Injury affecting brewing

[Sparkncode]

Hi All,
Three years ago I came off by ebike doing wheelies for my young nephews etc (oops), At 35-40Kph came off backwards with front wheel in the air and give myself a tibial plateau fracture (lower leg into bottom of knee) and a cartilage tear in my shoulder. Got a plate and seven screws in my leg from that one.

That did give me opportunities while sitting off work to read up on and get into homebrew for the first time. That got out of hand and now I'm doing all grain with a self built eHERMS setup, have a kegerator and a fermantation chamber.

Unfortunately over the last year or two the knee has been getting worse, basically arthritis as the bump formed by the feature with into the lower part of the knee is grinding up the cartilage.
Just had more cortisone put into my knee two days ago and its starting to work well now but only gives my about 2.5 months before my knee starts getting really achy and stiff so I guess I better make the most of it and brew some more beer.

No brewing this weekend although it feels a lot better as my dr likes me to go easy on my knee for a few days after the injections but I think next weekend will be brew time . I get a few bad weeks before each injection as I have been getting them at 3 month intervals so i get to the point no brewing happens.

Apparently the cortisone will speed up the destruction of the knee but without it I can't get things done. I will get a knee replacement when it gets bad enough but at the moment my Dr thinks the risks are worse than the benefits etc and wants to delay knee replacement as long as possible. They don't like giving cortisone too often due to the damage it causes.
I can take pain killers as the cortisone wears off but they are not that compatible with my job as a software engineer where concentration is important. As it gets worse i end up resting it on the weekend rather than brewing to let the inflammation settle so I can cope with a week at work with less pain killers.

Anyone else got annoying disruptive injuries like this?

 

[homebrewer_99]

Except for a heart attack back in 1997, no. I still lift and carry my brew pot when it has 7 gals of wort in it.

I purchased 4 - 50# bags of salt for the softener the other day. I do this every couple of weeks. And I purchase grain in 50-55# bags. I have no problems with that weight.

Have you thought about a pulley system to lift and a wheeled cart to move your fermenters around? Better yet, how about those dang nephews?

 

[Sparkncode]

A heart attack isnt good, glad you recovered well enough to carry heavy things. The excercise is probably good for your heart too. I heave some heart issues from birth but still carry 23L of wort and bike to work when my knee allows.
When my knee isn't too bad carrying a full fermentor is ok but when its bad walking arround annoys it. Cortisone does a decent job at controlling the inflamation and pain, just not for long enough.
Unfortunately my nephews live a fair distance away and are still too young to carry a fermenter full of wort.

Most of my stuff is setup with pumps but getting the fermentor to the chamber is the lifting part.

When my shoulder was messed up i did use a trolly inside but it was a bit flimsey so i didnt really trust it over carpet but since my shoulder was fixed i have just been carrying fermentor bucketd.

I might have to think about making or acquiring a better trolly though since my new fermentation chamber is in my detached garrage rather than in the house. I do find though when my knee gets bad i don't always feel like doing much, probably related to pain killers even though i might want to brew.

At least i have been keeping up with my consumption so no dredded beer shortages yet.
It's way to easy to brew more than i can drink now I have kegs and don't have to worry about bottling.

I should plan to make things easier for my knee because i think it will get worse before they replace it although my dr has requested another xray to see how much worse it has got in the last year to see if I need to see the specilist again.

On the plus side home brew is kind of a natural pain killer.

I'm saving to have a new double garage with hobby room built that is attached to the house which would mean no moving full fermentors big distances etc as everything would be done in there.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I hear you...I just cleaned a bunch of kegs (10 or 11) yesterday and kegged 2 batches. Plus, I have 2 on tap and 5 in the keezer.

I'm sure glad my wife doesn't drink...

I stay away from painkillers. Never was much into downers...LOL!

One overlooked "trick" with carts (especially on carpet or grss) is the size of the wheel. The larger the wheel the easier it is to maneuver over bad surfaces. Then the problem with larger wheels is their axles need to be larger and stronger.

Good luck with your endeavors.

 

[Yooper]

I broke my leg playing hockey a long time ago, and was in a wheelchair for 18 months, off and on. That's actually when I started brewing more, because I had time and was stuck inside. It meant making some major modifications, but I was able to stand briefly to stir/etc, and so did my brewing in the kitchen. It sucked but I was able to do most of it without too much problem by making small batches.

 

[mongoose33]

I've had two lower back surgeries. I can lift 5-gallon kegs into my keezer, but it's sometimes not all that fun. I work out 3x a week including some lower-back things which have, over time, helped. I used to be unable to stand in a line for more than about 10 minutes without significant pain in the low back; now, I'm to the point where it often doesn't even rise to conscious awareness. Used to golf a lot, but the inability to hold posture during the swing took that away. Going to try again this year, see if the improvement in the back extends to golfing.

Meanwhile......beer.

As my brewing operation has grown, I've gotten a Riptide pump, now just bought a CF10 Spike conical fermenter. These things will reduce the lifting and such, which is a good thing. Short of putting a hoist over the keezer to lift kegs, I'm still going to have to just lift 'em up. Wish I had a dumbwaiter to lower the kegs to the basement where the keezer is located.

**************

About your knee: doctors always seem to want to wait a long time before a knee replacement, but in the meantime, your quality of life suffers. I hope you can get him to see the light and fix it. Life's too short to deal with stuff like this when a solution is available.

 

[Sparkncode]

From the few times ive annoyed my back im glad i havent done anything major to it. The conical sounds great. Good your back is improving. It took over a year aftet surgery before my shoulder got back to normal. Its suppeising how long some things take to heal.

Im still using bucket fermentors and before they fixed my shoulder i had to set one up on a trolley before filling it so i didnt have to lift it. Now i have a fermentation chamber out in the garage that trolly i have isn't suitable.

The basement sounds a pain but useful at the same time. My place is single level so easier to move things around but Im running out of space with my hobbies. Homebrew, 3d printer, cnc mill and amateur radio etc.

Yep keeping on my dr about my knee. About 3 years since i broke it and had an xray a bit over a year ago. Another one recently to see how bad its got. I think its a trade off as to when since im 42 and how long they last and how many times they can be replaced etc but yep definitly effects quality of life when the cortisone isn't working. My dr was origionally suggesting the knee might last about 10 years from my accident before needing replacment but i suspect its wearing out faster. I will see when he gets the xray back.