Back in the first week in May I did a bunch of work to my truck, I rebuilt almost the whole front end. Lower ball joints, upper control arms with ball joints, hub/wheel bearing assemblies, shock absorbers, sway bar end links. I do not have air tools but I did use a cordless impact wrench that made the job somewhat easier. I also used a harbor freight torque wrench that looking back on it, I wish was longer. There were at least ten bolts that had to be torqued to 150 ft-lbs or more, plus plenty of other prying, hammering, etc. to free up the old parts. I normally have a desk job where I sit at a computer all day, but that repair job took almost 3 days of work that my arm usually doesn't see. I'm right handed, and in the days since I did that job, my right arm hurts whenever I use it in certain ways. If I'm doing nothing, it feels fine. But if I stick my arm straight out in front of me and twist it so that the back of my right hand faces toward my left side, that kinda hurts. It also sometimes hurts to do a "curling" type of motion with my elbow bent. As far as it being swollen, I'm not sure I have that. I think I can feel a little bit of swelling but it's not enough to see if you look at my elbow. Went to the doctor and she had me flex my arm in certain positions, to test my muscle strength, said that was fine. She didn't feel anything torn in my elbow either. She said she figured I had tendonitis and I just have to take it easy with the arm for awhile and use aspercreme when the pain is bothersome. Use your left arm to carry groceries, etc. She didn't give me a timeline for recovery, only stating that it can take "awhile". Reading about recovery times online I've seen everything from three weeks to six months. Well, here I am another month and a half after seeing her and improvement has been very slow, if any. I really don't want to be dealing with this next year, I'm considering swapping out all the control arms in the Buick for UMI pieces, and that will probably take a good weekend and will likely reaggravate it if I'm not careful. This sucks!
Yep, I had surgery last December to repair my lateral epicondyle tendon, also known as tennis elbow. It can be painful. In my case, the tendon was torn completely from the bone. It took a year of cortisone shots, wearing a brace, and taking meds before an MRI revealed the complete tear. If yours is a slight tear, do what you can to avoid surgery. The shots helped early on but the brace got me through until I had no choice but to have surgery.
Ive been suffering from R-A (rheumatoid arthritis) for several years now. For topical (rub on) pain relief theres aspercreme with lidocaine and also DICLOFENAC topical solution. That used to be by 'scrip buts now OTC. The other is if the elbow hurts is what was addressed as "tennis elbow" which now has a bilateral counterpart known as "golfers elbow". I have them both, and if I sleep on my back with the arm outstretched, after an hour I wake up in agony. For that one try a "BAND-IT". It actually works. If its the hands and wrist its carpal tunnel. Had both done twice and looking at #3! Unbelievable. If your older, youll start getting "spurs" or "boney impingements". Youll be thinking "Life Sucks" in a few more years after a few shoulder overhaauls or new knees. Youll begin to quit using pain meds recreationally and use them for the intended purpose LOL... ws
...I feel for you with RA. I only have osteo and use Voltaren, which just went otc. Interesting that otc price is same as my script copay was...
Osteo for those that dont know is in the bones and joints, with Rheumatoid being a blood born disease that does weird things to organs, and muscle and of course the joints. Co-pays I dont quite get... BC/BS makes me copay NINETEEN CENTS for 3 valiums for a procedure (injection with ultrasound into a nerve branch). YaHoo... Getting a second RFNA (radio frequency nerve ablation) in the L5/S1 bunch. Ill take THE nap for that one... ws
M tendinitis started after working on my Wildcat, both thumbs. Worst was my right. I got a cordizone shot. About an hour later, hand was more than double it's normal size. I went back to the pain clinic, took betahistine and elevated my hand for 90 minutes. Back to normal, but boy, was that weird. Between that and arthritis, sometimes it hurts to work on the car, but then I look at what I am restoring and how far it has come and, it hurts, but not enough to stop me.
Ended up with carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand after dismantling the Electra's dash and installing a factory cruise and an AM/FM radio with 8-track player. The use of regular old fashioned screw drivers set it off. Not good when one also builds watches, numb fingertips are not a good thing. After fooling around with watches one kind of gets a feel through the tweezers, so numb fingertips wrecked all of that for a about 3 months.
If we would have known we were going to live this long we would have taken better care of ourselves. 62yrs old, 35yrs construction, ex- hard partyer
...copays...when I heard Voltaren was going otc I thought great, should be cheaper than my BC/BS $35 copay. Nope, same (Costco)... ...L5/S1, that's low. I've had low back issues all my adult life. Got my first laminectomy (L4/L5) when I was in my 20s, more recently L3/L4, plus calcium cleanout. Not looking forward to spinal calcification issues...
yeah it sounds like gravel when I twist down low. Bones rubbing on the nerve endings so they burn them off with radio ablation. This is #2 coming up for me. I get knocked the F out! Bill
Put a deer fence in around a couple of trees some years ago. Driving in multiple T-posts with a 5lb sledge caused tendonitis, aka "Tennis Elbow". Diagnosed by my doc, he told me to get a wrist brace of all things and wear it all the time. Take it easy on the right arm and said it would be "a while" to heal. Took a couple of months actually but it did get better and that wrist brace did the trick. I will say that I had significant 'reminder' twinges of pain for about a ear after I stopped wearing the brace. Just had to move my elbow the right way.
I havexserious pain in my right elbow. Bad in the morning, better during the day. Probably due to 1) Years of sports 2) Poor positioning while at work on computer 3) Accidentally torqueing my arm by having a drill going the wrong way when removing tight bolts, along with all other power tool tasks. 4) Scratching the stupid dog all the time. 5) Use of cell phone / surfing / typing. Solutions: a) no sports anymore anyway. b) raise chair, move mouse. c) hard to avoid working around house. d) try to use left hand to type. e) damn dog is persistent. If COVID were not around down here, I would go to the doc. For now, just dealing with it.
It’s hard NOT to develop any kind of -itis after working on these cars. After baking for 40-50 years, they’re fossilized to the point that you need blasting caps to get a bolt off. I’ve got to the point where I catalog my cracks, pops and creaks. Whenever I get a new one, it goes into one of those categories for future reference.
After 40+ years of working with my hands and lifting stuff thats way to big n heavy I hurt almost everywhere. Aches n pains are part of my life. Dont let it stop me and I dont get shots or eat pills. Just push through and get done what needs to be done. If something really get s bad I'll stop doing that for awhile. Once it passes back at it!
Wrenching on cars often leads to the same types of injury/condition which athletes experience playing sports. We do extremity adjusting combined with laser therapy and k- tape. If you go to an “Iron Man” type of competition, you will see people with k-tape all over their bodies. It is the same type of therapy/treatment that we do for complaints like yours. You may look for a chiropractor in your area who will perform the (kinetic chain) extremity adjustment, offer laser therapy along with tape. This clip, which I captured from a website will give you insight into how laser therapy can help. “Class IV Laser Therapy Commonly Treated Injuries: Muscle Strains Sprained ligaments Stress reactions & fractures Open Wounds Tendonitis/Synovitis Golfers elbow tennis elbows Back pain Neck pain Runners knee Inflammatory issues Shoulder impingement IT band pain Plantar fasciitis Rotator cuff injuries Scar Tissue How does it differ from cold laser or ultrasound? A class 4 laser is the most powerful therapeutic laser available in a clinical setting. Increased power output allows the laser therapy to penetrate deeper into the tissues compared to a traditional 'cold' laser or ultrasound. Increased power output also results in shorter, more effective treatment times. Cold lasers have extremely low power output, and are only capable of penetrating up to slightly below the level of the skin. These cold lasers are limited to conditions related to the skin or just below the skin, such as superficial ligaments and nerves in hands, feet, elbows and knees. Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) has virtually no impact on the treatment of joint, muscle, nerve, bone or spinal disc conditions since most of these body structures are located deep beneath the skin. Therefore, Cold Laser Therapy is often considered obsolete by Laser Therapy standards. Ultrasound therapy uses sound waves to treat superficial conditions of the body, compared to the deeper penetrating light waves of the Class IV laser. Class 4 lasers provide a level of versatility unrivaled by ultrasound and cold lasers due to their ability to treat both superficial and deep tissue conditions.“ Chronic misalignment in the area of the kinetic chain may lead to what presents as tennis or golfers elbow. physical therapy is another good choice to consider for full recovery.
Sorry no video, it was just a news clipping which I quoted. This is actually the laser we use at the clinic I am at now.
