Ouchies!

[bookzombie]

So, one of the things I have been doing in the most recent internet silence is putting up a couple of sheds in the garden.

To make things easier for the second shed I thought it would be a sensible idea to finally get a ratchet screwdriver (before you ask, I do have a motorised screwdriver but the torque on it sucks).

So what have I discovered? Using a ratchet screwdriver on recalcitrant wood when you are not used to it is fantastic for leaving you with wrist injuries. My wrists are really, really sore, particularly if I bend or rotate them (medical people: rotator cuff?).

They are slowly getting better, but let's just say I'm not going to be doing any handstands any time soon...

Comments

[gummitch.livejournal.com]

I've been putting some flooring into our loft and got sick of my electric screwdriver's lack of oomph. So I put the interchangeable bits into the chuck of our electric drill. Much more torque! But you have to remember to set the drill to the lowest speed; too high a speed and the screw just doesn't stop going in. The screwdriver just has a countersinking bit now.

[bookzombie.livejournal.com]

One of my colleagues suggested the same thing. Unfortunately I'd have to buy a new electric drill for this given that my current one is either a)off, b)on or c)on and 'it's hammer time!'

[drasecretcampus.livejournal.com]

Resists any comment on how to build up wrist muscles...

[veejane.livejournal.com]

Your rotator cuff is in your shoulder.

There are a whole bunch of ligaments in your wrists, though, which have to take the stress of the rotation, which is actually controlled via the muscles in your forearm. (Do it a couple of times with nothing in your hand and you'll realize those are the muscles actually moving; it's just that to rotate the forearm/hand with strength puts stress on the wrist ligaments.)

(And yes, I know exactly what you're talking about; I screwed L-brackets by hand into the wobbly legs of a mahogany table once, and they ain't kidding when they say mahogany is a hardwood.)

[maryread.livejournal.com]

Carpal tunnel. All the nerves for your hands go through there, and a little swelling can make them feel hellish.

I have a friend who as a young potter put up shelves with a screwdriver all day until her right wrist got tired, and then used the left. Used it up. Thirty years later she is wearing wrist braces on both.

You might want to talk to a physical therapist, or physio, or whatever you have on that side of the water. My painfully used elbow has responded after only a month or so to an intensive course of heat-exercise-massage-ice (repeat at least twice daily). Also I got this cool "Kinesio-Tape" which works magically both to stabilize and stimulate the tissues to heal. All the Olympic athletes use it!

[korintomichi]

Two sheds? I feel a Pythonesque nickname coming on ;-) Hope you get better soon.

[pennski.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, we're way ahead of you on that one!