I have been having bursitis in both of my shoulders for quite some time now. Has been so bad at times that it was hard to even put on a shirt. I have been trying to do stretching and exercises, but nothing seemed to help. The other day I developed a leak in my hydraulic hose on my splitter and will be unable to get it replaced until next week. So, I thought, let's swing the fiskars axe a little and see how the shoulder holds up! Well, I will be darn, my shoulder hasn't felt this good in months. I guess this will be my physical therapy. Sure beats having to pay to get things feeling better. Perhaps I should wait a little before I get my hydraulic hose fixed!
And being a high-rep activity, changing duration and intensity should be useful. Awesome that splitting has medicinal uses. The FDA figures that out they'll ban it....
Best of luck with your condition jdk. One of the reasons I insisted on having hydro's to split was watching my dad hand split everything growing up. He ended up having many back/neck issues. Couple vertebrae are tied together and he can't turn his head too far now. For some reason I tied the 2 together. Take care of yourself.
Thanks all. For most of my wood cutting/burning career I hand split everything. I sure passed up on a lot of wood because of it ... I transition to hydraulics for the reason you mention...it is hard on a person. With that said, I have noticed a decline in my overall arm strength since going to hydraulics. I guess splitting by hand is like a lot of things in life. It is good in moderation.
I do a combo of maul/hydro. I enjoy swinging a maul so long as it's on my own terms and if the wood is cooperating. No one wants to beat on a round with a big knot in the middle of it, I don't think? I'll go up to about ten hits on one side and will usually flip and try again, then the noodles will fly if I get denied a crack in those 20 hits. Most of my wood usually will crack within 5 hits. I have a shoulder that feels a bit wonky at times. I don't blame wood making though. First job I ever had was hand drying about 300 halfs of cars a day for three years. Next one was unloading freight by hand, usually half of 1500-2500 'pieces' on a 53' trailer, sometimes twice a shift. Did that for a couple years. Weird sleeping positions of all things seem to irritate most nowdays.
During the winter, I had some pain in my left shoulder that limited my range of motion. I found that doing some splitting with my X27 actually helped it. I've done numerous days of just 5 or 6 rounds, enough to get the exercise but not so much that I get worn out. Seemed to help, as my shoulder has its range of motion back without pain. That said, I still have all but a cord in the driveway, and I'm probably going to knock that our with the hydro.
I'm kinda like RCBS , I like to do it on my terms. I'm right handed and sometimes get tennis elbow in my left elbow if I over do it. I do enjoy it and I'm often faster than my "box store" splitter for a limited time of course.
Like a lot of members, I also do the maul/hydro also. I enjoy the exercise that I get from using the maul instead of going to the gym. I also do the hand splitting as a tool to control my blood/sugars. Those pieces that are not split with the maul go to another pile to be split with the splitter or noodled.
Chopping wood has been shown to increase testosterone by up to 48%. This is higher than other physical activities in the study. The increase in testosterone is beneficial in many ways especially as we age. Keep chopping out there!
