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Can't swing a knife like I used to.

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(@fredh)
Posts: 89
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Topic starter
 

Perhaps its age catching up with me or just out of practice from the long winter, but my forearm by the elbow was killing me today while chopping line; pins and needles kind of thing.

Was thinking about picking up one of those neoprene elbow braces.

Anyone use one and have a recommendation on brand or type. Thanks.

 
Posted : March 30, 2017 11:42 am
(@dan-patterson)
Posts: 1272
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Sounds like tennis elbow. I get it from the combo of line chopping and hub pounding. I'm only 34 too! I better move into the office before I'm old...

 
Posted : March 30, 2017 11:45 am
(@poorpdop)
Posts: 96
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Good pair of pruning shears, a folding limb saw, and a good lopper will spare your arms the fatigue, and might even make more progress in less time.

Only reason I carry my machete any more is for snakes.

 
Posted : March 30, 2017 12:09 pm
Williwaw
(@williwaw)
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Tennis elbow. Common surveyor affliction. There a few old threads on the subject. Need to give it rest. Brace will help but once irritated of limited help.
I get it fast pounding a bull prick in frozen ground with a 4 lb. hammer. I try not to do that.
https://surveyorconnect.com/community/threads/elbow-torque-pain.324718/

Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.

 
Posted : March 30, 2017 12:15 pm
brad-ott
(@brad-ott)
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Posted : March 30, 2017 12:48 pm

(@Anonymous)
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I've learnt a lot from and have great faith in physiotherapists and good masseurs.
They have relieved my aging body of pain in areas such mentioned above.
Some of those pains have their origins in other parts.
The neck area is a complex mass of potential for misery

Have you tried that approach?
It can be a brief moment of painful probing but the after effects are worth it.
Obvious caveat. I'm not suggesting it's a cure all for any, all ills.

 
Posted : March 30, 2017 1:43 pm
(@fredh)
Posts: 89
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Topic starter
 

Been on board with nippers for a while & are my usual go to. However this site was thick with vines and thorns so needed the blade.
Might invest in a brush axe or better yet a yard trimmer with sckile bar attachment for cutting in the topo points.

 
Posted : March 30, 2017 1:47 pm
paden-cash
(@paden-cash)
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"Machete Elbow"....painful. Dr. Cash's prescription would read something like "Okie Toddie as needed for pain"....(1/2 a Loritab and a Bloody Mary). Make sure your wife hid the truck keys and duct taped the tv remote to your hand.

 
Posted : March 30, 2017 2:25 pm
Andy Bruner
(@andy-bruner)
Posts: 2758
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paden cash, post: 421156, member: 20 wrote: "Machete Elbow"....painful. Dr. Cash's prescription would read something like "Okie Toddie as needed for pain"....(1/2 a Loritab and a Bloody Mary). Make sure your wife hid the truck keys and duct taped the tv remote to your hand.

Years ago (before marriage) I fell on an oak sapling (about 1" diameter) I had just cut and drove it up into my leg. After a couple of dozen stitches the doc gave me some Tylenol for pain. My future wife (nurse) was there and told me "That won't be enough". She had some Tylenol with Codeine tabs that she gave me. I took one of those, drank a beer and slept for 18 hours. I don't like pain and don't have much resistance to pain meds, they put me out.
Andy

 
Posted : March 30, 2017 2:42 pm
(@acd-surveyor)
Posts: 135
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Williwaw, post: 421130, member: 7066 wrote: Tennis elbow. Common surveyor affliction. There a few old threads on the subject. Need to give it rest. Brace will help but once irritated of limited help.
I get it fast pounding a bull prick in frozen ground with a 4 lb. hammer. I try not to do that.
https://surveyorconnect.com/community/threads/elbow-torque-pain.324718/

How do you keep the bull from kicking you!!!!

Sorry, a picture of that just came into my head as I was reading. I'm still laughing at that picture.

 
Posted : March 30, 2017 2:58 pm

Jim in AZ
(@jim-in-az)
Posts: 3364
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Fredh, post: 421122, member: 12570 wrote: Perhaps its age catching up with me or just out of practice from the long winter, but my forearm by the elbow was killing me today while chopping line; pins and needles kind of thing.

Was thinking about picking up one of those neoprene elbow braces.

Anyone use one and have a recommendation on brand or type. Thanks.

"Was thinking about picking up one of those neoprene elbow braces. "

I'd try a chain saw (Stihl) or loppers... 😉

 
Posted : March 30, 2017 3:08 pm
a-harris
(@a-harris)
Posts: 8761
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"use the other arm for awhile" 😉

 
Posted : March 30, 2017 4:20 pm
dave-karoly
(@dave-karoly)
Posts: 12001
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Doc it hurts when I do this.
Doctor: then don't do that.

Ditto others, get the biggest set of compound loppers. And a fiskars axe. And a pocket saw. Those three items will cover almost every bit of trimming a surveyor needs to do.

I can chop down an 8" tree with the axe and no pain, but lop a 1/2" limb with a machete and that hurts my elbow too much.

 
Posted : March 30, 2017 4:40 pm
 JB
(@jb)
Posts: 794
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My golf game is so bad I got an injury from another sport.
Namely tennis elbow.
Advice from doc..."fix your f....ing swing".
This helped a lot...

 
Posted : March 30, 2017 5:17 pm
thebionicman
(@thebionicman)
Posts: 4462
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There are dozens of afflictions that can effect elbows and cause the tingles. A good doctor can figure out which one it is in minutes. Some of them can be relieved with a simple strap. Others cause permanent nerve damage in just hours of neglect.
I earned my nickname the hard way. 99 percent you get a 6 dollar strap and take it easy for a bit. That other 1 percent hurts in ways you dont want to deal with. Getting old aint so bad, but i suggest starting as late as possible. See a doc...

 
Posted : March 30, 2017 6:01 pm

adam
 adam
(@adam)
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Dave Karoly, post: 421177, member: 94 wrote: Doc it hurts when I do this.
Doctor: then don't do that.

Ditto others, get the biggest set of compound loppers. And a fiskars axe. And a pocket saw. Those three items will cover almost every bit of trimming a surveyor needs to do.

I can chop down an 8" tree with the axe and no pain, but lop a 1/2" limb with a machete and that hurts my elbow too much.

What do you use for Greenbriars? We have an abundant supply around here. Machete or bushaxe works the best for them. I would like to try out the loppers but can't see them getting me thru a briar thicket.

 
Posted : March 30, 2017 6:17 pm
a-harris
(@a-harris)
Posts: 8761
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Adam, post: 421182, member: 8900 wrote: What do you use for Greenbriars? We have an abundant supply around here. Machete or bushaxe works the best for them. I would like to try out the loppers but can't see them getting me thru a briar thicket.

A weed eater with a tri-edge metal cutting blade
10ft section from a sapling
I have made a hole thru a few grown over sites with a 12ga shotgun

I recommend my clients to hire an operator with a dozer or other equipment when it will cost them less than have me chop a thicket into small pieces.

 
Posted : March 30, 2017 8:04 pm
dms330
(@dms330)
Posts: 406
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Dan Patterson, post: 421123, member: 1179 wrote: I'm only 34 too! I better move into the office before I'm old...

Unfortunately using a computer mouse also tweaks the same area

Licensed Land Surveyor
Finger Lakes Region, Upstate New York

 
Posted : April 1, 2017 5:39 am
(@deleted-user)
Posts: 8349
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I know that I have caused damage to my hands from using a brush knife over the years cutting small trees, saplings and other pugnacious brush like yaupon. Probably some sort of nerve damage. I wish that I would have worn some type of work gloves but I didn't.

I had a swollen and irritated elbow once. I think it was from a repetitive occurrence one morning at work.
An elastic sleeve diminished the swelling and all was ok in 24 hours or so.

 
Posted : April 1, 2017 6:13 am
jhframe
(@jim-frame)
Posts: 7307
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I got my first case of golfer's elbow (like tennis elbow but on the other side of the joint) in 1997 from trying to pound 2x2 hubs into "ground" that turned out to be mostly broken-up concrete covered with a thin layer of dirt. This was on a landfill closure job, and after two days I finally gave up on the hubs and switched to spikes, but by then my elbow was toast. I wore a Velcro sleeve and did exercises and PT visits for about six months with inconclusive results, but after another six months or so the problem cleared up. I tried to go back to including pull-ups in my exercise routine, but my elbow wasn't having anything to do with that, so I had to leave the pull-ups behind. I don't know how much of this is directly attributable to that initial insult and how much to general aging, but I wish I hadn't wrecked my elbow in the first place.

 
Posted : April 1, 2017 8:51 am

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