<html> At 12:30 PM 02/14/2000 -0600, you wrote: >Dear List, > >I have a somewhat medical (though tuning-related) question for y'all. >I am developing some pretty serious aches and pains in my left >shoulder/arm/wrist. Also, tingling and numbness in my left fingers. I >had a pretty bad pinched nerve in my neck throughout January (left >side), but that has been helped tremendously by a physical therapist. >Now this darn arm and wrist stuff flares up every time I tune a >piano! I have switched to using a "bonker", instead of my fingers, >for test blows. (The "bonker" is a piano hammer set in a short, >papier-mache handle, that I can cradle in my left palm. It takes most >of the impact of a test blow, though I still feel some shock in my >wrist.) The bonker, plus some new stretches my physical therapist >gave me, are helping the situation, but I am wondering if there is >anything else I can do. Have other folks had experience with this >problem? Any suggestions? Growing old is such a bitch, but >considering the alternative, I guess I'm stuck! Thanks in advance... > >MarySmith@maill.utexas.edu > I like Henny Youngman's joke: Patient: "Dr., it hurts when I do. . . this". Doctor   "Well don't do that". When I started to get chronic shoulder and neck aches I switched over to more regulation work. Now I tune infrequently and get a lot of shop work done. See if you can delegate more tuning to others and attend to more regulation/maintenance yourself. Lots of good advice, quick as well. Easy does it, Jon Page</html>