Hiro Matsusaki on sun 16 mar 97
Dear Clayarters:
On this thread, I would inject the common sense approach, which recent posts
on this subject suggested as well, albeit in different vein.
(1) What is this tunnel thing? Why is it so called? Well ... .......
....Seeing is believing. To understand what it is, look at pig's feet
commonly available at supermarkets, or if you live on a farm and make
homemade sausages, you already know how the pigs feet look like, normally
split into two lengthwise, but sometimes cut up to show this tunnel, to make
nice dishes (Like pate de cochon, a French dish, highly recommended if you
have the wrist pain, by the way, especially if you make it with a genuine
wholewheat flour and not bleached and colored imitation brown sauce. It may
help you supply the needed nutrients lacking in your own wrists. Yes, I am
serious. Most Chinese medicine is based on this sort of philosophy and
wisdom. Try it, even if you are a vegetarian. No harm's done, anyway.
Right? Make sure you get the healthy pig raised on organic diet, and not on
garbage which can wreak havoc with their feet. Some pigs taste sweet, while
others taste rank. Ask any oldtimers.).
Some pickled pigs feet on store shelves may leave the anatomy intact, in
glass jars for you to see. You don't have to pay a dime to see them. There
you can see the tunnel and a bunch of stuff running the filled cavity
protected by the hard bones. If any of the stuff inside gets inflamed,
enlarged, or simply infected by bacteria, due to stress (repetitive movement
of the joints or muscle, etc.) or others, what's running inside (whatevers
there) could get inflamed or enlarged, the nerves included, anc eventually
can outgrow the cavity, and then the nerve to transmit the sensation can
cause pain if it gets pinched due to pressure, loss of friction or whatever
the body does to abnormal happenings there, causing excruciating pain.
That's basically the syndrome we have been talking about. We are like pigs
in anatomy, but we are more piggish. For sure. I bet. We do abuse our
wrists. Pigs support their weight on four feet, but we use our hands to do
all sort of strange, acrobatic things other than standing on them. Whoever
thought of carrying heavy loads on both wrists and balancing the food to
serve at restaurant tables for long hours? Or, refurbishing old television
sets by turning screws manually by right hand all day, of and on? Or,
throwing clay after kneading and centering, day in and day out? That can
cause tremendous strain not only on the muscles but also on the nerves and
other stuff to control such actions. And they are bunched together in this
tunnel and nowhere else to go since it is a confined space. Remember, the
front pigs feet or paws are like our wrists and hands. They are deft organs
for them to dig mud and clay.
(2) How can I cure it? Well, once you have it, the first line of defence is
not to do anything, and rest your wrist. Do nothing strenuous or what you
are used to do. And combine it with the food therapy I mentioned. But the
truth of the matter is this. Very few of us can afford such a luxury. Or,
have the stomach or the taste for such exotic medicine (a soup made of
chicken or duck feet and small red beans is not only delicious but also help
alleviate muscle, nerve and joint diseases. It is available only at the best
Chinese restaurants which know how to cook such authentic cuisine. There are
other recipes, but this is not the posts on cuisine. Maybe some other time
on potters cuisine or something like that.). So we keep on life as usual,
and eventually damage something in our wrist or even our body beyond repair,
then nothing short of a miracle can cure it. In a holistic or natural way,
that is. I am not a medical doctor, so I do not comment on the surgery.
But, if detected early enough, and you know what's involved and why it
causes pain, you can certainly take measures to lessen the pain, or organize
yourself to prevent the recurrence of the symptom.
(3) How do I know who to trust and who is the best for providing the cure?
Well, I can only give the common sense view. Or, the good sense points of
view. To begin with, the prevention is the best medicine. It's the cheapest
way to go, as well. How many baseball players go through the elbow surgery?
A lot. How many hockey players go through the knee surgery? A lot. How
many potters go through the wrist surgery? I don't know. (If you privately
email me, of the wrist problems you encountered, simply right or left wrist
or both, I can give a meaningful interpretation of this injury as related to
a particular practice in pottery making. As it is, I don't know any details.
Do people injure right wrist? Or, left wrist? Or, both? That is a
critical information I need.) I do know, however, that the potters and their
earnings are nowhere near those of star baseball or hockey players who can
afford the surgery. Poor to ordinary professional sports players normally
give up on the surgery option and also on their career. This is what I call
the common sense. But some would refuse this verdict, and insist on surgery,
hoping that it would resurrect or resuscitate their career. Being optimistic
is no sin. But the haste does make waste. You see, .. ... .....Almost any
activities in bed require some wrist action, for which we do not have to
demonstrate any particular talents. This is why a wrist brace is prescribed
at night while asleep(?). However, any muscle close to the bone not used for
more than a week require a lengthy period of rehabilitation. So, to rest the
wrist like a vegetable is not a viable option.
(4) How can I ease this pain? Frankly, I think you cannot. You must tackle
the source of the pain. The pain is but a symptom of a much deeper rooted
malady. Note that some suffer from headaches all the time. Others seldom
suffer from headaches. And a lot of people talk about proper diet these
days. The same may go for the wrist pain. For a potter, it may not be a
poor life style or diet (who knows, since we include new ones), but a poor
posture, throwing techniques or simply misguided practice, repeated by the
strong will to persist. The mind over the matter, that type of conviction.
To ease the pain in the long run, then, you must tackle the root causes, or
some personal problems as a potter. You are the judge or the guide here.
Another potter may show you what you have been doing wrong. Your surgeon
cannot show this. A good wrist surgeon is not a potter. The surgeon may
have vested interests in giving you the surgery, for sure, but not interested
in making you a better potter, which is what concerns us. As a handyman, if
you repair old televsion sets and develop the wrsit pain after turning so
many screws (this did happen many times), it is an easy matter to switch to
the powered cordless screwdrivers (In case you are interested, I should say
the Makita brand is the best of the lot, as I own two of them to repair
things around here.). That should cook the goose. For the potter, it is
more complicated, but similar solutions could be found. To avoid the
repetition. Or, whatever that caused the pain. A potter needs a deft hand
to diagnose the problem.
(5) What about cortisone, or surgery? Think about the side effects and
risks. Cortisone is a hormone (synthesized substitue most likely) which is
prescribed often to ease the pain in muscle or skin inflammation (wrist,
muscle pain for athletes or for skin eczema and severe allergic skin reaction
(for example to some detergents or artificial ingredients or additive
chemicals therein). However, its side effects must be considered.
Cortisone, if you check the web sites on medications you will see a
definitive answer--what I give here is sporadic info as I think is relevant
here--will cause impotence, lethargy and general lack of enthusiasm on
anything including your pain. The long-term use invites long-term problems.
The surgery will have side effects, too, but of different nature. After you
have undergone it, you may feel like doing much more than you had done
before (like being a better potter eventaully and become a master potter by
repeated practice). This conviction will surely invite disaster, not only on
your purse strings but also on your self-confidence. Can you see the danger?
Any surgery to lessen or remove the pain does not strengthen your muscle,
nerves or clay skills. Nothing can get better. That is pure illusion. And
of course there is a danger in any surgery, since any assistants can spill or
contaminate something to make the surgery a semi-success. Imagine someone
dropping, during a hurried transport on a hospital corridor, a container of
the heart to be transplanted, when no one is watching. The shock to the
heart, not the system, for sure. The best heart surgeon cannot prevent such
happenings.
(6) My observations. The young, enthusiastic potters are more susceptible to
the wrist pains. The wrists can take abuse due to their age. So, once the
pain is gone, it's forgotten. But the age also prompts them to repeat stupid
things like the mind over matter type activities. The problem may recur.
Also, their pottery techniques are still not set, or edged in stone, so
there should be a lot of room for improvement. So, the surgery or whatever
simply postpones the final day of reckoning. lf, after any drastic measures,
the potttery techniques are also drastically altered and improved, fine and
dandy, the young potter should have a long, happy career. Otherwise, a
tragedy.
(7) As an old new potter, I have shoulder pain everytime I shovel the snow
or move boxes of clay, elbow pain after moving bricks and wood or playing
tennis, and wrist pain after typing up posts or centering a large chunk of
clay. I also have back pains, whose origins are unknown. It does not matter
how skillfull I am in any one of the human activities related to the pain (I
think I can still type about 55 words a minute, all self-taught, I say this
to make the point.). Despite the pains all over, I have managed to survive
without any surgery, so far. It can be done. I have worked hard enough.
Now I can afford to take things easy when I have to. I took cortisone,
however, when I was quite young, so I know. I was too young to know the side
effects, then, and the doctor did not tell me the risk or the danger. How
strange? Well, it's one of those gender things and patient/doctor
relationship stuff.
Take care. And...Good potting...Good forms.
HM
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