Many years ago at Biltmore my staff and I, started having the same troubles. And we were much younger! We were visited by Biltmore's health insurance company's consultant. She evaluated our work spaces: chairs, work table, tensioner heights, and computer stations. We invested in very expensive adjustable chairs, foot rests, changed the heights of the tapestry tensioners and also bought tables with adjustable heights; the same for the computer desk. This alleviated much suffering. No one ended up with any type of surgery. I also want to add for myself that stress has a great deal to do with back pain and is, unfortunately a reoccurring issue. 

Please review the ergonomics not only of your workplace but at home too. 


PATRICIA EWER
Conservator                                                                             
TEXTILE OBJECTS CONSERVATION, LLC
 
5975 Ridgewood Road
Mound, Minnesota 55364 
Phone: 651-263-6899
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-----Original Message-----
From: Textile Conservators [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sarah Gates
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2012 11:26 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: FW: hand, arm, shoulder & neck paine

About those carpal tunnel-like symptoms...
Sandy Troon and Sarah Gates, both textile conservators of a certain age, living and working on the west coast of the USA, are sending this message out as a "heads-up" to colleagues.
Both of us have experienced and been diagnosed with carpal-tunnel-like symptoms, (pain in arms, difficulty gripping tools, worsening handwriting, etc) only to discover after seeing many doctors and experiencing increased pain, that our problem is really with spinal dics # 4-7 in our necks, the "cervical discs" are they are called.  We know of two other textile conservators who have had trouble with this, as well as several professional seamstresses.  Our hope is that if you are experiencing any of these symptoms, that you do not hesitate to look into the health of your spine rather than treatments for carpal tunnel - which can just increase cervical pain.
There are many things you can try before having to resort to steroid shots  (Sarah) and surgical fusion (Sandy).  Be sure to explore everything from better posture to making your core muscles as strong as they can be, as well as acupuncture and myofascial massage. Both of us have found that consulting physiatrists, aka doctors trained in the study of the physical functioning of the body, has been crucial to the management of our neck health.
If you are experiencing pain, tingling, burning, and/or numbness in your hands, arms, shoulders or "delayed pain" in those same areas, do no hesitate to pursue a diagnosis soon and thoroughly!

--
Sarah Gates,
Head Conservator, Textile Conservation
M H de Young Memorial Museum
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive
San Francisco, CA 94118-4501
Telephone: 415-750-7611
Fax: 415-750-2678
http://famsfconservation.wordpress.com