Hi everyone I hope you have good day, as winter went here I am not blacksmithing for a while, and month ago I had accident on work, well I did wrong move and got pain in spine, to be more precise I have herniated disc which pinch nerve now , I  am recovering but I want to ask question.

 

When someone can return to blacksmithing and working on anvil, should I be more careful in future while forging,  does anvil height matter, will lifting and pounding with hammer affect discs in spine.

I asked this because I am sure some of you have that or similar  experience.

Backpain is not nice. I had several collegues with hernias as well. 

Be carefull when lifting anything, use your legs, tools, hoists, ... at much as possible to lessen the strain on your back.

I wich you a good recovery and a painfree back.

Yes, anvil height does matter, too low and it puts a strain on the back/spine. Check in the anvil section on how to set the correct height.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

Pay careful attention to your stance and how you address your anvil so your blows land properly without you having to lean, bend or reach to hit the target. And YES, anvil height is critical to this!

I feel for you Nat, I wrenched my back many years ago and it took me a long time to recover enough it stopped hurting when it got tired.

Be careful, do the exercises and keep moving and more importantly ignore non-doctor's advice like mine.

Get well quick Nat, we're pulling for you.

Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks all for support , I had disc herniation before in 2017 on November, 

And last year I adjusted anvil to be lower because I had issue with shoulder when I pound with hammer.

If anvil is set too heigh up, hammer blows affect shoulder then ,I would guess maybe 6 months until forging is save, eveb one need to consider that smithing is not like any kind of trade, there is hot piece of metal in play here, you can get pain from back, and get hot piece of metal in body bz just reflex I'd backpain.

My pain was little bit pinched nerve that went all to the foot, thing is had two times disc herniation even I didn't noticed it until I felt pain in foot.

Good Morning Nat,

Don't be afraid of sitting on a stool, to support some of your body weight. Whatever it takes to be comfortable.

You can use a Garbage can/container filled with sand. Use a piece of plywood on top the sand, to sit your Anvil on. Adjust the sand below the plywood to raise or lower your Anvil, until you are at a comfortable working height. Keep it Simple.

Neil

I will see what will happen, it's not issue about spine it self I think there is fear and mental aspect of it too.

Its small herniation maybe 2 mm ,but one should be cautious.

As I said I had disc herniation 6 years ago and after one year I worked pretty well even I lifted bellows couple of time and moved them around building.

Now I think movement need to be less fast and force need to be closer to anvil and više so I don't have to reach too far from my expirence weight is not all of that problem for pine and don't trigger pain and herniation in discs as sudden move.

I haven't forged in 10 months or so because of shoulders, back, forearm, eyesight, headaches blah blah blah. Getting old just snuck up on me. For the last few months I've looked into this subject quite alot and I'm getting ready to get back into it soon. Ive avoided surgery thus far. I highly suggest stretch stretch and more stretching. Especially right before forging, also doing some type of light physical therapy to get strength and range of motion back to your problem areas

While I am in the "senior" class of smiths I haven't had much in physical debilities that restrict my forging but I will suggest that anyone of any age who has had physical problems and is getting back into the craft to take it easy and work up.  Only work for short periods and work on small projects where you can use smaller tools/hammers.  And don't be afraid to reconfigure your work space so that you can sit for some tasks.  Take frequent breaks.  Keep hydrated.  Don't try to work in extreme high or low temperatures.  And if you have to move something heavy don't be afraid or too proud to ask someone to help you.  If you've got a major project which needs heavy lifting it may make sense to hire someone from a local employment place for a few hours or a half day.  I'm thinking of doing that for some work which involves climbing up on the roof of my shop.  Besides just being cautious and knowing that I don't heal up as fast as I used to staying off the roof will avoid domestic turbulance.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I agree with your advice George except for the part about picking up day labor from the unemployment office to go up on your roof. What will your homeowners say if it turns out your helper starts having the shakes from missing a fix or getting a bad bag and or just takes a header?

We both have enough assets to need to be careful how we risk them. I know I'm too old to start over.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

Actually, my experience with temp laborers has been pretty good.  It may be that in small town Colorado or a college town in Wyoming you get a better class of day laborers than in bigger cities where, yes, substance abuse issues are more common.  I may wait until my son is visiting or I may try to find some college student(s).

G

My experience is it need to be fine after one year but, you can't do punching holes where you hold piece with your legs and you drift hole.

There are some limitations I think while working,  I usually don't force anything bigger than 1" or 1/2 its small forge for some tools making and some tools drawing out as it's tradition here to draw out some old axes that are grinded too much time.

Neighbour asked me to do him that, I refused offer , he want it done with axe handle on it.

I would do it for free because he is our neighbour and we do favor for favor

But I will be - fuel and electricity which is not Bigg deal but health is.

 

7 minutes ago, natkova said:

you can't do punching holes where you hold piece with your legs and you drift hole.

Frankly, I have trouble with that anyway, mostly because my anvils are all a bit on the high side and I end up having to stand on tiptoes to hold workpieces between my legs. Switching to using my stock support with built-in holddown has helped a lot!

  I'm not doctor but have worked at jobs that stress ergonomics and back safety.  One thing to be aware of is your "Power Zone".  You can look it up on internet.  I don't advocate anything medical wise but it's good to be aware.  My back has held up good so far.

Yeah, that was way too broad a statement. The only time I've lived in, near actually, a town small enough to know what kind of helper you're getting everybody knew everybody literally. The total permanent population was around 140 so if you didn't see the person you wanted on train day you asked a neighbor or just put the word out. The downside being, everybody knew EVERYTHING! 

When I was growing up the day labor had corners depending on the trade in question, during harvest whole blocks, large encampment in the central valley IIRC. 

Personally I always had a job, some not much but I always covered my bills and a little extra. Unless I didn't want to work, that lasted most of one summer in the mid 70s. My hippy phase. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

 

Thanks all for support and help.

I will see its confusing issue one need to be careful enaugh but not develop anxiety from work per se.