Subject: Re: tendonitis

From: Dave B <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 9 Jun 1996 17:15:44 -0500

At 13:07 6/9/96 -0700, you wrote:
>To raise a subject which strikes fear in the heartts of anyone who uses
>their arms, has anyone got experience with tendonitis and its cure.  It has
>gotten so bad I can hardly lift more than 15 pounds with my right arm with
>or without pain.  Are their special exercizes that will help.  I tried
>taking a month off, which helped but then it came right back.
>
>I am not eeven sure it is tendonitis, but that is hjust my paranoia saying
>to distrust anything a doctor says.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Bill Hornaday
>
>
>
Bill -

I've had (and still get) tendonitis in my right elbow and find that those
elastic elbow support bandages that they sell in drugstores help immensely.
Naprosyn does wonders also, if you're not into natural medicine that is.  If
into herbs and stuff, try ginger as it is tauted as an anti-inflamatory.

Dave B
Heritage 'Smithing
Heritage Hill State Historic Park
Green Bay, WI

---

From: Dan Nibbelink <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 09 Jun 1996 18:24:11 -0700

Several ideas for reducing the chance of getting tendonitis and reducing 
the aggravation if you have it.

1. Raise your anvil. The top should be at wrist level. This reduces the 
tendency to hyper-extend the elbow (or lean over the anvil which hurts 
your back).

2. Pay attention to how you grip your hammer and how you swing it. Your 
grip needs only to be tight enough to guide the hammer and prevent it 
from flying out of your hand. The force of the hammer should come from 
raising the hammer high and accelerating its fall. When the hammer hits 
the metal you should be done with the accelerating mode and only in the 
guiding mode. In other words, follow-thru is not desirable when forging 
because the shock of the impact is transmitted to the elbow.
-- 
Dan Nibbelink
RedHawk Forge
Berthoud, Colorado
[email-masked]
http://www.csn.net/~dannibb