Eric Toline Posted October 6, 2011 Report Share Posted October 6, 2011 Back then, Nagra's were your only choice. A fully loaded Nagra with 12 D cell batterys weighed 17 pounds+. You could always tell who the sound guys were as they leaned to one side or the other from "Nagra Shoulder." Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 Oh well there's no art without pain! I want a T-shirt with that quote! --Marc W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikewest Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 Thanks guys! Yep a great T shirt Marc And Eric yep a stereo TC Nagra with a KingClapper on the front plus 5 spare 5" tapes weighed a bundle Trying to attach an image but failing! I used to develop a large lump above my left shoulder Yes the "Hunchback of Nagradame" now I carry an SQN and a 702T mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Kurland Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 I would venture a guess to say that Don Coufal and Randy Johnson are probably a couple of the "oldest" boom operators, they prefer "experienced" as to "old." On the movie "True Grit" Randy suffered a broken rib, but still came in and boomed the whole film, or as much as they did boom the show. Stay healthy, RVD LOTS of booming on True Grit, almost all on a long pole. Randy is a phenomenon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old school Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 Randy J, Don C, Ron Cooper, Mychael Smith, all veteran boom ops of a certain age and all are outstanding sound men. Everyones body is different but exercise, rest, and diet will help everyone have a better life at work and at home. CrewC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solid Goldberger Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 I said it before, and I'll say it again. These Kortwich bags have really helped save my body the typical ENG/Reality beatdown after back surgery 4 years ago. Ergonomics and Bag-based kits are NOT mutually exclusive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted October 8, 2011 Report Share Posted October 8, 2011 Back then, Nagra's were your only choice. A fully loaded Nagra with 12 D cell batterys weighed 17 pounds+. You could always tell who the sound guys were as they leaned to one side or the other from "Nagra Shoulder." Doh... that brings back painful memories of lugging around a Nagra III for a couple of years when I was in film school. By the time I was working in local TV, we did it all on CP-16's (sound on film), and eventually Ikegami TV cameras and Sony 3/4" portapacks. Those were heavier than the Nagras, and the batteries ran down even faster! Boy, I haven't thought about those Cinema Products belt-pack batteries in 30 years... --Marc W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hornbuckle Posted October 10, 2011 Report Share Posted October 10, 2011 Interesting idea I cam up with for the 'Pack Mule' jobs (haven't done it yet, I try to stay away from those kind of gigs) is to put the gear in a backpack. The problem I found with the pack mule jobs is having all the weight in front of you, you can hike with a seriously heavy backpack a lot longer and with seemingly little body strain. I run a 788t which has an 8 channel remote (cl- and a wifi system for metering, the idea is that you put all the hardware (and therefore most of the weight) in the backpack and have in iPhone for metering and the cl-8 chest(or even forearm) mounted. Lowelpro make some great camera packs that can 'swing' from being on your back to being on your belly, anyone tried 'em? Cheers Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted October 11, 2011 Report Share Posted October 11, 2011 there are some pieces of equipment available that can be run via Bluetooth isong your handheld computing device... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afewmoreyears Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 Have been in pain most of my life, now just a part of my situation... 13 knee reconstructions on one leg and an operation on the other... 3 back procedures and countless broken arms, legs, ribs, all my fingers and toes, many multiple times.... The list goes on and on.... After all that, I feel pretty good.. I work through the pain and discomfort, what else can you do. I never let my medical condition stop me from doing ANYTHING.... period.... I run, jump, ski, still ride motorcycles, hike, hunt, water ski and anything else I feel like... I never let this situation I am in stop me in any way, it's a bit of a deal between me and me.... Just as it has been said many times, I "just do it"... I will rest and complain later in life.... I already know I will be in a wheelchair, and I'm OK with that, I spent years in one as a kid, and no big deal... I still jump in one from time to time for nostalgia... For advice, I say, Motrin, or Ibupr., Ice up with frozen peas, elevate, rest and get back out there.... don't ever let your situations control you, you control the situation... You'll be surprised what you can get away with... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael McQueen Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 i've had a bulging disc issue the past 2 weeks. luckily it wasn't from lugging the sound bag but from trying to move a heavy cart off an elevator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Bryant Posted October 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2011 Just reading up again on this topic, and it dawned on me........If that kitty cat, that's your avatar, is a personal pet.......you might just have injured yourself by lifting him/her up from the floor. I've heard of Capon Chickens, but never Capon Cats!! That cat must be close to forty pounds! Please accept my apology if in fact your cat has a medical condition that has caused this weight gain. Just an observation..... RVD Ha, I wish that was my cat. Finally found a more recent photo of me working but it keeps failing to upload. Giving up for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted October 14, 2011 Report Share Posted October 14, 2011 I work through the pain and discomfort, what else can you do. I never let my medical condition stop me from doing ANYTHING.... period.... I run, jump, ski, still ride motorcycles, hike, hunt, water ski and anything else I feel like... I never let this situation I am in stop me in any way, it's a bit of a deal between me and me.... That's the right attitude! I have a pinched nerve in my back that goes out about every three years or so. When that thing hits me, I'm crippled to the point where I can barely walk at all, let alone lift anything. I can ice it down, use heating pads, get massages and stuff, and eventually it goes away after a few days... if I'm lucky. I've thrown my back out just getting out of bed -- almost never from lifting gear or shuttling stuff to and from the job. 99% of the time, I'm fine. The doc has told me to increase my back exercises at the gym, not cut back on them (as you might think), just to build up more strength in my lower back. That's seemed to help, but I try to be careful and immediately stop if I start feeling "bad pain" vs. "good pain." Every time I've really hurt myself badly has been when I was in a hurry and not really thinking. When I have my wits about me (rarely), I take it slow, use common sense, and never get hurt. But if I'm in a panic situation and have to run back to the truck to get a replacement, or run down stairs to fix a problem... disasters can happen. I had a shoot over the summer where I cut the hell out of my hand just moving a painting out of my way, hauling a couple of microphones up some stairs. I now have a 1/2" scar as a souvenir of that shoot. (As it happened, the owner of the house was a surgeon, and actually fixed me up.) Another battle scar of the wars. --Marc W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted October 14, 2011 Report Share Posted October 14, 2011 " Every time I've really hurt myself badly has been when I was in a hurry and not really thinking. " When you rush, is when you make mistakes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted October 15, 2011 Report Share Posted October 15, 2011 My latest piece of gear is a small electrical muscle stimulator recommended by my physical therapist-basically a miniature version of what he uses on my torn-rotator-cuffed boom arm. Helps with blood flow, for healing (w/ exercises), and helps with inflammation and pain so that I can use lower doses of anti-inflam drugs. The stim was cheap--$65 w/ the kit. phil p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Izen Ears Posted October 29, 2011 Report Share Posted October 29, 2011 Just caught this thread and I'd like to share my thoughts and experiences. In 1997 I was working as a video editor for a multimedia company in Waltham, MA. After a year or so of this job my arms began to ache, I'd wake up and they hurt. It started in my thumb and middle fingers with the mousing, then when I switched to my left hand for mousing it spread to my left side. Then it became a sharp pain, moving my fingers at all produced a sharp jabbing burning sensation. For three months I couldn't even hold a fork or tie my shoes without crazy sharp pains if I accidentally jerked or tightened my fingers. I learned later that was my acute stage of RSI (repetitive strain injury), the inflammation of my tendons (tendonitis). Carpal Tunnel is another version of RSI where the inflammation occurs in the "tunnels" that your tendons go through in your wrist and elbow. The operation just slices out the inflamed tissue and lets the tendons flow freely again, and a cortisone shot disintegrates the inflamed tissue leaving room for healthy tissue to recover from being inflamed. That’s why you can’t have more than three cortisone shots before you could have no useable tissue left. The only things that help inflammation recovery is anti-inflammatory meds and rest. Eventually exercises will get you back to normal. Massage and stretching will only hurt more and delay recovery. Muscles get inflamed before tendons and since they are vascular they recover MUCH quicker. If you allow your muscles to continue to be inflamed (by not stopping the motion that causes the pain) the inflammation will spread to your tendons. Those tendons do not recover quickly, and they hurt like hell in the meantime! So my career in video editing or any other computer-based job was over permanently. Believe it or not my arms still ache all the time, basically whenever I touch a keyboard or play guitar for too long. I have found a position (leaning back on the couch with the laptop on pillows on my lap) that lets me type much longer without real pain, but literally every other position of typing makes my arms hurt like hell. When I have a playback scene and I have to hit a space bar and hit cues for playback tracks, I feel pain. (Yes my long-winded rants on JWsound cause pain.) But I am at an okay place, I just have to choose what I do on the computer and not do too much of it. For treatment I went to physical therapists, acupuncture, therapeutic massage, bikram yoga eventually. (I’ve never felt healthier than that period of that yoga!) Aleve is the only med that really helps, and still on occasion I have to take like 4 at a time for days to get over a spell. I generally stop after a week and see how the arms feel without Aleve. Be careful with re-injury. I think you are starting out correctly in not jumping right into the meds. But eventually you really should, they can really speed up recovery and also you’ll be able to see where and how they help. Or if they help at all! But be careful, so careful not to re-injure when you start taking meds. It took a long time for me to find a doctor that understood my condition. The crux was that I a) needed to get out of the acute stage and once I gained some function back avoid the motions that caused the problem. So now I sit on my couch instead of a desk to type. And I can’t take a computer gig. Anything other than simple playback I must refuse to do, they’ll bring in a PB operator or nothing. If you’re feeling bad pain you’ve got to give it a rest and slowly work back up to normal. If it’s inflammation and you keep doing the motion that caused the pain, even if it’s only once a week or less, your recovery will probably never be complete. Believe that you will be able to work and boom and haul around a bag again, but you’ve got to be extremely careful. If you are inflaming your muscles or worse your tendons, nothing but rest will help. Inflamed tissue just needs a break and then you can work back up to the motions or workaround motions. It’s been so long for me, what 14 years, I know when my arms are aching badly and I need some Aleve, or if they just hurt slightly and I can keep working. This post for example, is starting to get into more aches but I think this stuff is important! Dan Izen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted October 29, 2011 Report Share Posted October 29, 2011 Oh, man, I hear you, Dan. I have tendonitis in both hands and carpal tunnel in both hands, from years of stress at computer terminals, editing keyboards, and color-correcting consoles. Gym workouts made it worse. I eventually had to get a carpal tunnel "release" operation on my left hand, because it was going numb several times a day, to the point where I was having trouble driving a car for more than 20 minutes. After the operation, I realized that bending the wrist and trying to hit buttons is a bad way to work. Once I stopped doing that, 80% of the pain went away. The rest is liveable with Aleve and stuff like that. Wrist and shoulder pain make it difficult for me to boom nowadays, though I can do it for an hour or two if I have a bullet to bite down on. But I count my blessings -- I know of a major LA post person, a friend and co-worker of mine over the past 30 years, who had to retire at 52 and is almost bedridden from back pain, mostly due to decades of stress, leaning over a console and pressing buttons for a living. I figure if his pain is a "10" on the scale of 1-10, I'm grateful that my pain is only a 4 or a 5. I also learned to take occasional breaks and avoid doing the things that really aggravate the pain. [i base this on the Woody Allen principle that life is divided between the "miserable" and the "horrible"; I count myself lucky that I'm only miserable.] The docs reminded me to stop immediately when you realize you're pushing too hard. I re-injured by left hand just a month or two ago just by picking up a 20-pound sandbag on a shoot without thinking and lugging it back to my truck. Stupid of me. I usually carry a wheeled dolly on the truck, and I need to remember to slow down and let the wheels do the work, not my aching fingers! --Marc W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Izen Ears Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 Wow Marc sounds like you got it worse than me, and yet you still keep such a positive attitude. I am often very bitter about life and I always talk about waiting for death to take away my pains. But that's really what it's about isn't it, enjoying what you can and trying not to let the rest get you down. I have trouble with both clearly. This is seeming like a group therapy thread, but I like it! Dan Izen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 Naw, I'm actually not in much pain more than a couple of days a month, at most. I was actually in far worse shape 10 years ago, before I got the carpal tunnel operation. I put the operation off for awhile, but the doctor warned me, "this is actual nerve damage. This isn't going to get better -- you'll eventually lose the use of your hand." That woke me up real fast, and I got the operation the next week. Hurt like a mofo, too, but 90% of the pain went away, as did the numbness. I've also had trigger finger in a couple of fingers, where they get "stuck" once in awhile and ache -- not exactly arthritis, but similar. One was severe enough that I had to get a little operation for that as well. A good buddy of mine, a videotape operator, has had the same condition in all 10 fingers, due to his ongoing diabetes. By his own account, he has "Frankenstein hands," all scarred up. But at least he can work, and he's in no pain. I count my blessings and am glad that I can work, I don't have any serious illnesses, I try to exercise when I can, and I try to eat reasonably well. When you see guys like Steve Jobs suffer and eventually die from a debilitating illness (and he was almost exactly my age), you count your blessings. --Marc W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taylormadeaudio Posted November 5, 2011 Report Share Posted November 5, 2011 The reason I'm reading (and replying to) this thread at 3:30 am (even though I have a 14hr day ahead of me tomorrow (4-ch bag work with boom) is that I woke up in pain and couldn't get back to sleep... I've had left shoulder and upper back pain for several years now (from carrying a 35# rig around all day and booming, I'm sure) but I've always managed to get through it somehow. The latest twist of fate for me came exactly a month ago when I was up on my roof with a backpack leaf blower... on my way down, tested the ladder first... everything felt secure... as soon as I put my full weight on the ladder and passed the point of no return, the ladder just gave out -- it slid right out from under me as if someone had the bottom rung on a rope and just yanked on it. The cedar deck is really old and a little spongey in a few areas (apparently, including the area where the ladder was staged.) I only fell about 10 feet, but I landed on my right side... I hit my knee, hip, elbow, ribcage, and head. Yeah, I saw stars... almost passed out. I know how stupid this is, but I was the only one home... I know, I know -- what the f**k was I doing on the roof when no one else was there? Believe me -- lesson learned, not tempting fate any more, thank you. I eventually got the leaf blower off my back, sat up and got my phone out, called 911... by the time they got to my house I was up and walking. They checked me for broken ribs, BP and all, and said I seemed to be ok, but should see a doctor ASAP (I didn't want to ride in the ambulance unless they insisted, which thankfully they didn't) Anyhow, I kinda downplayed it as much as I could to my wife, but she's not stupid and could easily tell I've been in a great deal of pain for the last few weeks... at her request, I finally saw a doctor a few days ago and after x-rays, UA, etc. was told everything is fine, just muscle pain and bruised ribs. I've had the hardest time trying to get to sleep some nights... just trying to get comfortable enough. It's definitely getting better each week, but like tonight -- perfect case in point -- awake at 3:00 am. The Ibuprofen is finally kicking in so I'm gonna nod off now, but the funniest thing is my left shoulder really hasn't bothered me since. Yeah, silver lining... I definitely count my blessings... I know I could be WAY worse off than I am right now. Every day is a gift. ok, Gonna sleep now. ~tt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted November 6, 2011 Report Share Posted November 6, 2011 Damn! That's rough, Taylor. A close friend of mine had a similar accident: got on the roof, adjusted an antenna, climbed down the ladder, stepped off to the pavement, then the ladder fell back and smacked him right in the head, knocking him out for a few seconds! He was fine, but that was a scary moment -- ambulances, doctors, the whole deal. I've just worked four 16-hour days in a row on a post project, and my left shoulder is killing me from repetitive stress. Lotta button pressing. Funny thing, my right shoulder has stopped hurting -- and it was aching over the summer. So far, I've never had them both hurt at the same time. (Knock on wood.) --Marc W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taylormadeaudio Posted November 6, 2011 Report Share Posted November 6, 2011 Yeah Marc, It's weird how the body reacts and adjusts to pain... 13 hours of pack-mule audio today -- I can't wait to get back to my cart : ) ~tt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Ford Posted November 7, 2011 Report Share Posted November 7, 2011 I'm starting week two tomorrow booming on a 6 month long episodic show far from home. 3 days before I left home I woke up not being able to walk due to fluid in the knee. Saw my sports doc who drained it. Still not 100% after week one but feeling better and SITTING whenever possible when I rest the boom. My years of skateboarding have finally caught up with me... I'm still young in the game and not even 30 for a few weeks yet...I try to eat right, stretch and keep active without aggravating the knees or shoulders and keep my fingers crossed...ive heard many horror stories and don't want to compromise a career I love.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Ford Posted November 7, 2011 Report Share Posted November 7, 2011 Also take it easy on the left wrist and try to boom ambidextrous when I can Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted November 9, 2011 Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 And after whining about the 16-hour days in post, I just got socked with an 18-hour day. <complain mode off> For unknown reasons, all my shoulder and wrist aching has gone away. Maybe my passing out for lack of sleep has affected my pain receptors... --Marc W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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