Friend of mine (a fellow window cleaner) has only been in the business for one year and is developing (what he describes as) “tennis elbow”. He does both traditional scrub and squeegeeing and uses a carbon fiber WFP setup with pure water (approx. 50/50 split workload between WFP and Trad). He says he’s getting a sore wrist and arm from his work.
What ADVICE would you suggest, to:
[1.] Manage it (preventative strategy) long term?
[2.] Manage it (corrective technique and/or strategy) short term?
Had to cut short conversation with him (due to time constraints) so can’t give anymore detail than the above.
Has anyone had this sort of problem?
What would you suggest based on the above (limited information)?
Graeme Hibbard
Sparkle Window Cleaning
New Zealand
Physical therapist’s are so worth it. It is an over-use syndrome. Bursitis. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/152120.php
Glucosamine is great to add to your regular intake. It takes about 2-3 months to actually show results in your system, and you have to keep it as part of your regular diet or else start all over again.
Glucosamine is a natural supplement that can be found over the counter.
Also, adding olive oil into your diet is huge. It lubricates the joints and tendons naturally. Cook with it, dip bread into olive oil with herbs, or just take a good healthy swig of it. (extra virgin of course).
Swap out ice and heat to the area. Tendon injuries take so long to heal (up to 18 months) because of poor blood flow - unlike muscle which has great blood flow. By applying heat and then ice, then heat again makes the tendons contract and helps to move blood through which is part of the bodies healing power. Don’t forget to pee often as the heat/ice releases toxins into the system.
A Physical Therapist is great to get started.
Id imagine its not caused from window cleaning directly if only doing it a year but more less the movements irritated something that was already there.
Being aware if which movements irritate the areas and using slightly different techniques could help.
If it’s that bad in 1 year may not have many left doing things the same way.
I actually had surgery about ten years ago for bursitis in my shoulder. Man, that was some painful time I went through. I thought my days cleaning windows were over. Luckily all I needed to do was learn how to clean a slightly different way. A little less swirl went a long way. At times I’ll even just straight pull if things get tensed up.
I can’t give any medical advice, but getting some is the best advice I can give. Physical therapy saved me from making things worse than they are. I figured I’d just tough it though and that wasn’t gonna work. That’s when I saw a surgeon and things sounded like I couldn’t clean anymore.
Just remember that working through pain is never a good idea. Pain is the body’s way of saying something is wrong. Last thing you want is to make anything worse. Bursitis isn’t any fun and surgery is not used that often, at least with young people according to my surgeon. Definitely tell your buddy to take it easy and get checked out when he can.
Hey everyone. Thanks for all of your comments. I’ve been noticing the same problem with my elbows lately.
I agree with @anon46335951, I did asphalt & concrete construction for 7 years before window cleaning at 70-80 hours a week. Very physically staring at times. I don’t work anywhere near as physical cleaning windows.
It’s likely it was a preexisting condition. I mostly notice when my elbows are kept at a 90° angle for too long.
Pick up a book called Becoming A Supple Leopard by Kelly Starrett. Seriously. It’s like a $50 textbook, but will fix all that ails you.
I use a foam roller, lacrosse ball, and an inversion table almost daily and I feel like the next American ninja warrior for a solid 10 hours a day. Not to mention I sleep like a rock.
I didn’t read the thread but my personal experience has taught me this… #1 window cleaning, as far as labor goes can be very labor intensive. First of all if you want to do this as a profession and want to be successful, AND are going to do the labor your self, you have to be healthy. I’m not joking. If your over weight then climbing ladders isn’t for you. With the exception of moving ladders you domt need to be exceptionally strong but regardless window cleaning takes indurence and flexibility. I would recommend exercising the injured parts of the body ( as well as the rest of the body), daily stretching/ yoga, and natural anti- inflammatorys such as turmeric or for you more conventional folk ibuprofen. Not Tylenol…its not the same.
