Saw injury- Lincoln, NE-09/19/03

[Gord]

very sorry to hear of your injury...horrible part of your body to have damaged. i wish you a smooth recovery.

Brian wrote:

think about every cut, where the saw is going, where the saw COULD go, where my left hand could go if I were to slip, where my legs could go, etc. I quickly visualize every possible path for the saw before every cut and adjust accordingly.

i think that this is the most important part of using a tophandled saw in a tree, simple awareness and understanding of forces and possiblities invovled.


you mention that you thought that all the small stuff out of the way but are not sure, which makes me wonder if you had an unobstructed view of what you are cutting. many surprise kickbacks caused by cutting something unseen because of an unclear view of cut to be made.

also, if the saw kickbacked a full 2', i would question whether or not you were holding the saw firmly or just letting it hang from your wrist. fatigue is an indirect factor in more accidents than it is noted.

another reason the saw may have kicked back as far as it did is the possibility of the tip hitting another limb after it bounced off of what caused it to intially move.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

This is a very common chainsaw injury. The simple solution is to use two hands on the saw.
If you took two identical climbers, and one ran his saw with one hand, and the other with two, for their entire career, the one handed sawyer would likely become "one handed" at some point.
When you get back in the saddle, I encourage you to make a habit out of holding your saw with two hands. Once it becomes habit, you will see it doesn't take any longer to complete your jobs. Besides not cutting yourself, you will also help reduce the chance of getting Carpel Tunnel Syndrome (sp). This problem can be as debilitating as a saw cut, and is quite common for guys who do a lot of cutting, like an arborist.
Imagine having 10 or 15 years into a career, and not being able to run a saw anymore.

One handed sawing is comparable to single tie in sawing. Maybe you've not doulble tied in for the 15 years you've climbed and never cut your rope, that does not mean it can't happen on the very next cut.
These saftey points can start to pile up. Single handed sawing, one tie in, no hard hat, no saftey glasses, no ear protection, pretty soon you are a full blown hack!

The compounding thing is a big point. Take one handed sawing and single tie in, for example. Can you imagine a scenerio where these two mistakes would cause a problem? I can. In fact, it happens so often the insurance companies have a name for it, "cut and fall".

 

[SilverBlue]

Steven, how are you progressing since your injury?

 

[NebClimber]

I'm progressing well. The 7 tendons were stitched back together with a very fine thread of material that stays in the hand. Through extensive rehab - 10 minutes per hour every waking hour for several months - I have regained full recovery of tendon function.

The arterey was not salvagable. The surgeon just tied it off. It was a minor arterey, so the loss is marginal.

The severing of the ulnar nerve, however, is another story entirely. This little nerve controls something like 60 percent of the intrinsic muscles in the hand. I never knew ther were so many muscles and they did so many things (but then I am reminded it takes something like 60 muscles just to frown, and another 30 to smile). W/o the nerve I can't do things like turn a nut onto a bolt. I can't spread my fingers (e.g., can't make a peace sign). I can't open a double-locking snap. Lots of other function is missing. It's hard not to be a little - I don't know - bitter or disappointed, but I know worse things have happened to better people.

All in all, the recovery has gone as good as I possibly could have hoped for.

Thanks for checking up.

Steven

 

[MasterBlaster]

Are you still doing treework?

 

[NebClimber]

I went back to my former profession after the injury. I do/did a lot of reading/writing for a living, so I was able to religiously rehab during days at the office.

Two weeks ago I again jumped ship, so I am back climbing and working to get my new biz up to speed.

Steven

 

[MasterBlaster]

Originally posted by NebClimber
I do/did a lot of reading/writing for a living,

Dam! Hook me up with that!

I can do that real goods!

 

[Ax-man]

Good for you Steven. Lots of luck on your new venture.

SilverBlue, that was a very nice gesture on your part, every time Neb made a post I was thinking of him and wondering how he was coming along.

Larry

 

[rbtree]

Good to hear you're back at it, Steven!!

My similar injury (1990) continued to improve for a few years. Now I have few real limitations..still partial numbness, weak muscles, poor ability to stretch my fingers sideways.

 

[geofore]

injuries

I'm with rbtree on give it a few years before you judge how well it will heal. I cut my left thumb off with a penknife when I slipped cutting a rope loose. I got it sewn back on but it was years before it got feeling and full movment back. That thumb got beat up (smashed, pinched, squashed) quite often because it didn't have a sense of touch for years. It does now so it gets injured less. Even though the nerve was sewn back in place it was a long time before it started to work properly again and years before it got back a sense of touch.

 

[a_lopa]

all the best

 

[jamie]

ouch

i know the pain, although not saw related i smashed my knee snowboarding, thought oh that hurts and carried on. after the excessive blood was drained from my knee it took me ages to be able to walk comfortably, and about 1 1/2 years to be able to kneel normally, not in pain, but i was still aware of the discomfort....

now it still gets sore when i get too hot / too cold....and sometimes i get this numb, scar tissue type feeling in my knee...not good

ive figured that when im older i will get more problems but until then i may as well just live my life to the fullest.

steven i hope you get better and wish you the best of luck with your bizness

jamie

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Lots of other function is missing. It's hard not to be a little - I don't know - bitter or disappointed, but I know worse things have happened to better people.

While in the USMC I ruptured 1 probably 2 disks. When that gets agrivated I cannot work, sometiems for long periods of time.

I've got a few other "disabilities" from the military (I actually rate the special licens plates) that drag me down when I think what I could do if "hale and whole".

When it gets me down I pull out a VFW mag with the amputies and parapalegics, or go thorugh the VA Hosp. and say Hi! to the guys in the wheelchairs.

"there but by the Grace of God go I..."

 

[dtw902]

Sorry to hear about your injury Steven, hope you have a speady recovery. Just a thought don't know if it would help or give you some piece of mind but at www.grainger.com they sell forarm protective sleeves, Made from kevlar. Just a thought. Anyway good luck and take it easy.
Dave

 

[NebClimber]

Dave:

Thanks for the link to the kevlar site. Just what I've been wanting. I find that I am paranoid about anything coming into contact with my forearm.

Steven

 

[coydog]

were you cutting above your head? was your left hand above or below the saw?
anybody that thinks they can react fast enough to stop kickback in any saw, top handled, small large i don't care is simply mistaken. There are all kind of kickback scenarios, there are the kind that engage the inertia brake, the ones that make the saw jump or skip,which give you the false sense of security that you can indeed control the kickback(your'e not controlling the kickback the kickback was simply not severe enough to bite you). I had a close call that made a believer out of me, Our crews where running with a shortage of chippers and we had to hand load into the chipper trucks, it was the end of the day, i was tired and irritable ,the truck was filled nearly to capacity,and i climbed into the back with my 020(fully functional chain break) to cut it down some more to make room for the last bit, well i raised the saw up a bit to high while i had it revved and the tip of the bar hit the steel roof.( i had both hands firmly and properly gripped) not only did kickback occur, sending the saw into my hardhat, it hit with such a force that i had whiplash for a couple of days. thank god i was wearing a hard hat, for i escaped unscathed except for a sore neck and a sick feeling in my stomach. Point being, the chainbreak did not engage, and i could not have reacted to save myself.