i am dealing with a slight injury these days. i have costochondritis which is "inflammation of the cartilage that joins the ribs to the breastbone." how did i do this? a very bad habit... about nine months ago i began using my sternum as a place to rest my ring mandrel while i was forming rings with a hammer. the jarring motion of the mandrel against my bones damaged the cartilage. i started to feel the affects months ago and in the last few weeks the problem worsened and i could no longer ignore it. i went to the doctor a few days ago. this injury, although not serious, will take months to heal and it's pretty painful sometimes. i just have to cut out this body-as-tool nonsense and take it easy. so my fellow jewelers (and craftspeople, really) ...please be kind to your bodies. that's all.thanks for reading.
2 comments:
Ouch! I used to rest my saw frame against my chest while I would switch out the blades... then I noticed that I had a permanent bruise there and had to stop. Oh, the pains of being a metalsmith.
I'm sorry to hear this. I guess we all do similar things because our body is a great tool. We don't always realize the consequences till we're much older, i.e. back trouble, arthritis, etc. I guess lucky for you that this was too painful to ignore. I wish you a speedy recovery. Now I'll forward your post to Stacey!
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