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Riveters Elbow

caapt

Well Known Member
Just diagnosed. Also known as tennis elbow. No rivet gunning for 2 week, or more. Any advice for the next time?
 
I feel your pain

Either use a recoil-less rivet gun or get a goose neck gun. Ibuprofen helps. Going under the knife might be an option. I have a goose neck gun that keeps my hand directly behind the set. I can also swap hands. My left arm is in a little better shape. Photo of goose neck number 34 in signature
 
I think this May be a common problem for some of us. I got tennis elbow after about 8months of riveting. I remember Smitty talking about the same problem.
 
Do you grip the gun that hard that is rattles the elbow joint? Not a fact based comment, but would a softer grip still drive the rivets? Usually it is my wrist that gets me not the elbow.

It might sound clever to use the other hand. Maybe not too practical.
 
similar here, but diagnosed as bursitis. My elbows would get read and swollen. Most riveting was Ok, but when I had to reach excessively (solo rivet bottom wing skins) it caused me issues. Had to take a couple weeks off and do other work on the finish kit. Finally got the bottom skins done though. Very glad about that.
 
I have always been under the impression that the main reason for tennis/riveter elbow was squeezing too tightly on the grip, instead of pushing hard into the rivet.

Back in the day, when I had tennis elbow from actually playing tennis and racquetball, I was advised to not squeeze the "pi$$" out of the grips.

YMMV, and I am not an MD, nor do I play one on TV. No medical advice intended.:rolleyes:
 
Hand your wife the gun and say "I'll do the hard part bucking on the inside"

Diane did an excellent job on our 7A :D
 
I fell off my bike about 5 years ago. I went over the handle bars and broke my fall with my hands before rolling over ending up with the bike on top of me. This was on to pavement. I was picking gravel out of the plans of my hands for days. I could not do a push up for well over a year. Counter sinking, bucking rivets, deburring all make my wrists ache. It has not stopped me yet. I just take ibuprofen and move on.

This is the main reason that I use air tools when possible. Cleco gun, pneumatic squeezer (both for rivets and dimples). Anything that reduces stress I use it.

Good luck resolving the tennis elbow.
 
I found all the cleco plier use during wing construction caused me issues. I solved that with air powered cleco squeezer (mine were a bit different from the ones sold by Avery Tools, but the effect is the same - avoid wear and tear on your body).
 
:eek:air powered cleco squeezer,plenty of breaks in between ,and lots of icepacks.
I was also using a hand brace,that seemed to relief the tendans a bit.
 
Yep, had the tennis elbow as well (from riveting and Clecoing). Air powered cleco tool helped. Doc said to lay off the pliers and gun for awhile. Took six months for it to get better....
 
Clecos doing the wings

Had to switch to air powered cleco tool (used from the yard store). Went to the Doc and he called it grandmas thumb. Seems it is common when quilting. Who knew?? I used Aleve to get through it. Took almost a year. Vic
 
more strength conditioning in the off season will reduce the chance of many of these repetitive injuries. ;)
 
I just got diagnosed with tennis elbow a few days ago. A cortisone shot worked miracles. I could barely lift a can of soda Monday and now most of the pain in my elbow is gone. I still have problems in my hand from tendonitis and repetitive use of a computer mouse and tools. My doctor prescribes Naproxyn Sodium which is the same ingredient that is in Alleve. It works much better than ibuprofen or other medicines.
 
I got it too during the wings and it lingered for most of the metal work, mostly from the cleco pliers, but the pneumatic squeezer probably didn't help any. I was told it was an "overuse" injury and outside of surgery, rest was the only answer so I really don't have any advice to offer beyond that. I, of course, didn't rest...just built on through the pain with the help of some advil.
 
Yep ... I 've been there too ...

There is an elastic (or similar material) band/strap that you can strap snugly around your forearm. It makes working with mild epicondylitis bearable, and also helps prevent recurring flareups. ( Note I say "helps'.) It seems to reduce the tendon tension on the elbow. I was told by a doc once that it works on the tendons in your forearm similar to pressing a guitar string on a fret. But to make tennis elbow completely go away? Takes months.
 
Anti Vibration Rivet Gun and Bucking Bar

My rivet gun supplier showed me a slow motion video of a rivet gun and bucking bar with and without their anti vibration technology. It is amazing how much abuse the hand and arm take during the riveting process. I ended up buying two of their anti vibration rivet guns (large one because I was having trouble driving the 1/8" rivets with the small one) and have been very satisfied with them. I demoed an anti vibration bucking bar but couldn't justify the cost and am using a tungsten bar, but with a glove not my bare hand.

Here's a link:
http://www.atlascopco.ca/usus/products/navigationbyproduct/productsearch.aspx?q=rivet tool
 
I'm an Oral Surgeon and started to suffer from significant tennis elbow pain about six months ago. Physio was of little help, the band on the upper forearm did little, but muscle stimulation treatments by my chiropractor(I developed back pain from this job last year) have helped keep it manageable. I have to say that I'm a little dismayed to hear that many of you have developed this problem from the build, and I'm looking at starting a build with this problem already! I guess everything will need to be pneumatic!

Rob
 
I have also been there - spent a lot of money on all sorts of treatment mentioned above. The only real solution is to give it a good rest. Second to that - a pneumatic cleco tool made a huge difference. I found that it was actually the clecoe-ing causing the pain and not the riveting.
 
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