I got to thinking about Michael's arthritic thumb condition, and I had to wonder whether there's a surgical cure. It's quite common now for folks with arthritic knees and hip joints have them surgically replaced with man-made materials. While I don't know if the medical industry has concentrated on bones in the hand and developed similar replacement components, it might be worthwhile to research a bit more on the topic.
Seems that your condition is relatively mild and tolerable at this time, but it's hard to predict how things will go over time. My grandmother had very severe rheumatoid arthritis, so I realize how crippling the condition can get. Good luck with your research and efforts to mitigate the impact of your condition.
Lastly, kudos to mo for her outstanding humor. It's noteworthy how the 2009 cartoon fits absolutely perfect here. It's interesting how a well done library of great work can be used and appreciated over time.
outcast wrote:
I'm a windsurfing surgeon, and therefore take offense at his comments
My recommendation was "get a smaller grip boom"
You don't think some doctors are behind the 8-ball? Heck, I'll bet that close to half of them finished med school in the bottom 50% of their graduating class. It's up to each of us to know enough to identify them and treat their advice accordingly.
For which I gave you credit, under the (incorrect?) recollection that you rant Right. If I recalled wrongly, I deeply apologize for the unintended insult. I might call liberals stupid, or ignorant, or pie-eyed optimists, or dangerous, or loony, but would never knowingly mis-attribute them to conservative thinking ... or vice versa.
As for Coachg's " Another thing that would help a little is to not use your thumb." ... I've always read that we should have all five digits of each hand on one side of a bar, including a WSing boom. It's safer for the thumb and plenty effective when slippage isn't dangerous. Exceptions include such activities as heavy overhead barbells or swinging through high trees, where a slip could be disastrous. I very seldom use an opposing grip on my boom, so my thumbs are just along for the ride, just as my arms are (the harness lines should carry the load, with arms for fine tuning, most of the time). Even some aspects of wave riding can be done hooked in.
"For which I gave you credit, under the (incorrect?) recollection that you rant Right. If I recalled wrongly, I deeply apologize for the unintended insult. I might call liberals stupid, or ignorant, or pie-eyed optimists, or dangerous, or loony, but would never knowingly mis-attribute them to conservative thinking ... or vice versa."
A bit ad hominem, isobars' style. It's no small wonder he earns and receives grief from most here.
Joined: 24 Jun 2008 Posts: 770 Location: Boston, MA
Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 7:49 pm Post subject:
isobars wrote:
You don't think some doctors are behind the 8-ball? Heck, I'll bet that close to half of them finished med school in the bottom 50% of their graduating class. It's up to each of us to know enough to identify them and treat their advice accordingly.
Mike \m/
Mike, precisely where did you take your degree and what was your class rank? Medical school is very, very tough to earn entry, let alone finish in the top 1/2.
Class rank has little connection to one's achievement in practice and almost zero connection to proper patient care.
I'll take your bet that close to half of physicians finished med school in the bottom 50%, because [i]exactly[\i] 50% finish in the bottom half. Not more, not less.
Outcast's suggestion about using a smaller boom is a good idea.
Rigging and derigging are a lot easier if ... the downhaul and outhaul cords have some extra length so that it is easy to get an extra wrap around your hand.
I have found that wearing a thumb splint helps.
I no longer have an opposable thumb.
Remembering this without the splint's tactile feedback has proven to be difficult and painful.
The Thumb Guard Spika ... it is uncomfortable pushing the mast up to fly the sail.
Even the biggest guys with the biggest hands I know prefer small boom diameters ... the smaller, the better (and the smaller, the spendier).
Use a clamcleat cast aluminum rigging tool. It's $13, requires no thumb, fits in a pocket, and is perfect for downhauls and outhauls. See
http://tinyurl.com/yllznf2 .
If a thumb splint helps, by all means use it. Just remember that the best therapy for an osteoarthritic joint is moving it; take that splint off and use the joint often. Also remember that I'm not a physician and don't know the pathology of your thumb. I have, however, fought OA in every joint in both hands for decades, have some king-sized knuckles to show for it, and haven't let it slow me down one bit. Motion, heat, therapeutic massage, occasional Tylenol, and banging a painful joint against a knee or the ground to get its attention have all helped.
I have a hard time thinking of a WSing action, other than some rigging activities or really aggressive maneuvers in aerial freestyle and expert sailing in large waves, which require much opposing grip. Using your harness properly, you just shouldn't need much grip strength, especially opposing, for most WSing. Your harness lines should carry virtually all the sail's power unless you're being photographed for a magazine cover, so to speak, or for that one or two seconds unhooked between beam reaching and jibing the sail. If I'm gripping palms down, by thumb is also on top, just lying there; if my front hand is palm up for elbow tendon relief, that thumb may oppose but only for extra elbow orientation relief, not for gripping.
I never touch my mast except when rigging or maybe swinging a floating rig into waterstart orientation, so there's no thumb requirement there. It's not clear why you need to "push on your mast" to waterstart; clarify, and I'll get you past that.
I guess my bottom line suggestion is to learn to rely much less on your thumbs for WSing, and use them much more in controlled dry land activities to keep that joint mobile ... again assuming you're talking OA, not RA; I know squat about the latter and much less than Outcast about the former. I DO know a pantsload about WSing and desert racing despite acute and chronic pathologies in and between my cervical vertebrae and my first metatarsal-phalangeal (big toe) joint, and I encourage you to worry less about the threat and experiment more with mitigating techniques; you can get it cut if and when those approaches fail. Keep your doctor in the loop and hear his advice, but realize that he may not have dealt with many obsessed athletes. I've had to literally crawl while rigging and getting to the water's edge for two unrelated reasons (back spasms, freshly excised inner ear), but by God neither stopped me from sailing.
When I do require surgeries, I schedule them for early winter so I'm 100% by spring. No point in letting that mean old surgeon screw up a sailing season unless it's for a medical emergency (something must be fixed immediately or it will get much worse) or a WSing emergency (it precludes WSing).
Have you tried the Sports model of the Thumb Guard Spica? Maybe it will add something to your arsenal. OTOH, ... er ... thumb ... I've always been leery of wearing a finger or thumb splint; I want my digits safely tucked away into a loose fist when I crash so they don't get snapped off at the base.
One last tip for a forum newbie: ignore the angry, negative, useless, insulting posts (and posters). That behavior is common here, their authors have neither conscience nor shame (you'll see that one of them literally isn't sane), and if they behave that way in flesh and blood, rest assured they will occasionally shed some of both. They are their own worst enemies, not yours, so don't let them chase you off. Decent people far prefer your comments to theirs.
Mike, now that I've read that list of ailments and injuries you've suffered, I know I can snake your swell out at Arlington next summer with total impunity. On second thought, all those injuries might not have affected your trigger finger and you might be a right wing gun nut as well as a right wing wingnut, so I'll probbily just use you for a jibing mark when you blow you bottom turn. Seriously man, falls under the heading of way too much personal information. With all the adversaries you've made on this forum doesn't that disclosure make you feel a little bit vulnerable???
Mike, precisely where did you take your degree and what was your class rank? Medical school is very, very tough to earn entry, let alone finish in the top 1/2.
. . .
Again, where did you finish?
Is this guy for real? Why not tender your own credentials, Dr. Weiss? If you actually went to college, it was probably at B Jew. Most people that go to Med School aren't all that smart, don't have a mind of their own and have gotten in because they were good at sucking up to the academic Doctors. Your reward for that, sir, would be you can become one of them!!!! It is a group that isn't noted for it's longevity, well adjusted children or lack of work.
isobars wrote:
I'm not a physician and don't know the pathology of
your thumb.
Mike \m/
I've enjoyed Dr. Rice's diagnistics and thank all those I mentioned in my first post making it clear it was truthful. This statement remains rather amusing in it's pretention. Why not just type >>what's wrong with your thumb<<? >> Pathology is the study and diagnosis of disease through examination of organs, tissues, bodily fluids, and whole bodies (autopsies). A "thumb" isn't included. I also doubt if the diagnosis the original poster heard was due to an examination of his joint tissue. Serious arthritis is a horrible thing. Almost always it occurs when one is advanced in years. I've seen it, I don't like it and I'm rather disgusted by those who use the term lightly. It doesn't take a medical degree to understand how little one can do to cure it. Did anyone ever tell you that death is a pretty thing? When you see those Bumper Stickers that state Life's a Beach, do those people that sport them actually know much about life at the beach?
This statement remains rather amusing in it's pretention. Pathology is the study and diagnosis of disease through examination of organs, tissues, bodily fluids, and whole bodies (autopsies). A "thumb" isn't included. I'm rather disgusted by those who use the term [arthritis] lightly. Serious arthritis is a horrible thing. Almost always it occurs when one is advanced in years. It doesn't take a medical degree to understand how little one can do to cure it.
pa⋅thol⋅o⋅gy
/pəˈθɒlədʒi/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [puh-thol-uh-jee] Show IPA
–noun, plural -gies.
1. the science or the study of the origin, nature, and course of diseases.
2. the conditions and processes of a disease.
3. any deviation from a healthy, normal, or efficient condition.
In case that's not clear enough, if a guy walks into an ER with a bone poking through his skin, or an X-ray shows a rough joint surface, that's pathology. The former is a fracture, the latter is often OA. OA tends to be localized in specific abused joints in susceptible individuals, whereas RA tends to be more systemic, occurring in multiple joints even if they've suffered no obvious abuse. Their pathology -- their [physical, observable] deviation from a healthy, normal, or efficient condition -- is often irreversible, but the symptoms of either can often be mitigated to some degree by any of several means, and some -- some research says many -- cases of RA are curable via long-term treatment with a particular combination of antibiotics.
Nobody with OA or RA takes the term lightly, and either is often readily diagnosed and differentiated from the other by imaging and/or blood marker assay. OA is striking younger people these days for at least two reasons in two identifiable categories of young people: obesity crushes knees and ankles, and immature joints often can't deal with excessive sports forces or injuries in kids or young adults who push --- or are pushed -- too hard, too early.
Joined: 24 Jun 2008 Posts: 770 Location: Boston, MA
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 10:38 am Post subject:
sailingjoe wrote:
Is this guy for real? Why not tender your own credentials, Dr. Weiss? If you actually went to college, it was probably at B Jew. Most people that go to Med School aren't all that smart, don't have a mind of their own and have gotten in because they were good at sucking up to the academic Doctors. Your reward for that, sir, would be you can become one of them!!!! It is a group that isn't noted for it's longevity, well adjusted children or lack of work.
This is at least your second use of anti-Semitic comments directed at me. Did your mother not show you enough love as a child?
As for the rest of it, I'll just let the others laugh at your expense. Really, not laughing with you but laughing at you.
If you actually went to college, it was probably at B Jew.
Brucie, have you been taking diplomacy lessons from Rush Limbaugh?
sailingjoe wrote:
I've enjoyed Dr. Rice's diagnistics...
WTF is a "diagnistic"?
I think you need a "diagnistic" of your head. Come visit, and I'll do it. I'll start with a 1" drill, follow up with a small droplight, stick in a mirror, and then look for something. Anything. A few grains of gray matter will do.
But I have my doubts.
The evidence is against you.
We'll get a picture of emptiness at its best. The true value of nil.
sailingjoe wrote:
...aren't all that smart, don't have a mind of their own and have gotten in because they were good at sucking up...
Gosh, Brucie, and to think that you've been able to accomplish all that without sucking up to anyone.
Oh, wait.... I need to rethink the intent of the euphemism "sucking up" as it applies to a Princess of the Enchanted Forest (that would be you).
[quote=”joew”]Mike ... I can snake your swell out at Arlington next summer with total impunity.… those injuries might not have affected your trigger finger and you might be a right wing gun nut ... I'll probbily just use you for a jibing mark when you blow you bottom turn. ... too much personal information. With all the adversaries you've made on this forum doesn't that disclosure make you feel a little bit vulnerable???[/quote]
People who advocate the overthrow of the U.S. government and/or destruction of its economy and freedoms by converting it to any of the “evil -isms” are absolutely my adversaries; that my advocacy of a strong nation of self-sufficient capitalists free to eagerly help the truly needy upsets a few zealous socialists is neither my problem nor my fault. I am proud of, not embarrassed by, my country, because I was not brainwashed by the overwhelmingly left wing (90% by self-acclaim) professors in today’s sick schools. The enmity of adversaries like that just affirms that I’m on the right track.
I don’t care if you beat me to a wave or swell with luck, timing, or greater skill. My complaint is with the mindless point-and-shoot robots who don’t know a wave from a speed ditch and/or don’t care if they cut others off or even hit them.
You don’t need to wait for a blown bottom turn. I’m well-known as a jibe mark, considering how often I end up neck-deep for several reasons. Just leave me a couple of mast-lengths for mutual safety and we’re cool.
And I don’t need no steenkin’ gun on the waves; I got an endless supply of cheap, readily replaceable boards, some of them proven bomb-proof.
But back to topical relevance, listing my boo boos had a distinct purpose: to give the OP and any impaired lurkers some encouragement that one arthritic thumb is probably a long ways from threatening his WSing. My first couple of boo boos alarmed me, too; the ensuing scores of same were just speed bumps. Even the cancers are relevant, because they might have discouraged me or even pissed me off if they hadn’t been preceded by countless other boo boos of various severity. In perspective, they’re just speed bumps which I confined to the off season. I can’t fix Caustic’s hand, but I hope I can reduce his worries about it. How that leaves me vulnerable to anyone but vultures escapes me.
And those particular vultures are not on the endangered species list.
Did anyone ever tell you that death is a pretty thing? When you see those Bumper Stickers that state Life's a Beach, do those people that sport them actually know much about life at the beach?
The slogan actually is Hawaiian slang for “Life is a Bitch.”
Coachg
People who advocate the overthrow of the U.S. government and/or destruction of its economy and freedoms by converting it to any of the “evil -isms” are absolutely my adversaries; that my advocacy of a strong nation of self-sufficient capitalists free to eagerly help the truly needy upsets a few zealous socialists is neither my problem nor my fault. I am proud of, not embarrassed by, my country, because I was not brainwashed by the overwhelmingly left wing (90% by self-acclaim) professors in today’s sick schools. The enmity of adversaries like that just affirms that I’m on the right track.
And a tear rolls down Glenn Beck's cheek.... _________________ /w\
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