"Hard work never killed anyone," or "I have to give up knitting."

by compound complex 37 Replies latest social humour

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  compound complex

  Greetings, my aging friends:

  It's not really a funny subject, our getting old and our bodies falling apart.

  Sure, as the saying goes, hard work won't kill you, but it can wear out your body. I developed what I'm guessing is tennis elbow. Last weekend -- seemingly out of the blue -- my elbow became extremely painful and swollen. The only "hard work" I was doing at what I recall was the gradual onset of pain was peeling potatoes. The day before I labored, with difficulty, through a house cleaning job; however, there was no pain then.

  Like many of us here who have a work ethic and have depended on service-related jobs our entire lives, the effects of repetitive movements over decades of time have wrought havoc on our joints. I read that raking, keyboard activity, even knitting, can create an inflammation of the bursa sac. The closest I ever got to knitting was watching Nana knit one, purl two. Well, of course, I do knit my brows.

  Any comments you have on this subject would be appreciated. I don't understand everything medical I read. Additionally, I wonder how to avoid future flare ups. After three days, the pain has totally dissipated. During those three days, I had only minimal use of my entire right arm.

  THANKS!
• 

  Bungi Bill

  I was going to make some wisecrack such as "They say hard work never killed anyone - but I am not taking any chances", - before realising that this is indeed a serious matter.

  Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) is a rather common condition. One of its many sufferers is my wife, who worked for a number of years on an assembly line. Her only task was to lift the cartons of packaged garlic bread off a conveyor line and stack these on a pallet. While the cartons were not particularly heavy, just the sheer rate of repitition was enough to, in the end, cause irreversible injury to her back.

  With the wisdom of hindsight, industry now realises the importance of rotating tasks around, so that nobody is performing the same repetitive movements for prolonged periods of time. Also, ergonomics plays a part; such things as the position of the computer's display relative to your eyes, position of the keyboard relative to your elbows, the height of your chair off the floor and its providing adequate lower-back support all play a part.

  Of course, getting older doesn't help! There is a danger in that as young persons, we can seemingly get away with a lot - as in the handling and lifting heavy objects. It does come back to bite you, though, when you get older!
• 

  compound complex

  Thanks, Bungi Bill, for your story.

  I'm sorry about your wife's situation. My former thinking on these matters was, actually, none whatsoever -- until it happened to me.

  Taking a couple aspirin was not the solution I figured it would be.
• 

  smiddy

  Some of these ailments just come and go over a period of time I believe.

  I developed a pain in the arch of my foot that made it difficult to walk seemingly for no reason at all ,after a few months it disappeared ?

  A similar thing happened with my shoulder pain when I would lift my arm a certain height the pain was severe again after many months it also just vanished , the pain not my arm.

  Some years ago I lost the ability to have a " normal erection" , I`m still waiting for that to remedy itself .
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  Xanthippe

  Everyone in my family gets arthritis so I'm not looking forward to that. My aunt had five hip replacements in her lifetime and although I know that artificial joints are better manufactured than they used to be I still don't want my hip joints cutting out, I'm rather attached to them.

  I do get a small amount of joint pain in my wrists and fingers but I'm never sure if it's RSI from computer use at work or arthritis. My mother was diagnosed with arthritis in her spine in her forties and told she was put going to end up in a wheelchair. She decided she didn't like that prognosis and drastically changed her diet. I have followed her ideas but in addition to a healthy diet and supplements I've also cut out red meat which seems to be contraindicated according to the research.

  So far so good, fingers crossed, or not if a bit sore today. My cousin has some quite badly deformed fingers. My grandmother did too. What I have discovered is nobody is sure of the cause of arthritis. It's supposed to be wear and tear on the joints but people in their twenties can get it. The research is very confusing.
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  Bungi Bill

  Xanthippe,

  There is osteo athritis, which is the result of aging (and which I starting developing in my late 40s), and there is rheumatoid athritis, which is by far the more serious one. One of my grandmothers was cruelly crippled by rheumatoid athritis, and this began when she was only 29. By the age of 42, she could only get about with the aid of a pair of walking sticks.
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  Xanthippe

  Yes I know there are two different types Bill. Also there is what my doctor called rheumatism, which I had from being a child. Terrible pain that seemed to be in my bones. When I was in my twenties I took vitamin B6 for PMT and guess what I also noticed it got rid of that pain. It was a vitamin deficiency.
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  compound complex

  Thanks, smiddy and Xanthippe, for posting.

  Both men and women have physical complaints peculiar to their sex. Some things won't get any better, sad to say. I empathize -- boy oh boy, do I empathize.

  For a more comfortable existence . . .
• 

  snowbird

  We were a family of sharecroppers; all eight of us sisters suffer/ed from some form of joint and back pain.

  Dragging a heavy sack of cotton all day during cotton pickin' time took a toll on our developing bodies.

  So, I feel for you, my good man.

  I think it's one of those situations where either you wear it out, or it wears you out.

  Blessings.

  Sylvia
• 

  compound complex

  Thanks, Syl!

  Fortunately, you and I -- like so many others here -- have a positive outlook on life. So glad you are here again to cheer us on! And this in the wee small hours of a mornin'!

  Gratefully . . .