Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: bobby p on October 02, 2010, 09:10:50 pm
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i have only been a tradcleaner 2 years but i have definitely got it , the tingling arms,wrist and pain in my shoulders. So far im just working through it but whats your experience ? im using the lightest squeegee i can find and swop hands as much as i can
all my life i have worked with my hands in physical jobs , so it must just be one of those unlucky things .
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if thats you in the pic bobby , maybe you should hang up your hat , and live off the state like most of the scrotes i took on lately !
Im sorry to hear of your condition , i know nothing of it , but it is nice to see that some people in our country still want to work ,
Rich
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Go see your doctor & buy a WFP for the longterm - working in a neutral posture - good targeted stretches & massaging the affected area will help as will brufen (neurofen etc) & applied cold eg - bag of ice will reduce imflamation & pain in the shorterm.
Regards Paul.
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It would appear WFP is your obvious answer.
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if thats you in the pic bobby , maybe you should hang up your hat , and live off the state like most of the scrotes i took on lately !
Im sorry to hear of your condition , i know nothing of it , but it is nice to see that some people in our country still want to work ,
Rich
that isnt me in the foto, the real me is a bit younger but has less hair ! i got a bit of stick from local window lads when they saw me posting on here,so my new image will put em off the scent.
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i have only been a tradcleaner 2 years but i have definitely got it , the tingling arms,wrist and pain in my shoulders. So far im just working through it but whats your experience ? im using the lightest squeegee i can find and swop hands as much as i can
all my life i have worked with my hands in physical jobs , so it must just be one of those unlucky things .
That might be why.
You could slow down a bit and using less pressure. Let the water do the work.
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My wife has just been diagnosed with this. She has it in both hands and has been told by our doc that she may need a operation to cure the condition.
When it is particularly bad she wears wrist splints, which are supports which strap round the wrists to limit wrist movement. They cost around £16 each and can be bought from good pharmacies.
As I do not suffer with it myself, I cannot speak from personal experience, but I would state the obvious and suggest in the meantime that you try to work within your limitations and see your doc asap.
John.
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My wife has just been diagnosed with this. She has it in both hands and has been told by our doc that she may need a operation to cure the condition.
When it is particularly bad she wears wrist splints, which are supports which strap round the wrists to limit wrist movement. They cost around £16 each and can be bought from good pharmacies.
As I do not suffer with it myself, I cannot speak from personal experience, but I would state the obvious and suggest in the meantime that you try to work within your limitations and see your doc asap.
John.
As john said above......just to add,my wife had opp on her right hand,no more pain or pins and needles,they told her she will never have the same strengh as she had before :(
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for at least the last year i have been using a Wagtail Flipper,having read it was quick +especially good for avoiding wrist trouble. But now i am thinking the extra weight of the wet scrubber pad attached to squeegee and the quick wrists rotations of said Wagtail was actually making matters worse !
i have now bought a PULEX aluminium squeegee(very light ) and now using a seperate scrubber. time will tell if this combo lessens the problem.
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Dont know if this will help or not but i have wrist (discomfort lets say) . What i do differently now is to do with the ladder.Instead of just grabbing it and making it go where i want i move it more slowly,use the ladders own weight to move itself by angling it about,i take it off the roof more slowly,pulling it to me and trying a roll-off manouvre,its a fact i can give my wrists more abuse than most things by trying to wrag a ladder about.If i am climbing the ladder i make it all leg work instead of pulling myself up.I still try and get tops of jars when asked and i can have wrist ache for ages after doing this.I had one go at getting the top of her indoors nail varnish yesterday and it was like an electric shock going through one wrist so off i went to the shed and got the stilson wrench on them,total doddle.Thats it really,just that suggestion of not overloading the wrists with the ladder,Oh and using a stilson wrench to get the tops of nail varnish.
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My wife has just been diagnosed with this. She has it in both hands and has been told by our doc that she may need a operation to cure the condition.
When it is particularly bad she wears wrist splints, which are supports which strap round the wrists to limit wrist movement. They cost around £16 each and can be bought from good pharmacies.
As I do not suffer with it myself, I cannot speak from personal experience, but I would state the obvious and suggest in the meantime that you try to work within your limitations and see your doc asap.
John.
dont let them operate, my mother in law has this and they operated, her hands are knackered now and full of scars, as they done something wrong, her hands look liek she is always holding something in them
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don't you think you should ask a specialist and not a window cleaner
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpal_tunnel_syndrome
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i have only been a tradcleaner 2 years but i have definitely got it , the tingling arms,wrist and pain in my shoulders. So far im just working through it but whats your experience ? im using the lightest squeegee i can find and swop hands as much as i can
all my life i have worked with my hands in physical jobs , so it must just be one of those unlucky things .
I've suffered from this in both wrists for about 18 years. Finally went to docs & got officially diagnosed & got date for the op'. The problem was, I couldn't get an answer to how long the recovery period would be & to be honest it is different for each person & their circumstances. Given this, I decided to cancel the op' & cope with it as I have always done. It's worse in my right hand. I've been wfp for 6.5 years & for me it's WORSE when i use WFP! :o It's always there but sometimes worse than others. Usually, if it is carpal tunnel syndrome it doesn't affect your little finger. Next time your hand goes numb, check to see if your little finger is not affected, there's a good chance you may have never even noticed that.
However, I found that the wagtail flipper made it easier than rigid mop/squeegee.
I've come across several people who have had the op' with varying degrees of success, from totally cured to even worse! ???
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I have seen this lots of times (had it myself) and advised on treatment & helped recovery 1000+ times- go with === rest - ice - brufen = look at what you are doing wrong [tooo many squeegeemotionssss)& working with your hands higher than your heart.
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I have seen this lots of times (had it myself) and advised on treatment & helped recovery 1000+ times- go with === rest - ice - brufen = look at what you are doing wrong [tooo many squeegeemotionssss)& working with your hands higher than your heart.
None of which are permanent nore a cure I'm affraid.
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My wife has just been diagnosed with this. She has it in both hands and has been told by our doc that she may need a operation to cure the condition.
When it is particularly bad she wears wrist splints, which are supports which strap round the wrists to limit wrist movement. They cost around £16 each and can be bought from good pharmacies.
As I do not suffer with it myself, I cannot speak from personal experience, but I would state the obvious and suggest in the meantime that you try to work within your limitations and see your doc asap.
John.
dont let them operate, my mother in law has this and they operated, her hands are knackered now and full of scars, as they done something wrong, her hands look liek she is always holding something in them
Yes, my wife has been told that the operation is not always successful, so she has
not decided yet whether she will go ahead with it or live with the limitations the condition affords.
John.
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for at least the last year i have been using a Wagtail Flipper,having read it was quick +especially good for avoiding wrist trouble. But now i am thinking the extra weight of the wet scrubber pad attached to squeegee and the quick wrists rotations of said Wagtail was actually making matters worse !
i have now bought a PULEX aluminium squeegee(very light ) and now using a seperate scrubber. time will tell if this combo lessens the problem.
It`s probably hard work trying to clean a window with a flipper pad, unless you did them an hour before; they`re rubbish.
Use a normal applicator, and wetter, so you don`t need as much pressure. You could try a 10 inch T-bar too, they are a lot lighter.
I find scrubbing the window is more strenuous than blading off.
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Not a cure but it does help with the symptoms:
Stand up. Let you arms hang loosely by your sides. Wiggle your arms loosely and fairly vigorously allowing the hands to be free. You will probably notice a lot of clicking in the elbows etc. Repeat a few times a day. It stopped that night time pain I was experiencing. Not awake now because of it. Just woke up as I needed a p.
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yeh iknow the feeling mate its a bugger when your arm stiffens up in the night carpal tunnel its down to the blood flow to your wrist buy a elbow support from sports places and keep the usage to a minimum for a bit will gwt better in time dont go to a sports therapist will only make this worse mate the one i went to ballsed it up ad to have a few days off after
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i have only been a tradcleaner 2 years but i have definitely got it , the tingling arms,wrist and pain in my shoulders. So far im just working through it but whats your experience ? im using the lightest squeegee i can find and swop hands as much as i can
all my life i have worked with my hands in physical jobs , so it must just be one of those unlucky things .
I've suffered from this in both wrists for about 18 years. Finally went to docs & got officially diagnosed & got date for the op'. The problem was, I couldn't get an answer to how long the recovery period would be & to be honest it is different for each person & their circumstances. Given this, I decided to cancel the op' & cope with it as I have always done. It's worse in my right hand. I've been wfp for 6.5 years & for me it's WORSE when i use WFP! :o It's always there but sometimes worse than others. Usually, if it is carpal tunnel syndrome it doesn't affect your little finger. Next time your hand goes numb, check to see if your little finger is not affected, there's a good chance you may have never even noticed that.
However, I found that the wagtail flipper made it easier than rigid mop/squeegee.
I've come across several people who have had the op' with varying degrees of success, from totally cured to even worse! ???
I was diagnosed with carpel tunnel syndrome in both my wrists as a trad cleaner. I was told I would need an operation for it. I turned down the operation and resolved the problem myself.
I found it was because I was twisting my ligaments around my tenons by things like wringing wet cloths dry, typing, putting unnecessary pressure on my wrists by using hand tools like screwdrivers and various other similar things. I stopped typing, wringing out wet cloths, using screwdrivers and all the other things that caused the problem. Within 6 months my wrists cleared up and my carpel tunnel syndrome disappeared completely. I still type nowadays but not so frequently, but I'll never wring another cloth out or use a hand screwdriver ever again to prevent it ever coming back. My wrists have returned to normal and I'll never need the operation as I resolved the problem and went wfp. Would never go back to trad cleaning full time simply for this very reason alone.
If you have the painful CTS please try my suggestions above and let me know in 6 months if it's cured your CTS because it certainly did for me :)
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the lad talks sense mates stop wringing those cloths by and use a washer drier to do them for you wear elbow and wrist supportes neoprene ones 8)
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im going to look into these wrist supports and thanks for all these helpful advice ,all has been taken on board
Currently i place the top of my ladder on the sill and then stretch up to reach the top openers . im thinking i could place top of ladder ABOVE the window and so reach down when working which would take the strain off my shoulders etc
im also thinking that much of my prob has been caused by the fact i have a very full round so im forced to rush and although 2 years in ,probably havent yet got a good technique . i fan/swirl all the big glass but have not been able to do this on the small windows such as on council houses or top openers .
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im going to look into these wrist supports and thanks for all these helpful advice ,all has been taken on board
Currently i place the top of my ladder on the sill and then stretch up to reach the top openers . im thinking i could place top of ladder ABOVE the window and so reach down when working which would take the strain off my shoulders etc
im also thinking that much of my prob has been caused by the fact i have a very full round so im forced to rush and although 2 years in ,probably havent yet got a good technique . i fan/swirl all the big glass but have not been able to do this on the small windows such as on council houses or top openers .
Maybe drop down a squeeqee size or two for domestics to make fanning easier? Maybe a smaller applicator too?
I've not tried either but it may be worthwhile you experimenting.
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Hi Bobby, sorry to hear about cts.
I've been wfp 5 yrs and just become as sufferer month ago, i'm glad to see you got a good result from your post.
Most people took the pi55 out of me when i posted last month :-\
I've been trying different things.
1/ Conquering Carpal tunnel syndrome and other repetitive strain injuries (book of Amazon)
by Sharon J. Butler £14
been doing strecthing exercices daily morn and eve (most of the time :D), helped a lot,
there sections in book, listed exercises one for window washers (americanese).
I think this book is a must for any windie it's only what a physio would get you doing and only takes minutes.
2/ been trying a mixture of vitamins and minerals, read bit on B6 meant to help numb pain as works on nervous system and connective tissue need to take with B vitamin complex.
There is B6 in B complex but not enough.
3/ Just bought Litozin joint health (100% natural rose hip)
Rose hip is natural anti-inflammatory
read alot of good things on this on amazon, read reviews, although comments are all directed at arthiritis, i thought i would give a go as anti-inflammatory.
Buy from holland and barratt cheaper.
All vitamin minerals bought from holland and barrett.
Litozin will take about a month to kick in (if at all :-\) read directions as need to take 6 a day then cut back.
The jury is out on vitamin and mineral suppements but i am willing to give a try; got pain killers from doc's made me fill sick (diclifenic? spelling :-\)
I don't like the idea of spending my life on painkillers long term, imo can't be good.
B vitamins will take 3 months to kick in (if works), complex b on half price at holland and barret, don't like their website for the fact it doesn't describe benefits or supposed.
So google supplements first.
Hope some of this info is of use bobby and to others
thanks Lee.
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im going to look into these wrist supports and thanks for all these helpful advice ,all has been taken on board
Currently i place the top of my ladder on the sill and then stretch up to reach the top openers . im thinking i could place top of ladder ABOVE the window and so reach down when working which would take the strain off my shoulders etc
im also thinking that much of my prob has been caused by the fact i have a very full round so im forced to rush and although 2 years in ,probably havent yet got a good technique . i fan/swirl all the big glass but have not been able to do this on the small windows such as on council houses or top openers .
Maybe drop down a squeeqee size or two for domestics to make fanning easier? Maybe a smaller applicator too?
I've not tried either but it may be worthwhile you experimenting.
Good points. I use a 10" applicator quite a lot. They are much lighter and easier to get wet enough without having it soaking,that`s where the weight is. If that makes sense.
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Maximuscle Wrist Supports, amazon just bought em, will try out monday,
review on amazon is fro JD ;), who posts on here.
Proper wrists splints would be better but wonder if it would be hard to work in these?
Here is a link for reading on B6 vitamin study
http://www.mothernature.com/Library/Bookshelf/Books/10/43.cfm
all the best lee.
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When you squeegee have your thumb pointing upwards, alot of squuegee's have a thumb indent at top of handle; by having thumb straight and not curled round handle like rest of your fingers; the strain on your wrist is less.
lee
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I've been a sufferer for a year now. gp gave me a jab which stopped all the symptoms apart from loss of feeling in the fingers. But even that has its good points. Going to hospital tomorow to see what they say