(Now) A drawing hand/arm injury

[jeffnevins]

Hey-

Some of you might have seen my post a while back on an injury. Well, after being prescribed Naproxen, I decided to take it, and I think it ended up causing even more problems.

Accidentally smashed my pinkie between the chair armrest & desk edge four weeks ago. The knuckles still look swollen, but there's less pain. Then yesterday, I smashed my forearm bewtween the chair armrest & the metal strip on the bottom of the animation table. Both cases- scooting the chair to each station. This injury caused some nausea & lightheadedness. Doesn't look swollen, so maybe no fracture.

So foolish it really makes me upset.

I've had a repetitive stress injury to my thumb a decade ago (a few months off to recover), but these injuries make me wonder-

Anyone else go through this & tips? Thanks!

[EAllen]

Seems like Naproxen is a common prescription for muscle and nerve aches. My dad was prescribed the stuff years earlier and it didn't really help, although according to him it was effective enough to alleviate some of the pain his back caused him.

At any rate I'm sorry to read of this latest malady to befall you. Seems like you can't catch a break.

I would look into getting a set of gel patches for your pain--take a look at these here. And, I'm sure stores carry a equivalent or generic version of these.

[Charles]

Jeff, sounds like you've been banged around pretty well lately, I'm sorry to hear that. And to your drawing hand no less. Many artists deal with stress and fatigue problems to their hands and/or arms over time. I know one guy that's had a chronic problem with his drawing hand for many years. Another fellow developed severe carpal tunnel from over playing his guitar.

My advice, for what it's worth considering your situation, is to try drawing in different ways. For example, when you're doing a clean up line drawing, the pencil is held one way as opposed to figure drawing from a live model when it's help in another way. Maybe that will help or at least ease up on the pressure points. Might even lead to interesting new styles of drawing as well.

As far as prescription drugs such as Naproxen go, I avoid them entirely unless it's absolutely necessary. Sometimes they make things worse.

Consider exercising your hand if it's possible to do so for you. Get a rubber ball or a tennis ball and squeeze it a few times during the course of the day. Strengthening the muscles of the hand and arm can help if you're able to do it without aggravation. Doing different things with your hands such as playing with a basketball instead of holding a pencil or stylus all day is a healthy thing to do for yourself.

Good luck and I hope you can get beyond this quickly.

[jeffnevins]

Thanks very much for the responses.
Usually I avoid meds; and this stands as a good lesson why.

I want to get posting here about more positive things soon. I'll definitely try out the tips.

Not done drawing yet (on paper & on the Cintiq).