Jump to content

Recommended Posts

So....fess up, everyone. Who wakes up with really sore fingers after a hard throwing session? Holy crackers, my hands hurt a lot after my throw-a-thon last night. It took a bit for me to be able to clench a fist this morning because my joints were like, "Oh! You want us to bend after what you did to us last night? HAHAHAHA! No."

 

This is the crappy. I'm only bloomin' 33 years old!

 

Boy, did I get some luscious, chubby mug forms off that wheel, though... ^_^ Five smaller mugs, three larger mugs, five beer mugs, and an assortment of other stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My hands never hurt, sometimes after a long day of throwing they will be stiff, but no pain. My pain when throwing is my lower back. (And my dog wanting out just as soon as my hands are covered in slip) I have one of my wheels set up for throwing while standing, but I just don't find it comfortable. Maybe I'll get used to it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guinee;

My hands never hurt, and I throw a butt load of clay when I'm throwing. Your clay is too hard. When I am at the pottery supply store, I ask for the soft clay hidden in the back of the warehouse.

Sometimes my back hurts.

TJR.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That should not be happening unless you have some pre existing condition that is worsened by throwing.  or you are REALLY old, like me.

 

Clay is too hard. and you might need to monitor your time at the wheel until you figure out how to interrupt this cycle.  I never sit down and throw for an hour, every 3rd piece, I have to get up and move the finished work across the studio to the drying shelves, I plan it that way.  "No pain, no gain" is a fallacy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recently started trying to throw larger and taller pieces (>5lbs) and found that my forearm muscles really ached that first night. I think that my posture while centering needs to be worked on because my first instinct when trying to center a larger piece is to tense up my arms.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

See, my clay isn't hard! :D It's squiiiishy and wonderful. Thing is...uh... I was a thai boxer for fourteen years. I'm thinking all those punches are starting to catch up with me. Man! What a drag. Yeah, my back hurts, too, but not my lumbar. My thoracic spine gets all mad because of that blown disc. Oh, it REALLY loves wedging... :D

 

...I'm a broken rodent. :'(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On the plus side Guinea, you are now properly prepared, in the case that you need to punch/ kick/ knee someone in the face.....

 

What sensation does a blown thoracic disc cause?  I'm thinking something is wrong with mine as well.

 

In regards to my hands, I've never really had a problem with them after throwing.  My wrists would hurt from centering a lot, or large amounts, but that hasn't really been an issue, since I started centering differently/ smarter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

you can probably only do this if you sleep alone.  put wool, (100% wool not that new stuff they call wool but it only has 15% wool) socks or mittens on your hands at night.  keep them warm and maybe there will not be such a pain in the morning. if your wrists hurt, try cutting the sleeves off of a wool sweater and wear them.  it really makes a difference.

 

at 74 i am SO grateful that i do not have joint pains in my hands and no serious arthritis.  have slept with wool socks over my hands since i realized that the cold kept me awake.  that was over 30 years ago. i now have carpal tunnel splints on my wrists but just overnight, not all day.  i am REALLY fortunate. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another trick is compression gloves while you sleep-you get them at the Drug store-try a real drug store not a big box drug store.

I wore one after wrist surgery (3 bones removed) when my fingers/hand hurt at night now the right hand is very cold sensitive as is oldladys.

The glove helps.

Mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Benzine:

You forgot elbows, too. I'm one kickass guinea. ;)

As for the $&^@*#g! back of mine, okay. One day, I was replacing the very bottom shelf into a fatty top-loader after vacuuming up the sploded terracotta pieces some idiot didn't clean out after his/her piece bit it. Like all guinea pigs, I'm short with shrimpy arms, and I was bent over the kiln with my arms all wide apart, replacing the shelf, when I felt this hideous, thick *pop* between my shoulder blades that radiated into my sternum. I was really peeved off at the time, and my adrenaline probably buffered some of the pain, but lord have mercy...the next day, I could barely get out of bed. I have since learned to cope with the help of heavy narcotics. Every day feels like I slept on my back all night with a dang golfball under my backbone, between my shoulder blades. The pain is like...hm. It is a deep, constant pressure-like pain that radiates into my chest on really bad days. Motions like doing fly weights, driving, and...getting hugs... are very painful. It royally stinks. I take four hydrocodone 10s a day. On the days I gotta load Fred, it's utter hell. Those days, I just go on the sofa and cry on my heating pad.

 

LeeU:

I started muay thai when I was 15 and kicked like a warhorse. I never really competed, since it never really interested me, but I loved my master like the father I never knew growing up. He let me call him Papa Milt, and no one else. I lost him to prostate cancer last year and it sucked. A lot. It was like losing my dad... I stopped the sport when he got too sick to train anymore...that was right about the time when I got hurt. Man...nothing brings better stress relief than just beating the living crap out of a bag until you pass out! :) Such a crazy fierce workout, too!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah Guinea, I have a pain that radiates from my shoulder blade through to my chest. I've also had headaches and some stomach issues. I think they may be related...

 

I've never done any striking martial arts, just some grappling with Judo and BJJ. If I were in a fight, I would have to do my best to avoid the strikes, and hope to get in close enough to work in some type of lock.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, Arthur visits me often. nodules on finger tendons pop at most inopportune times causing a finger to jump in the middle of a pull. . . aaauagh! At other times I find the wrist will not quite bend the way I want it too. But you know, for 65, I really don't have a whole lot of complaints. In my 20s-40s my back problems were immense, not being able to get out of bed some days without help.  50's came along and that went away. All in all, I am healthier than in years. I put that on better diet, more sleep, less stress and more exercise, all the result of retirement.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Soooo...you are supposed to have feeling in your fingers??  I think I missed that memo about 10 years ago :rolleyes:

 

Arthur doesn't visit the hands yet (thank goodness) but dry skin IS something of a hangover from clay work.  I am pretty much old school when it comes to hand treatment. Corn Husker's Lotion is my preferred dry skin treatment.  If I have been really bad and have skin cracking, it is Vaseline-and-cotton-gloves overnight. That usually does the trick.

 

You guys and your Arthur references...cracked me up! Bwahaha!

-Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.