elbow shoulder pain

[Alan Barnard]

1st. Sounds like "tennis elbow" (MAYBE).  You should probably see a medical person. There is a little strap that goes around your lower arm, right below the elbow. It supports the tendon in question and helps a lot.

2nd. Get with an experienced tuner or two (Are you attending a PTG chapter? Where livest thou?) and see if your hammer technique or body posture could be contributing to the problem.

3rd. Don't think the impact hammer will help much, maybe others have some relevant experience and a different opinion.

New, repetitive motions and "overdoing it" are the very devil for producing joint pain, tendonitis, bursitis, etc. I went through a long and painful healing process on my right elbow after wrenching it by trying to drive a big screw into wood with a too-small pilot hole. I will be VERY careful not to put THAT kind of stress on any joint again.

I think that my "see a doctor" suggestion is my best advice. These things can freeze up on you or put you in physical therapy if not attended to.

Maybe you could take a break from tuning and learn a different facet of the trade, do some work for a rebuilder, or something, so the arm can heal.

This, too, shall pass.

Alan Barnard
Salem, Missouri


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Dave McKibben 
To: Pianotech
Sent: 03/29/2006 11:32:46 PM 
Subject: elbow shoulder pain


Hello list:

I am rather new to piano tuning.  I have studied and practiced part time for about 2 years, and have tuned part time for the last year +.
As the tuning jobs increased in the last 6 months or so, and this is only 1-4 pianos a week, my elbow has become painfull to the point  that I cant move it doing anything without pain.
My question is for anyone who has had this pain and found a cure.  Can you share what you did, what you found, and how you fixed the problem??
It's rather disapointing to finally find something I REALLY like to do after 50 yrs of searching only to find my body can't deliver.
I'm right handed, thinking of practicing left handed, or going to an impact hammer.
Any thoughts from the healed happy tuners, if your out there??

DavesPianotuning at earthlink.net
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~davespianotuning/
858-776-2516
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20060329/0e229e20/attachment.html