Wargaming and the bad back.

Started by Leman, 08 December 2018, 03:00:38 PM

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Terry37

Bad backs are not a problem with HOTT - you only need a 24' x 24' board!

As for attorneys, may I recommend Dewey, Cheatem and Howe as I hear hey are very good!!!

Terry
"My heart has joined the thousand for a friend stopped running today." Mr. Richard Adams

Techno

Or, maybe, Messrs Sue, Grabbit and Runne ? ;)

Cheers - Phil

Orcs

Quote from: steve_holmes_11 on 09 December 2018, 05:00:14 PM
Practical suggestions for those with back ailments (From one who has been there)

At the Table:
1. Try to alternate between sitting and standing.
2. A higher table, or lowered height-adjustable chair (easier to find) can help.
3. Try to avoid tables greater than 5 feet wide - it was the stretching over to move the little guys and measure ranges that really did for me (10mm are helpful here since you can play a condensed scale unlike the poor benighted 28mm fanboy).
4. Avoid lifting too much heavy stuff (Lead) - again 10mm is a significant winner against the "Heroic" scales (You know who you are).

In General:
1. When I reached a certain age, my body started complaining about periods of inactivity, in my case a sciatica attack, helped by a nice physio who showed me some Pilates type exercises to help maintain "core strength".
2. If the table is so large that you must lean over, manoeuvre yourself upright again before leaning to another part of the table - nothing worse than twisting sideways when leant over.

Away from the table. Other situations can aggravate the same problems:
1. Stand up and stretch yourself to full height every 15 minutes at a computer screen
2. Same for TV screen - the Freeview channels are helpful in this as they schedule an ad-break every 15 minutes.
3. Should probably do the same when painting, but I honestly find I drop into "The zone" and 2 hours can pass as the little men move from the unpainted to painted piles.



Good advice here.

Only 2 hours when in the "zone" I have been known to sit and paint in the "zone"  all day
The cynics are right nine times out of ten. -Mencken, H. L.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well. - Robert Louis Stevenson

steve_holmes_11

Quote from: Orcs on 09 December 2018, 07:20:37 PM
Good advice here.

Only 2 hours when in the "zone" I have been known to sit and paint in the "zone"  all day

I have adapted my approach to painting.
I used to sit there painting whatever bits seemed most interesting.
Now I engage in organised sessions of 30 minutes or one hour, with a focus on whole units, or groups of whole units.

For example:
Splash flesh colour paint all over the mostly naked tribal warriors. Can probably manage 4 units of 12 - two coats, one hour.
Paint mounted unit's horses in a variety of lightbrown, dark brown, black and grey - 4 units of 6, one hour.
Paint saddle cloth and harness on same horses - 6 horses, 30 minutes.

Notice form the examples that I schedule smaller batches and shorter sessions for the "detail work".
I've noticed my neck, jaw and shoulders get a lot more tense when I'm working on detail, so I keep the sessions short.
There's no rule against having several sessions in a day, but I try to schedule a 15 minute tea break in between.
I also change the water and giv the brushes a good wash between sessions.

By ensuring that whole units (notice my units are rather small) are at the same state of progress, I find I get a lot done.

I can't say whether this will work for other painters, but you are most welcome to give it a try, and discuss your results here.

paulr

I use a similar approach with batches of  units and it works very well for me :)

I find doing all of each items in one go really speeds things up and I get into a flow knowing how to hold the brush etc for each figure...
Lord Lensman of Wellington
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Norm

Quote from: steve_holmes_11 on 11 December 2018, 10:21:04 PM

I try to schedule a 15 minute tea break in between.

One of the many physio's that I have visited told me that the worst thing for 'anybody' is a comfy chair, because the sitter then tends NOT to move for too long. For reasons of blood circulation and overall management of joint / muscle / tendon pain, she suggested getting out of the chair (for example) every time the TV adverts come on ...... something that of itself and for its own sake seems a good thing :-)

The secret seems to be to move or take a break before any stiffness pains start.

There is some new thinking on pain that suggests that the brain knows what activities bring pain on, so the brain starts the pain earlier in an effort to avoid the very thing that brings on pain - the significance of this is that if you repeatedly do a thing to the point of pain,you in effect through memory, train the brain to bring pain on earlier, the mirror of that is to stop before pain generally starts and instead train the brain to understand that the said activity is not harmful, so lots of little sessions proves to be better than fewer longer sessions.


Techno

Agreed, Norm.

I DO tend to move fairly regularly when I'm pushing putty about.

With the 10mm figures, I have to mix an awful lot of small batches of green stuff, throughout the day.

Each time I have to mix up 'the next lot' I get up and either move to the PC for a few minutes, or do some other little chore.
I know I've mentioned before, that effectively, I spend one working day in the week mixing putty .....Especially with the wee men, as the putty doesn't stay 'nicely workable' at the really small scales for very long.

Cheers - Phil




petercooman

Must admit, although i'm only 33, back pains start to hit more and more lately. admitted, work is to blame for most of it, as i sometimes work with pretty heavy stuff. (i'm a medium-high voltage cable preparator)

When i get in trouble, usually after a day or two of unwinding cables from cable drums, i gravitate more to boardgames and painting instead of bigger games. Helps to keep you less strained when you can sit down to play.

Good ones are memoir, the great war, d&d adventure system etc... But some wargames also lend itwself to this: deadzone, Song of blades and heroes on the smaller scale (so a 2" by 2" board)


ps:

note that by cable drum i don't mean this:




but this


Don't see me unwinding those by hand until i'm 67!!

Techno

That DOES look like it's a heavy job. X_X

I wouldn't last two minutes trying to pull  cable that away from the drum. (Let alone doing anything else with it.)
Biggest 'cables' I had to deal with, when I worked for British Telecomm (a lifetime ago) were about 5mm in diameter.....and composed mostly of light plastic.

Mind you, I am almost twice your age, Peter...But take care, youth, otherwise you'll pay for it in later life.

Cheers - Phil

FierceKitty

I don't drink coffee to wake up. I wake up to drink coffee.

Techno


petercooman

Quote from: Techno on 13 December 2018, 10:22:40 AM

Mind you, I am almost twice your age, Peter...But take care, youth, otherwise you'll pay for it in later life.

Cheers - Phil

I know, that's why i go to get coffee regularly at work, that doesn't strain my back  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Womble67

Quote from: petercooman on 13 December 2018, 10:10:03 AM
Must admit, although i'm only 33, back pains start to hit more and more lately. admitted, work is to blame for most of it, as i sometimes work with pretty heavy stuff. (i'm a medium-high voltage cable preparator)


There's no wonder you're starting with a bad back

Take care

Andy
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