Hit 2000 hours of weld time and nobody warned me about this

Everyone said I'd feel like a pro after that many hours but all I got was tennis elbow in my left arm and a back that cracks like bubble wrap. My first 1000 hours I was still learning but hitting 2000 just made me realize how much bad technique I had to unlearn. Anyone else find that the more hours you rack up the more you realize you were doing stuff wrong the whole time?

2 comments

2 Comments

patricianguyen21d ago

Is it really tennis elbow though? Tennis elbow usually flares up on the outside of the arm, not the left side if you're right handed. Could be golfers elbow, which is on the inside, or just plain tendonitis from gripping too tight. I had the same issue around 1500 hours and it turned out I was just death gripping the stinger. Loosening up my hold and using a lighter whip fixed it in a few weeks. The back cracking though, that's a forever thing once you start hunching over those tight spots.

mark4921d ago

Man you might be right @patricianguyen. I always just called it tennis elbow when my outer forearm hurt after long sessions with the stinger. But thinking back, the pain was more on the inside near my palm. Guess I had golfers elbow all along and just lumped it together. The grip thing really hits home because I catch myself squeezing way too hard when welding in tight spots. Might try swapping to a lighter whip like you mentioned, sounds a lot easier on the arm than dealing with this crap.