Some of you may have seen on Facebook that I'm back in hospital having a torn rotator cuff tendon sewn back on ( left shoulder) . You may also remember I had the right shoulder redone 4 weeks ago, having been re-attached once already last December.
Why all these shoulder injuries? Well the right shoulder was torn last August pulling a cable through a wall of all things but it was probably just the straw that broke the camels back kind of thing. The left shoulder was torn helping unload a machine out of the back of a van in April at the Welsh pinball weekend. I definitely should have known better, we all know how to move machines, slide it out, pivot and tip it then stand it up and get it on a sack truck but this one was loaded in such a way that it had to be lifted down. Like I said I should have known better and gone for more help but no, I went ahead and lifted it, I actually felt it go.
If you Google rotator cuff tears you'll see they are common in sportsmen ( I'm ok there then!
) but also as you get older tendons get weaker and the space between the bones in your shoulder gets smaller as bony spurs build up between them. I'm 51, so not that old and probably not much above the pinhead average age.
So.... For ****s sake people look after yourselves and do not take the full weight of a pinball machine with just 2 of you. I used to be pretty strong in my early 20's, always in the gym and I've had a manual job all my life ( well, apart from the last 6 years as a power station operator AKA Homer Simpson ) but that makes no difference, pinball machines are damn heavy if not moved correctly. There will be no direct lifting from me anymore.
Why all these shoulder injuries? Well the right shoulder was torn last August pulling a cable through a wall of all things but it was probably just the straw that broke the camels back kind of thing. The left shoulder was torn helping unload a machine out of the back of a van in April at the Welsh pinball weekend. I definitely should have known better, we all know how to move machines, slide it out, pivot and tip it then stand it up and get it on a sack truck but this one was loaded in such a way that it had to be lifted down. Like I said I should have known better and gone for more help but no, I went ahead and lifted it, I actually felt it go.
If you Google rotator cuff tears you'll see they are common in sportsmen ( I'm ok there then!
) but also as you get older tendons get weaker and the space between the bones in your shoulder gets smaller as bony spurs build up between them. I'm 51, so not that old and probably not much above the pinhead average age.So.... For ****s sake people look after yourselves and do not take the full weight of a pinball machine with just 2 of you. I used to be pretty strong in my early 20's, always in the gym and I've had a manual job all my life ( well, apart from the last 6 years as a power station operator AKA Homer Simpson ) but that makes no difference, pinball machines are damn heavy if not moved correctly. There will be no direct lifting from me anymore.
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. Does that include the kinder egg and the H on a spring?
