Anybody with wrist issues turning?

[Joe Shinall]

I have been playing baseball for 25 years now. I'm only 29. But my body has finally decided to start shutting down on me all in one season. Recently I have hurt both wrists and now I am having a very hard time turning. I tried a bowl for the first time in a year the other day and didn't even get the outside shaped before my left wrist just locked up and gave out on me. My right wrist was not too bad, I could bare through that one.

Does anyone use a brace or tape their wrist or anything while turning? Any tips or hints from anyone with bad wrists/hands? Im trying not to have surgery because I have a 18 month old and don't want to tell her I can't pick her up. May have to pack the lathe up for a while which I really don't want to do.

[Steve Vaughan]

Sorry the old body (well, young in your case) is shutting down. Others with experience dealing with that can chime in, but I'm thinking that with a different motion from baseball, and focusing on it quite a bit in a short time has stressed the wrists out. Time off the lathe, or change your motions if possible, maybe ice and Ibuprofen, etc. to calm it down. But I'd also wonder about carpel tunnel setting in? Maybe a doc appointment early on in this thing would be in order.

[Joe Shinall]

Thanks Steve, have thought about all that and have seen the doc. They want me to take a pill and call them in 6 months. So they act like I'm not hurt when I know in fact I am. I've taken 2 months off right now from everything and still having the issues.

Not a huge fan of joint docs. I had 3 tell me over a 10 year period that I didn't have any problems with my arm. Then finally one did a scope and found a torn labrum in my shoulder, 2 bone spurs, and a torn bicep. So I was in a sling for 8 weeks and got many apologies!

[Dave Stricker]

I had some problems with my wrists a while ago that was really agrivated by roughing bowl blanks. I was reading David Ellsworth's bowl turning book and he recommends using a bowl gouge for roughing but holding the tool horizontal on the tool rest so that the forces are transmitted into the into the rest. This really works and I have not had wrist pain since changing to this roughing method.

[Joe Shinall]

Dave, does the book have a picture of this method? If so, might be a good idea for me to get that book.

[robert baccus]

Every few years my wrist hurts like crazy for no reason.--arthritus. I find that a really good wrist brace takes it away in a few weeks. It allows some turning. Twisting from using a irish grind was bad but nose cutting was tolerable. good luck yeah.

[Dave Stricker]

The book is Ellsworth on Woodturning and it does explain his roughing method with pictures on page 113. Hope this helps. I thought that I might have to give up turning large pieces before I happened on this method.

[Joe Shinall]

Robert, rheumatoid arthritis runs in my family and I keep feeling like maybe I'm screwed on that one.

Thanks Dave, I've been looking for a book on turning so may go with this one just to see if that helps some.

[Reed Gray]

I think every joint I have has arthritis, the osteo/degenerative type, from heavy use and abuse. My wrists go to sleep when swimming more than about 750 yards. No problems on the lathe. I do hold all my tools level, and have for some time. Rheumatoid arthritis is another thing though. If you go to You Tube and type in robo hippy, I have a few short clips up that show my turning style. It may help. I do use my body, and not my arms and wrists when turning, well, at least not much. Also, a common problem is gripping the tool too tight. From an old Hollywood black and white movie, from the sword master, "Hold it like you would a bird. Too tight and you kill it. Too loose, and it flies away."

robo hippy

[jared herbert]

I had a lot of problems with my hands, mostly going numb when gripping something like a steering wheel, phone, or tools, pain in the hands when riding a bike. there were a lot of unexplained problems, some arthritis type things in my fingers and general pain and aching. finally saw a surgeon and got carpel tunnel surgery done on both hands this past winter. some of the problems I had were not classic carpel tunnel symptoms but the surgery took care of all of them. jared

[Prashun Patel]

Joe-

Have you considered a physical therapist? I'm having back issues and at this point I don't want surgery. Therapy helps a great deal to manage the pain. I'm no doc, but I'm going to bet that with some strengthening and rest, it's possible to get back into reasonable form.

I'm sure the doc will recommend taking a break from turning. I'm an addict and simply cannot quit, so I respect if this is not an option for you.

As my skills have improved (and I say that with due humility) I've learned that proper presentation can really take a lot of the force off yr wrist and elbows. Is your gouge well sharpened? Get great gouges and sharpen them well.

I had the worst probs when roughing out blanks. A good bandsaw can help take yr bowls into a pretty good form to eliminate the 'forciest' turns during rough out. Getting the blank into close-to-round will also allow you to start the turning at higher speed. This will force you to take gentler cuts, since the tool won't have time to get into the deadspace as it spins.

Also, when roughing the sides of the bowl (assuming it's not an endgrain vessel), instead of attacking it perpendicular to the axis of rotation (in the path of the spin) you can rough from the bottom with the tip pointing parallel to the axis of rotation. It is a cleaner and gentler cut.

A smaller gouge - like a 1/2" vs a 5/8" can also take a lot of force out of the roughout. It takes longer, but each bite is gentler.

Last, Reed Gray gave me a good tip when the blank is almost at final form: practice turning with the butt of the gouge just barely supported by yr right hand. It forces you to have perfect tool presentation, leaves a very smooth finish, lets you feel the surface, and shows you that the right hand is really just there for stability - not white-knuckle braking.

I don't know if any of this helps, but I'm in the same boat in terms of pain management and woodworking addiction and small kids. I can't give up any of the three, and the above things helped me a little.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

It sounds like you have done your own diagnosis. Bad idea! See a hand Doc. If your problem is carpel tunnel, and it may be or it may not be, get the surgery done. The recovery is fast and you will be holding your kids quickly after. There is no need to live with pain most of the time.
faust

[Mike Cruz]

Joe, I can't say enough good things about fish oil for joints. Take twice the recommended doses (just like eating a lot of fish...). It has REALLY helped me.

[Rick Markham]

I agree with Faust, Hand doc is the best answer. Glucosamine Chondritin (sp?) does wonders for some folks (horses and dogs too :D) I have had Carpal Tunnel for a very long time, no surgery as of yet. (Mine doesn't bother me at all anymore, unless I try and wrench something with my wrists, which I learned not to do anymore LOL)

I agree with Reed, a change in technique in turning should help you continue turning. White knuckling the tool is only going to make any hand/wrist injury worse. My carpal tunnel was a true repetitive motion injury, once the motion that was causing the problem was corrected it has slowly healed over time.

[Jim Burr]

Get to a Hand Specialist Joe! Log your daily activities...turning, handtool use, computer/mouse use, mowing the lawn, weed eater, any repetitive and/or stressfull activities. Take that with you and he/she can sort through the list and see if anything sticks out. The surgery for CTS is minimally invasive now...two small incisions and 3 sutures I think was the one I saw.

[Mike Cruz]

+1 on what Rick said about Glucosamine (actually, the brand CosamineDS is great stuff)...along with the fish oil. I've been doing it for years, and other than the third arm growing out of my neck, I haven't had any side effects...:D Seriously, I strongly recommend both of them.

[Joe Shinall]

Thanks guys, as I had said before, I did go see a hand doc and they told me they see no issues. They literally told me to take ibuprofen for a couple months then come see them again if I was having the issue. Even though it has been hurting for a year, not like I just hurt it. They also told me not to do anything strenuous. Yeah right, I have an 18 month old that doesn't stop running and I work on computers for a living. I have taken time off from turning. Just tried to turn the other day for the first time in over a year as I stated. My wife is trying to find a good specialist for a 2nd opinion. You can tell me there's nothing wrong all day but I know what I feel so not thinking that doc was very good. You can push on the side of my wrist and it feels like a huge bruise. Almost like a bruised bone, has been that way for the entire year.

I need to get better about taking glucosamine and fish oil. I have both and I'll get in my healthy kick of taking them every day for a week then forget. Thanks for the tips everyone. We shall see how all this turns out.

[Harry Robinette]

Joe
I've had a nerve problem in both thumbs and wrist. Try useing a square tool handle like Doug Thompson's tool handles.The doc does give me shots in the thumb joint about every 6 mths but it was every mth. I use all DT's handles now and that has helped more then anything else I've tryed. My doc said that nerve can do funny things and that the way I hold a round handle puts pressure on that nerve,the squared off DT handle takes that pressure away.
Before DT handles I could only turn for 15 to 20 minutes then I had to take a break for 20 to 30 minutes,now I'm back to turning with out taking a break unless I'm just tired.

[robert baccus]

All the above is good advice. combine them and you gotta win. on the wristbrace I wear it day & nite--it immobilizes your wrist even in your sleep which was crucial in my case anywho. Also there is a cream (yeah another) called Castive that several spinners swear by--knees too! As i get older i rarely turn dry wood except for returning after curing my roughouts. Good luck

[Joe Shinall]

That's a great idea Harry. I need a few new tools anyways, and never thought of trying square handles. I could really see how that could help.

Robert, I went today and got 2 new compression braces that seem to be doing really good today on daily activities. They're smaller than the bigger braces and allow much more flexibility while still keeping everything together. I may give it a try in the next week or so turning with these bad boys on. I want to give it some time to work first and started setting reminders on my phone for my multivitamin, fish oil, and glucosamine times. I have never actually turned dry wood. Everything I turn is green and I don't consider myself great so if I get some warp then oh well. I only do it to kill time and I enjoy doing it.

[Rick Markham]

Joe, one of the things I used was wrist braces, it helped them heal, but the catch is you can't over use braces or you are just weakening the muscles. I personally wouldn't risk wearing braces with straps anywhere near a lathe. They are nice to have if you have to do any other strenuous activity.

Glucosamine is a pretty amazing thing and can do wonderful things for lots of joint ailments.

One of the things that comes to mind, is an experience I had with a "chronic sprained ankle" (for roughly 13 years.) Long story short, your ankle (like your wrists) is composed of lots of tiny round bones, traditional x-rays often miss fractures inside of that mess. I had a fractured bone inside my ankle (one they couldn't see with a traditional xray) Here's the thing. My ankle would work 90% of the time, then it would just stop (in an instant) and not work (with the symptoms of an extreme sprain, pain included.) What I am getting at, is if you think there is a possibility of having a similar thing with your wrists, that most xrays don't reveal what's going on in there. I'd be getting a MRI if possible, I won't bore you with what they made me go through to figure mine out.