I am a small built woman who is a bench/repair jeweler. I have a
constant pain in my right bicep (right handed). I believe it is from
the torch going up my arm from hammering rings on a mandrel. Does
anyone else have this? I would welcome any thoughts.
Thanks
Julia
Ok this is from my knowledge as an armor forger. You need to look at
several things to eliminate what might be causing the pain.
A. First it could be the balance and weight of your hammer causing
your pain . It sounds like you are hefting a hammer that is too heavy
for your needs. You are doing too much of the work instead of the
hammer(tool) doing the work.
B. The time you are working. Is it hammering 9-5? Is it broken up
into 15 minutes at a time with rest in between? Hard to help you
unless we know these things.
C. The height you are working at…since you are as you say a small
built woman most benches tables and work areas by design are wrong
for you. I would suggest getting a setup for your mandrels that is
lower than what you are using right now and seeing if that helps.
D.Body mechanics. Set to thinking are my feet square and comfortably
apart? Am I manipulating and moving the work instead of turning or
torquing your body to hit areas. This is why many armorers used tree
stumps so they could walk around the piece if need be or sit for some
relief and support to lower back.
I am sure there will be many others who can help I just thought a
little food from thought may help. The other thing I have learned is
sometimes pain expressed in an area is a symptom of injury to another
place. Like your elbow or shoulder. Touching those areas? do you feel
tightness or pain in the elbow shoulder or neck? Best to get it
checked out since it is bad enough to be asking us for advice!
Teri
An American Cameo Artist
www.cameoartist.com
I am a small built woman who is a bench/repair jeweler. I have a constant pain in my right bicep (right handed). I believe it is from the torch going up my arm from hammering rings on a mandrel. Does anyone else have this? I would welcome any thoughts.
I would recommend that you see a chiropractor right away, and maybe
a physical therapist too.
Evaluate your work area. Is the height correct for you? Lots of stuff
in the archives about ergonomics.
No, I’ve never had pain like that. Different pain, but not that one.
Elaine
Elaine Luther
Metalsmith, Certified PMC Instructor
http://www.CreativeTextureTools.com ™
Hard to Find Tools for Metal Clay
Sorry for the delayed response, I’ve haven’t read Ganoksin in a
month, I have one thing to add.
I am a small built woman who is a bench/repair jeweler. I have a constant pain in my right bicep (right handed). I believe it is from the torch going up my arm from hammering rings on a mandrel. Does anyone else have this? I would welcome any thoughts.
In may I started working as a jeweler full-time, since august I have
been having chronic pain in my hands and forearms (more so on my
right side), almost half of my “production line” involves a fair bit
of hammering.
I went to see my Dr. and she has since put me on some body building
related vitamins (imagine my shock) as well as a healing rub. It has
only been a few weeks and the pain is improving exponentially and
I’m starting to look like a lopsided, female Popeye. I’ve also been
avoiding the foredom as much as I can because I find the vibrations
can be very irritating to my hand. I know that my body is still
catching up to all the wear and tear (literally) but I expect to be
fully recovered soon.
hope this helps…still
aimee
www.fineandgood.com
I've also been avoiding the foredom as much as I can because I find the vibrations can be very irritating to my hand. I know that my body is still catching up to all the wear and tear (literally) but I expect to be fully recovered soon
There are a number of tools available today that reduce the stress
on your body (important for all those aging jewelers out there).
Examples include the bench mate system with its holding methods which
take the place of hand stress, Aquaplast and Jetset which permit
rapid holding and fast jigs, air powered gravers like the
gravermeister, gravermax and the cadillac lindsay gravers which
eliminate the pushing stresses required of gravers and finally the
micromotors (Foredom has a new $380 retail one out there) which
(while they are an adjunct to a flex shaft rather than a full
replacement) eliminate the cable vibration completely.
Here is an extract from The Jewelry Workshop Safety Report which is
posted here at Ganoksin:
"Vibration and noise are often linked conditions. Vibration
can cause injuries very similar to those caused by noise, and
can also result in special damage to the hands and other
jointed areas. Vibration has been shown to hasten and cause the
onset of arthritis, back problems, gout and heart disease, and
can damage vision with long exposures (Quinn et al 8). You can
experience vibration when using power tools of various kinds,
and when using heavy machinery. Hammering can be considered in
some ways similar to vibration; there are repeated shocks
occurring to the hands and arms. Holding items on the
polishing wheel constitutes vibration. A well-known injury in
the production jeweler's world is "whitefinger," where numbness
and a white look to the fingers can occur, progressively
getting worse until the whole hand is involved, painful and
not fully usable. Professional polishers, or people who do a
lot of jewelry polishing, most frequently experience
whitefinger (Stellman and Daum 108; Kinnersly 67). If you have
to do a lot of polishing in your work, consider changing your
finish or procedures to reduce your time at the polishing
wheel. The job is not good for you, and the ventilation needs
to be working well to protect you. You could, for instance,
obtain pre-polished metal for some projects, immediately
protect a metal's surface with glue-on paper before beginning
to work it, use firescale retardants like Pripps flux upon
every heating, seek to avoid scratches to reduce the polishing
required in your workplace. You can switch to tumbling for
certain applications to reduce the polishing time on certain
pieces.
There are four main kinds of damage that can result from
vibration. The hands and wrists develop bone loss in the form
of small holes that show up on x-rays. This is not supposed to
make them more fragile, however. The muscles and nerves of the
hands can be injured by vibration, resulting in loss of use in
the hand, or, rarely, the tendons contract and thicken, making
the hand weak and restricted in movement. The joints can
develop osteo-arthritis; this is common in the elderly, but it
ensues earlier in people exposed to vibration (Stellman and
Daum 108).
Finally, there is "whitefinger," mentioned above, where the
circulation of the hands has been damaged. It is very
disabling. Progressive numbness leads to permanent disability.
It happens most often to workers who grip vibrating tools
tightly when working, as well as to production polishers. In
general, pneumatic hammer type tools are responsible for many
such injuries (Stellman and Daum 109). Symptoms include (from
best to worst), intermittent tingling, intermittent numbness,
blanching of fingertips with or without tingling or numbness,
blanching of entire fingers in winter, blanching on most
fingers both in summer and winter (Waldron 165)-and really bad
pain can be involved too. Whitefinger can end in rare, severe
cases with a finger becoming gangrenous and having to be
amputated (Stellman and Daum 108). There is no medical cure
for whitefinger (Kinnersly 67). Set things up so that you don't
experience repeated vibration, or if you do, see if you can
dampen it as much as possible. If your fingers tingle or the
tips go white when using a vibrating tool it is time to
consider vibration a problem. Note that some of the special
"vibration absorbing" gloves that are available from safety
suppliers (with gel-filled pads on the palm) have been found to
contribute to carpal tunnel syndrome because they change the
gripping position of the hand "
best
Charles
Hi
I’ve bought ergonomic things from www.alimed.com and
www.officeorganix.com, and I was pleased with their service. Alimed
has a nice selection of industrial ergonomic items, including
anti-vibration gloves. Office Organix has many office related items.
After reading Charle’s posting on white finger I think I will get
some special gloves as a preventative measure, before I can start
hurting.
Ardetta Bronson
@A_L_Bronson
careful about using anti vibration gloves, better to change the work
procedure and tooling to eliminate the problem. quote from the safety
book:
Note that some of the special "vibration absorbing" gloves
that are available from safety suppliers (with gel-filled pads
on the palm) have been found to contribute to carpal tunnel
syndrome because they change the gripping position of the
hand.
bestcharles