory and possibly linked to low levels of heart attack in India due to the amount of this they eat there.

Thanks for the link.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
rhinoknives said:
I eat a fair amount of most of those, Except for Peppers of any kind!
Yuck!! Not only doesn't my stomach tolerate them at all anymore we have this modern invention called refrigeration!

Hot Pepper's & chilies were to cover up how old and rotten tasting the food was. The poorer you were/are, the spicier your food is.
www.rhinoknives.com
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I'll just go ahead and notch that comment up to cultural differences. If one were to avoid condiments and spices based on origin and their popularity in impoverished circles, one would be left eating a very bland diet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chili_pepper
 
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Mike928 said:
I'll just go ahead and notch that comment up to cultural differences. If one were to avoid condiments and spices based on origin and their popularity in impoverished circles, one would be left eating a very bland diet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chili_pepper
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Mike, It's not just cultural differences, Bactria don't like chiles peppers ether! LOL..

All joking aside, adding flavor is one thing and insanely hot spice's are another. My wife is from Mexico City from a upper middle class family and they don't eat the super hot stuff.

The origin of Wasabi in japan was to paralyze your tongue so they could choke down dried fish with out gaging and puking. I enjoy some in the soy sauce when having Sushi or sashimi.

Each to his own, My vote is for fresh and refrigerated foods when ever possible.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
Heck, I wasn't saying that refrigeration or freshness are bad... to the contrary. I haven't run into anyone who still preserves foods in the way you mention out of necessity. As for one's social position in life, I assure you, its not going to drop by consuming a Jolokia Pepper or a Trinidad Scottish Bonnet, nor will one ascend by avoiding them. :biggrin: Those days have passed.
 
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Haha... I've never heard of anyone who didn't eat spicy food based on those particular reasons...

While I agree that after a certain point you are just removing/masking any flavors except for "pain", I personally like adding a little "heat" to many of my dishes.
Besides, there are plenty of other health benefits from eating hot peppers than just being anti-inflammatories. Granted, if you're putting a couple chili peppers on a triple double bacon burger with extra cheese, you may be cancelling some of those benefits out, but no system is perfect.... ;)
 
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