Kat on tue 9 sep 03
I have a shimpo wheel with pedal attached, and large pan.
When I sit and throw for any amount of time my right knee hurts
because of the pedal being attached to the side of the
wheel and my leg has to bend slightly inward.
Has anybody else had this problem, and came up with
a creative way to deal with it? Or is this just a weird thing
that I have a problem with.
Kat
kat@digitalfire.com
---------------------------------
Paul Vernier on tue 9 sep 03
Make sure your seat places you slightly above the wheel head and place a
brick of some object on the left side to raise your left foot to the same
level as the right. Or close to it. The right foot will be at a different
angle. This too could be corrected with a little ingenuity.
Try taking your foot off the pedal and placing it beside the pedal on a
support or the floor. Refer to earlier postings on throwing at more
constant speeds. There were also some great suggestions on varying your
routine to allow you to get up frequently from the wheel.
Good health and good throwing!
Paul
John K Dellow on wed 10 sep 03
Paul Vernier wrote:
> Make sure your seat places you slightly above the wheel head
Paul this is not good advice. Will lead to lower back problems. These wheels are not built for the western body. Japanese do sit above the wheel head when throwing off the hump as do I. But if throwing off the
wheel head the bottom needs to be below the wheel head when sitting .
John Dellow "the flower pot man"
Home Page http://www.welcome.to/jkdellow
http://digitalfire.com/education/people/dellow/
Patti K Kratzke on wed 10 sep 03
"I have a shimpo wheel with pedal attached, and large pan.
When I sit and throw for any amount of time my right knee hurts
because of the pedal being attached to the side of the
wheel and my leg has to bend slightly inward."
Kat
kat@digitalfire.com
I know it would involve some $$$, but you might have a physical therapist
or ergonomist make some recommendations. They are some very clever
folks! It may anywhere between $80-200 or so to get someone to look at
it, but if you're doing a lot of throwing, it is probably a good
investment in your future as a potter. I also wonder if, for the same or
less money, you could get a remote pedal.
- pk
Patti Kratzke
PK Pottery at Cliffside Gardens
Kingston, WA
pkpotts@juno.com
Maurice Weitman on wed 10 sep 03
Kat wrote:
>"I have a shimpo wheel with pedal attached, and large pan.
>When I sit and throw for any amount of time my right knee hurts
>because of the pedal being attached to the side of the
>wheel and my leg has to bend slightly inward."
>Kat
>kat@digitalfire.com
Hi, Kat,
Sorry to hear about your knee pain. I know how troublesome that can
be. Here are some ideas for you.
I'm no doc or therapist, but I can tell you what I'd do. You should
do this with care and use your own judgement to see if this makes
sense for you before you try it.
First suggestion: you might want to try a wedge on the pedal to
enable your foot to be in an attitude where the inside of your foot
is higher than the outside. This will allow your knee to be further
away from the wheel and might ease your discomfort.
I'd play with a simple, inelegant solution until you find the right
angle. You can try putting a piece of tubing/pipe/wood on the inside
edge of the pedal, cover that with a flat piece of wood or something
stiff that slopes down to the outside edge, then wrap that with duct
tape (see??? I really meant inelegant).
I'd also suggest trying a modest angle to begin with and increase the
angle in small increments until you find relief. Small changes can
make big differences, and large changes can do more damage than good.
Alternatively, you might want to try extending the pedal horizontally
so that your leg can be at a more natural angle. That might require
more engineering, but might be less invasive in the long run. If
that interests you, I'd try a piece of plywood taped/clamped securely
to the pedal extending out far enough for your foot/leg to be in a
natural position. It will need a pivot point under the board where
your foot will go (a triangular block of wood, for instance), aligned
with the pivot of the pedal.
I'd also use some sort of anti-inflammatory, like ibuprofen before
you start your wheel session, and take frequent breaks to walk around
and keep your knee and its supporting structure mobile. Sitting for
long periods of time without breaks is a recipe for problems. I
think that stretching and gentle, natural movement are always good
for us.
I hope this helps.
Regards,
Maurice
Kathi LeSueur on wed 10 sep 03
kat@DIGITALFIRE.COM wrote:
> I have a shimpo wheel with pedal attached, and large pan.
> When I sit and throw for any amount of time my right knee hurts
> because of the pedal being attached to the side of the
> wheel and my leg has to bend slightly inward.
>
If you put a brick or some other object under your left foot when
throwing you'll rebalance your posture and probably take care of the
problem. One of the few advantages of my shoulder surgery was that the
physical therapist took a look at how I worked and made suggestions to
minimize damage to my body. That was one of the suggestions.
Kathoi
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