hurty

[low_delta]

Wednesday night I went out to my dad's to practice axe throwing, for a competition this weekend. I had never thrown before. My arm hurts. It was painful yesterday, and I couldn't lift it very far. It's a little better today, but I don't think I will have recovered enough to throw tomorrow. I hope they don't actually need me.

It's for our clan challenge at the Highland Games. I hope they don't need me. I'm not that good. I'm not sure what the plan is anyway, since there's supposed to be a lot of rain. I'm supposed to be taking another guy out with me, so that makes it a little harder to play it by ear. Sunday is supposed to be nice, so maybe I'll go again.

Comments

[serendipity.livejournal.com]

What hurts? Elbow? Shoulder? Arm itself?

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

It's a spot on my arm that I've had trouble with before. It's on the outside of my upper arm, just below my shoulder. It feels like a connecting point. I also have just a little stiffness in my arm and my side, which is what I would have expected.

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

It's the lateral fibers of his deltoid, right where they come to a point. I injured that part of my arm once. Really painful, and takes a while to heal. Strengthening the other muscles that work with it helps to support it enough to heal.

[serendipity.livejournal.com]

That's more specific, thank you, Doc Cyn!

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

Are you throwing an actual AXE? or a hatchet? Axe has a handle that is close to three feet long, hatchet has a foot to a foot and a half. If you use an axe to cut wood, you allow the axe to "do the work" and it does not cause much stress, other than a possible tightening in your shoulders. Throwing an axe should again result in tightness in the shoulder if you are not used to it. However, throwing an actual axe is going to take a developed triceps AND biceps to launch it.

Both axe and hatchet could result in a forearm strain if done improperly. That has to do with the wrist more than anything else.

What part of your arm is sore?

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

like this (http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Steel-001478-Frontier-Hawk/dp/B0030DDG9Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1409360444&sr=1-1&keywords=throwing+axe+tomahawk)

It's just because I'm not used to it. And also because I threw for nearly two hours. But also, it's a spot on my arm that I've had trouble with before. It's on the outside of my upper arm, just below my shoulder. It feels like a connecting point. I have just a little stiffness in my arm and my side, which is what I would have expected.

You don't actually use your wrist much. I need the arm to hurl it, but I just swing and let it slide out of my hand.

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

That is really foreign looking to me. I have thrown a hatched before for accuracy, but it was the "modern" handle, with the curves in it. I have used an axe to chop wood, and in productions, but then I was trained to use the weight of the tool to do the work, so it really was never a big deal to use them.

If you have a tendon pull, or a soft tissue injury due to over use, it can take a year or more to heal. Those soft tissue injuries are nasty business. I know, I am battling several.

[tinhuviel.livejournal.com]

Don't sell yourself short. I bet you're a hell of an axe thrower. Do you get to throw them at people? ;)

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I can usually stick them in the log, but for the competition, we have five playing cards as targets. You get five axes.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Is the pain mostly in your shoulder?
I think axe throwers need to have well developed arm muscles.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

It's a spot on my arm that I've had trouble with before. It's on the outside of my upper arm, just below my shoulder. It feels like a connecting point. I also have just a little stiffness in my arm and my side, which is what I would have expected.

You need to be used to it, muscularly speaking, or you'll be in pain, but I don't think you have to be particularly strong. We only throw fifteen feet. See the axe at a link above.

Here's my dad throwing, a few years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn38kgNEQck

Our clan won last year. Two men, two women.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

I was thinking you had to throw from a greater distance. How much does an axe weigh?

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

1-1/2 pounds?

The guy who runs the axe thing can throw from 60 feet.