I am suffering from shoulder pain!
 

This is my first year in business. I filmed 20 weddings this summer and I'm down to editing the final few.

The problem: My shoulder is ACHING!!! I use my right hand and a mouse for editing and I'm at the point that after 2 hours or so my shoulder joint starts to throb and send pain all the way down my arm.

It's been bothering me for a few weeks (lifting etc) but I JUST made the connection in the last few days.

Anyone else suffer from this? Any solutions/tips/advice????

Thanks in advance!

Hi Kelsey,

Perhaps a trip to a chiroprocter will help you. I experience shoulder pains after a long day of shoot but it goes away after a day or 2.

Noels suggestion is a good one, but in the end the chiropractor will give you excercises to do, so if you just excercise to begin with you can save a trip. I love going to the chiro, but I finally caught on to taking care of these things in advance and it has saved me tons of money.

1. In your case take a pair of 2.5 or 5 pound weights or two cans of vegetable or soup, etc. and simply stand and raise your arms from your sides to where they are parallel to the floor and extendedfully to your sides. You know, kind of like you are flapping your wings, but smooth and slow. Elbows mostly straight, not locked, though that isn't important, just keep them extended out as far as you can. Lower arms to starting position.

Repeat 10-20 times.

2. Raise arms fully extended to your sides and rotate your arms in tiny circles. You can use cans of vegetables, etc for this as well. Do this until it becomes uncomfortable several times a day.

In a day or two you will be much better.

Shrugs will help, and walking will also help. Do all of these things regularly and you'll not be bothered by this trouble again.

For hand cramps, etc you can also add hand squeezing excercises, you know with the squeezy balls or the hand springs you buy at sports equip stores.

Get rid of the mouse and try a Wacom graphics pen. I was getting similar pains in my hand and arm, and that took care of it.

I have the Wacom Graphire 4.

Graphire4 4x5 - Overview

Check it out.

You can also try simple things like changing the height of your seat to change the angle your arm rests at. That helped my editing elbow pain. Some people edit standing up and swear by it.

How wimpy have we become when we can get injured sitting at a desk? (myself included)

Hi Kelsey,

Ouch! Been there. I went and had my shoulder checked out after my shooting season ended in '05 and ended up needed surgery for a damaged rotator cuff. I'm so glad I had it fixed. I'd had problems for years with twinges of pain. Its been perfect since the operation. Feels fantastic to be able to do something simple like put my arm around my kids on the couch and not wince.

I've had exactly the same problem with pain starting in the shoulder with extented pain in my fingers, also cold hands all the time and a slight loss of feeling sometimes. I saw the word " chiroprocter" mentioned here but I'm not sure if that is exactly the same as the person I went to, we call it a kinesist in Dutch but I guess it's the same.
For several weeks he had been twisting and turning my arms and fingers and giving extensive massage to the shoulder and now it's a lot better. He told me that my shoulders were "blocked" and that caused the problems in my hands. He also gave me several exercises to do, sometimes my hands get cold again or start to tingle but after I do my exercise it disappears again.
There is only one advice I can give you, go to a docter/specialist who can give you the right treatment before it gets too worse.

I'm sorry but I found this just hilarious. Thanks for the Monday chuckle.

Editing I only get a cold hand eventually. Shooting I have major back problems. I got a Teeter 5000 inversion table and it has done wonders for my back and shoulders. Google it and read the reviews on Amazon.com. It's amazing. No wonder my chiro never told me about it in a decade of going to him.

Thanks everyone!

I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone! I was starting to feel ratther "wimpy" about the whole thing. Some one on here mentioned lowering/raising the height of my chair and I heard that from someone else today so I'm going to try that immediately!!

Then I'm off to find some 2lb weights to see if that will improve things.

I'm curious about that Graphics pen but I'm wondering if there is a "learning curve" on it? I can't afford to be slow right now!

Thanks!

How weird!!

I just looked at my thread and see that the title of it has been changed from "Help I'm suffering!" to "I am suffering from shoulder pain". I'm not sure why it was changed???

Has this happened to anyone else before? Hmmm... Interesting!

Kelsey,

do you have your whole lower arm resting on the table when editing? I am amazed to see how many people put the entire weight of the arm on the wrist - that alone can produce all sorts of pain. Other than that, try to use the keyboard as much as possible instead of the mouse.

Yeah, pretty much. The only thing that sticks off the edge is a bit of my elbow. It's such a hassle!!

Hi Kelsey,

In addition to the good ideas expressed by the other folks here, I have & use two mouse's,(mice ?) one for each hand. I simply switch hands when I feel any discomfort - or just try to use them equally in the first place. Took a very short time for me to gain the skill. I can actually use them both at the same time - one for moving the curser, the other for hitting the buttons and wheel.

Harold