oopsie. Ebike + Nephews are dangerous to uncles

Not really sure on the pain killers long term effects. Im trying to minimise what i take but unfortunately need them to get through a normal day at work and to get good sleep sometimes at the moment. I guess im going to fine out first hand as i keep raking them.

I know that different pain killers work in different ways and when you look at the possible side effects they obviously can affect a lot in the body.

The cold sensitivity really sucks. My shoulder really starts aching quite quickly if i go outside in temps below arround say 5C.

Ive got another physio progress check tomorrow before work. Since i need to see the Physiotherapist for that i will be late into work but normally i just go to the gym do my physio really early and get to work arround 8am.
 
The physio progress check went well today. Almost at the targets set for 3 weeks time so looking good.

Got some new excercises for my shoulder but those and the movments to check my shoulder range of motion stired up my shoulder so it ached quite a bit. I had to take more pain killers than usual but managed to keep their effects low enough i could get my job done. Started physio arround 8am and got to work arround 10am and finished at 6pm so a pretty full day. The assessment after i had already done all my excercises caused the 10am start at work.

The physiotherapist keeps reminding me i had a serous break. She was supprised when i said i was bored walking round the block so tried jogging. It made things ache but wasnt too bad although im sure my stride wasnt very normal LOL. She said I will probably never run due to the seriousness of my injory. I was never into running anyway but was just curious how fast i could move in case i have to. I wouldn't want to run often anyway due to stress added to my knee.

I need to find some time to get the derallier on my bike working right as pedaling in too high a gear causes the chain to skate over the cluster even with new chain and cluster. The problem is i cant get the derallier close enough to the cluster to prevent the skating under load in higher gears. This was never a problem under electric power as it never saw massive load. but i would like to keep the option to pedal only so i really should fix it. It exsisted before my crash so its not bent. Just related to the frame being marginal at working with that derallier but being made worse with the mac 10t with 9 speed and disk brake stuffed in their with washers for clearance issues. I think the cluster is dlightly offset away from the derallier to get the 11t to clear the frame and i have the derallier adjusted tp get as close to the cluster as possible but its still a little too far away.

I need to find a way to work on my bike without crouching down or trying to flip it upside down or do anything to agrevate my left shoulder.
Kind of thinking i might need to rig up some form of pully arrangment to lift my bike up hanging off the rafters in my shed.

Croutching down hurts the back of my injured left knee due to tight tendons etc but also my good knee dosent like taking up the slack of the bad knee.
I can kneel on my left knee but due to the nerves cut during the surgery it has minimal feeling and feels weird.
 
Hi all
another busy day.
Got up real early so I could go to the gym early and get my physio out the way, I was up early enough that I got to work by 7:30am and finished at 4pm. I worked up quite a sweat this morning. I kind of like doing the leg press machine because I clearly see improvements every few days which is good, I upped the weight again this morning. I'm currently doing it with both legs but trying to put more force on my injured leg but have been told I can try it one legged at reduced weights so might try that tomorrow. I'm also noticing things like step ups etc are getting easier although eventually my leg starts aching. Got quite a few exercises that focus on my shoulder which needs some work but the downside Is they make it ache a bit which means more pain killers to get through the day at work. I ran out of codine in my supply at work so had to take a quick acting tramadol which in addition to the slow release was almost too much, I had to really try hard to concentrate for the last hour of work but got what I needed to done but it was better than having an aching shoulder.

We've had a run of cold weather with lows down to 1C over night the last few days and its continuing for a bit longer. I have to leave a heater on all night or my shoulder and leg ache way too much to sleep which kind of sucks due to the cost of electricity.

Looks like I finally have a reason to go out to the test area at work and test some software in a real machine. Since i got back to work i haven't needed to do much in the test area. partly because my manager organised things so i didn't need to go out there much while i was having trouble getting around.

I have just finished doing some unit testing and preliminary bench testing of some software i have been writing and it looks good so time to take the next step and take it out to our low power (400V 300A 3phase) test area tomorrow and put it in a real machine.
The only awkward part is i have to wear heavy 8cal/cm^2 overalls over my normal clothes for safety and although I can now get them on, its easier to sit while getting them over my legs as its hard to balance on my injured leg for more than a few seconds and it does hurt a little getting my left arm in the real trick is getting back out of them. Last time I put them on when I needed to help someone else with a small issue I had to get someone to help me get the overalls back off as my shoulder was not happy.

It will be good to get back out in the test bay. Always more interesting than testing at my desk with pure software tests and minimal hardware test setups. Always more of a challenge getting things to work in the real world with varying hardware etc. Of course since I have an electronics background as well it makes it more interesting. It will be the first time since my accident over Easter that I will have been in the test bay to test my own software changes so kind of looking forward to it.

Also being in the test bay I will of course try and minimise the amount of pain killers in my system at the time which should hopefully be ok as there is generally less typing to do out there which will give my aching shoulder a rest. I better not go over board with the physio in the morning though as that can upset my shoulder for the whole day.
I'm confident that at the normal doses I will be safe around the live equipment as I have been taking the pain killers long enough to know how they affect me. Definitely know where they start to affect me and will stay well away from that dose when I'm in the test bay.
 
Hi all,
Im officially back to normal hours at work. My doctor signed off that on my latest medical certificate replacing the previous fit for 7 to 8 hours one. I have pretty much managed 8 hour days for a week or two so might as well complete the paper work. The down side is now one of our current projects is reaching another software release deadline so im sensing long hours etc. Not too worried as i still feel guilty for sitting in a hospital bed while others were working silly hours for the last release.

Im definitly not liking our recent cold snap. Woke up in the early hours of the morning with my leg aching due to the cold. My blanket had slipped off the bed enough to allow my leg to get just a little too cold even though i had a low power heater on it was having trouble keeping up. My bedroom is on the uninsulated side of the house.

The cortisone injection seems to have some effect so my doctor seems to think my shoulder will keep getting better but he gave me more painkillers. The same as last time as they work pretty well and i csn manage them in a way that dosent mess my head up to the point of stopping me getting work done.

It was definitly good to get back into the test area yesterday.


Just heard acc is going to pay for a bike shop to adjust my bike and possibly swap the stem etc to reduce pain in my shoulder and knee although im sure thr knee pain is just from balancing as i dont get it on excercycles. I get the same pain after a while just trying to stand/balance on just my injored leg so just a few muscles needing a workout i think. My bike has never been near a bike shop in one piece. I built it from parts brought online. I dont go to bike shops.

I need to do some basic maintenance on my bike this weekend first then tape up loose wires as i cant take it to the bike shop on the bike carrier of a taxi with the batteties attached as they get in the way.
 
Wow 4 Months and 10 days since I broke my Tibial Platau
Still limping a little.
When I get up from sleeping or just sitting down for too long my leg feels tight and i limp a little with a bit of aching.
I'm still going to physio. Cant ride my bike long yet due to my shoulder but I can pedal for 30 mins on an excercycle at reasonable load.
My leg still feels weak sideways so probably needs some more exercises to help with that but it is improving. Its getting easier to get down on the floor and back up. Crouching is still not really possible.

I'm still kind of surprised how badly i messed myself up but sudden deceleration will do that :lol:.

Here a few photos of my leg now.
20150815_113758.jpgView attachment 120150815_113738.jpg20150815_113734.jpg

They have modified my desk at work so its a little higher and that seems to help my shoulder so I might have to make a new desk at one someday soon.
I'm starting to learn which pain killers to take before bed on cold nights so I don't have to keep my room hot because I don't like sleeping in a really hot room but my shoulder and leg really ache when cold.
I think the cortisone injection may have helped my shoulder but its still quite grabby/ jumpy for some movements and will ache after half a day using a computer. The physio on it seems to help in combination with the injection but it wasn't a quick fix i was told by some it could be. Kind of hoping it keeps getting better because if not the specialist / surgeon wants to scope it and maybe get his scalpel out :shock:. I've got a new appointment at the end of the month with the specialist so I guess I will have to see what he says when he seems me.

Its kind of hard to know how its improving because during the week I tend to take some slow release pain killers at the start of the day to ensure I can do my job and then take other ones throughout the day as needed. I'm still having to take the ones through the day so its still not 100% happy but I'm thinking its slightly better than it was before the injection and physio. One day I will try with no painkillers again for a true comparison but I don't like doing that too often as it can limit the work I can get done and we have some tight deadlines at work at the minute.

Heres a video I took at the 8 week mark just after I was allowed to start putting weight on my leg...
[youtube]CeLXfT8Dqx0[/youtube]
I'm still surprised how much muscle wastage occurred in my left leg during those 8 weeks while at the same time my right leg being used to get around got bigger LOL.
I'm getting around a lot better than I was in that video. Still some limp but it gets worse if I've been standing or walking a lot or if I've just got up. I'm still experiencing quite a bit of swelling that seems to occur not long after I get up in the morning and start moving and it stays there until I get home and sit down with my foot up for a while.
 
I got on my bike again for the second time since my accident. There as been a run of wet cold weather that prevented me riding. I rode some pedal only, some a mix and some electric only but totalled around 15km allowing for the first approx 2km that my CA didn't record till i noticed the speed sensor needed the magnet adjusting.

It felt really good to do a bit of WOT but just even pedalling along at 25Kph felt good after what I did to my leg. Much better that sitting on an excercycle going nowhere although I estimate Im probably 5 - 10kph slower for the same energy input to what im doing on the excercycle, probably because the excercycle is calibrated against road bikes and not battery laden bikes with big knobbly tyres. The MAC 10t actually freewheels really well when under pedal power alone.
I was pretty cautious applying power because I would hate to damage my leg with the metal in it, I can only imagine how difficult it would be for a surgeon to remove bent screws from bone then to try and put things back together.

I put just half my battery pack on since I didn't have the time to charge it all up individually as Ive been doing some pack maintenance but 10Ah of 20C hardcase packs is plenty for a thrash round the neighbourhood.
from the pedal only sections I found I can only pedal up to about 25Kph before my rear derallier / chain etc causes it to skate over the freewheel although the freewheel and chain are in ok condition. I have had this before and I think its related to the stuffing of the MAC with both disk brake and 9speed freewheel into the frame plust the frame seems to place the derallier a little more outboard than other frames anyway making it hard to get the derallier sprocket close enough to the cluster. I might have to come up with a mod to fix this. Actually needs a good clean an lube as its encrusted with lime from the bike path from before my accident too.

After i increased the height of my seat a little from where I had it for my last ride which was unpowered only my knee is much happier. No more aches than walking round the house, but my shoulder is really aching now despite me having the level of pain killers active that I normally have for late in the work day where computer work annoys my shoulder. Ive taken some more of the good stuff and are hopeing its going to settle my shoulder ache down without messing me up too much because I have other things to do.

Although I rode a similar distance too getting to work Im certain that starting the day at work with this level of pain would result in me going home early as I already know that more pain killers messes me up for detailed programming tasks etc and its at a level that would be way too distracting without them. Currently waiting for the extra ones I took to work
My appointment with the shoulder specialist at the hospital got put off a week so not till 2 sept. I think the cortisone injection might have helped a little in that it allowed a bit more physio but its not solved everything so it will be interesting to see what the specialist want to do next.
 
Well over 7 hours since my ride and ny shoulder is still a little achey although dulled a lot now that i took some good pain killers so i can get some sleep.

It was really great to get the ev grin for the first time in over 4.5 months. Defintly felt good to feel the air rushing by as i topped out arround 42Kph.

Heres a really shakey portraite video from my ride. I dont have a mount to hold my phone on my bike so i put it in my shirt pocket so it bounced arround a lot when i pedaled. The pocket was only just wide enpugh to hold my s4 galaxy vertically.
[youtube]OCBBHXQw6d4[/youtube]

I need to find some time in between my physio, work and house renovations to finish my ebrake hall sensor mount. There was no way i could do it this evening due to my shoulder aching and the pain killers. My computer desk is a little low too and that agrevates my shoulder too. I had enough pain killers to slightly affect my balance so definitly well beyond the level where i can do design work on my computer.
Some how i managed to not fall off the boards between the trestles i was using when i painted some more of the soffit on the side of the house i recently reclad.
That fibre cement sheet really soaks up the primer even if you spray it with a little water first. I only used my right hand to paint and my left hand only to steady myself lightly due to the left shoulder issues. Its supprising how just a light touch to a solid wall helps with balance when the boards rock slightly. I really shouldent have been up there painting but looking at the weather forcast i have to take every dry spell i can get at the moment.

I also need to reprogram my CAv3 to ramp faster with low motor current to reduce the lag that contributed to my crash.

On the plus side the electrics, motor and the brakes on my bike are working fine.
 
dnmun said:
painting can wait. if your bathroom is finished, just crawl under the electric blanket and sleep it off

I still have bathroom work to do. Just slowed down on that to save a little cash and order long lead time items and organise a plasterer for the gib board walls and ceiling. Ive got painting in the bathroom to do too.

The outside wall of the house needs painting as most the materials are specified as must be painted within 90 days of being exposed to the weather. The soffit material was not preprimed so i figured get that done so i can paint its top coat as i dont want to drip or splash light coloured paint on the wall which will be a darker colour. My challenge is its not the best time of year to paint outside and i have only got weekends to do it so those 90 days might dissapear quickly if i get too many wet weekends. I would take days off work when dry and will do in future but the next few weeks at work are going to be pretty busy so not really a good time to ask for days off to paint.

You are right though much better to sleep when i was feeling like that.
 
Hi All,

I finially managed to get my bike to a bike shop to have it adjusted as ACC wanted that done to see if it helps my shoulder. I've been really busy at work with another important software release comming up doing 9+ hour days plus 1 hour of physio was leaving me really tired and no time to go to a bike shop during the week.
The shop was happy to work on my ebike They were going to adjust the positioning of things on their normal rollers but unfortunatly they didnt have a 20mm through axel kit for their rollers, only a 15mm one and because of the hub motor wires in the rear they couldn't attach it there either. They compromised and had me lean on a low partition while they held the bike to get the positions things needed to be and then a test ride outside while they watched.
The shop actually had a couple of ebikes for sale, they looked quite nice with good quality parts but I didnt pay too much attention. They were demonstrating them to a prospective customer while I was waiting for my bike to be modified.

They put an adjustable stem that brings the handle bars closer and higher up which gives me a much more vertical riding position which looks like its going to reduce the load on my shoulder quite a bit. They also swapped the left grip for one with a pad to the rear to reduce strain and it feels pretty good. they also increased the seat height evan more than I had. Its really high now but it does make it easier for my knee, just might take a bit of getting use to. The guy even turned the stem mount for my CA around so it could fit with the new stem. because the new step is pretty much vertical after if attaches to the bike and moves foward of the cap it was going to hit the CA so he relocated it.
I haven't taken it for a decent ride yet because today was the perfect combination of dry, not too hot and not much wind for painting, these are prefect conditions for the water based paint Im using to paint the outside of the house.
I will take my bike out for a maybe 5 or 6Km tide on sunday since the forecast is for showers so no painting. I'm only going to go that distance because a few weeks back I rode for 15Km and that hurt my shoulder so much it ached all week at work through the maximum pain killers I can take at work and still get things done. My physiotherapist sait to take it easy especially after I reported the result of my long ride and suggested slowly increasing the duration. I figure at least 5 to 6Km should be a good comparison with my ride last week of the same duration before the bike was adjusted. kind of interested to see how much improvment if any there is because I definitly felt like less load on my shoulder when i did the short test ride.


I managed to put the top coat of paint on the soffit of my house when I got back from the bike shop. That upset my shgoulder quite a lot although I tried to do most the painting with my good arm my left got used a few times. I think the thing that aggravated my shoulder more was moving the trestles and the planks of wood for them as they are heavy enough I have to use both arms.
Im sitting here now waiting for the pain killers I took to work and I think they are as I'm seeing my typeing error rate go way up and its hard to be bothered correcting.

The other week I finally did the required paper work and training to be allowed to be involved in the energisation and de-energization of out 6600V test bay. For that I get a MV3 label on my Id/door access card. This is handy in that there always has to be two people to do the power up/down and when I needed to do some tests before it needed another person just to power up the bay so now I can be one of the two people for that as well as testing my software.
Nothing like throwing a few MW around with a test of new software. The trick is finding someone who is not too trigger happy on the Emergency Stop button but confident enough to hit it when things get out of hand. The tests in this bay are well through out and discussed before each run as there is often multiple things that need to be done as part of the test.
Pretty much all of the software has been run at a lower voltage before it gets to this bay but there are some things you just cant test at lower voltage. I certainly don't want to do anything to do with that test bay if either not feeling well or after too many pain killers. Kind of pleased my doctor managet to find a combination of pain killers that let me get work done without messing me up but when I do too much such as today I end up taking more so really have to be pretty careful to protect my shoulder during the week so Im not sure how long its going to take until I can comfortably
bike 12.5Km to work and be in a state where I can use the computer for 8+ hours. Pretty much any more than I normally take at work starts having noticable side effects to do with both balance and thought process.

It kind of sucks having to use taxis to get to and from work with all the waiting round for them but I ahve been able to catch rides home with a friend in his car but I do like being able to get myself to and from work. I don't drive because my eyesight isn't good enough and glasses don't help so use my ebike to get to work or I would do again as soon as my shoulder settles down.
At my hospital appointment the other week the outcome was just wait and see after another 6 weeks. They did mention that they could get an MRI done but they think the ultrasound that was done is enough and they just want to give my shoulder longer to heal after the cortesone injection. I have had quite a bit of physio on the shoulder after the injection because before it jhust hurt way too much, afterwards it became managable. Im actually going to be going to a new physio therapist next week who is better equipped to deal with shoulders on a 1 on 1 basis since my previous physio was based at a gym and although she could help with my shoulder she was more suited to helping my leg etc and she would often have multiple clients there at once where as my shoulder needs more attenion than she can provide.

My leg has been comming along nicely. the schedualed physio has ended but I have been reccomended to do as much excerciese as I can at home to help it keep getting better It still gets tight over night or after a lot of sitting and aches. I ahve to get up and wander round work pretty ofter to keep it comfortable. The change in height to my desk at work really helped with my shoulder as well although its messing with my finally crafted and honed after many years software engineering posture LOL. She reccomended that I keep up with some stretched to get my leg really straight as it keeps getting a bit tight and hard to get fully straight. I have also been standing on my left foot to improve my balance and it seems to work some muscles that the other physio excercises havent really worked as its helping get rid of acheswhen doing some things. When i first stared physio for my leg I couldent even stand on that leg for 1 second, now I can stand on it for quite a while. When I was doing physio at the gym I managed to get the leg press up to 108Kg on both legs and about 40Kg on my leg that I broke, just felt a bit unstable sideways and I think thats
where the standing on that leg is helping buikld up muscles. I know that leg could handle more as with the 108 I purposly tried to put a bit more load on the injured leg and it was ok
but doing single leg ones it didnt like the side loading.
 
I had a short ride today.
Dont really know how far because of somehow getting moisture inside my CAv3. Probably 4 or 5km max. My shoulder seemed a bit better now that the bike has been adjusted. Im not sure i like the seat as high as they put it but it is definitely easier on my knee although getting up onto the seat is a little tricky sometimes.

Below is a photo of the new stem. Basically nearly vertical. I think it moved the bars back maybe 50mm and up by a similar amount giving me a more upright riding position that does seem to reduce pain in my shoulder. I really need to try a longer ride.
stemsmall.jpg
I need to dry out my cycle analyst as i need to functioning to ride my bike as an ebike.
 
Finally got a battery for my rear light so i can try and ride at night after work to help build up tollerance to riding for my shoulder last weekend.
Unfortunately i didnt get a chance to ride until tonight (Wednesday ) because of lieing awake to 3:30am monday morning before giving up and taking pain killers. Got to sleep arround 4:30am and was at work by 9am That really messed me up for the first half of the week combined with spells of feeling hot and just generally crap. This just combined lovely with trying to debug a tricky timing issue with some embedded software.

I rode about 7km tonight but due to knee aching due to a busy day at work more was electric powered than i would have liked. That ment faster so less time on my bike but that was actually good as i wanted to do about 7km but by the end of it my shoulder had begun to ache. my shoulder is more effected by time on the bike so if i kept the speed down and pedaled harder i probably would have managed less distance.

It does show my shoulder still has some way to go till i can bike to work and do a normal days work and bike home. Still taking pain killers to get through the day at work. Computers and bad shoulders dont get on well. Most pain is from my shoulder although some excercises i do for my leg like forcing it fully straight still hurt but generally that stops shortly after the excercise.

I find it kind of crazy that my shoulder that i landed on after breaking my leg has caused more on going issues in terms of daily life. My leg probably has some permenant limitations and the shoulder should settle down. My first physio said i will never run on that leg. Never was into running anyway and sincr the break was into the joint area i dont want to run and grind up thd joint due to any bumps arround the fracture area.

Kind of getting use to the first steps in thr morning being really bad as i limp out to the kitchen till things get moving. Apparently ongoing stiffness is a common outcome for my injory. Im also finding i need to stand up regularly or my leg gets a bit stiff. The longer i stay sitting the more i ache and limp when i stand up.

It is good to be able to ride in evenings during the week although i might not always be up to it. Currently very busy at work with extra hours being worked and then the physio days make me more achey but still the more i ride the better.
 
A bit more progress with my leg on saturday. I was getting sick of having to kneel down to get at eye level with my 3d printer just to check something so I decided to try croutching again which i havent been able to do since easter saturday. I had tried it a couple of weeks ago but couldent do it even holding onto something for support.
On saturday first i managed it holding the desk the printer is on. It hurt quite a bit but i was able to stay down for a short time and come back up without ending up falling on my ass as i have in the past.
After this i tried without holding the desk. I was kind of unstable and hurting quite a bit but managed about 30 seconds. I have repeated it several times now :).

I have been really working hard on stretching my leg and on balancing on just the injored leg for several weeks so really nice to see it pay off.

It was a nice end to the week after a few weeks where my shoulder pain etc has made me feel really bad at work on some days.

As a side note kneeling on the injored leg still feels weird due to the nerve they cut to get in to fix my tibal platau although there is some feeling in the skin now its not really normal.
 
I can hardly believe its been 6 months since my accident!

My leg is doing pretty well. A bit stiff and achy in mornings and after sitting for about an hour making me limp when i get up but at least i can get round reasonably quickly now.

My shoulder is still causing pain. Some days i can barely get through 8 hours at work with pain killers. In fact friday i gave up and went home early. The problem is it hurts through the pain killers im taking but i can't take more during the day as they mess my head up which is not good for writing software or working arround high power inverters and super capacitors etc.

Got another hospital appointment next week so hopefully they decide to do an mri and figure out what is wrong with my shoulder as the wait and see approach they took after the cortisone injection isnt working. I have been getting regular physio for my shoulder. It seemed to get a bit better after the cortisone injection but now seems to be getting worse and my doctor seems to think the injection just masked the real problem.

I dont like taking the pain killers due to side effects but without them i cant get anything done.

Over the last two weeks where my shoulder has been getting worse it has been messing with my sleep which really sucks. The only solution seems to be take a strong dose of pain killers before bed and then another dose about 4 hours later if i wake up when the first lot wear off.

With the help if my dad i now have the first coat of paint on the new cladding on the side of my house which is good as the 90 day period for getting paint on was rappidly dissappearing.
I also had to get a plasterer/painter to give me a quote which i accepted to plaster and paint my new bathroom. It would be too slow and painfull for me to do at the moment.
 
Ricky_nz said:
Got another hospital appointment next week so hopefully they decide to do an mri and figure out what is wrong with my shoulder as the wait and see approach they took after the cortisone injection isnt working. I have been getting regular physio for my shoulder.
Is it possible the tendons are shrinking, pulling at the rest of the things they are connected to? I don't know what conditions cause that, but perhaps bring it up?
 
amberwolf said:
Is it possible the tendons are shrinking, pulling at the rest of the things they are connected to?
i think that is one of the reasons for regular physio, to keep the muscles and Tendons in shape.

I have a similar issue with an ankle after a minor injury...the muscles/tendons always seem to be tight no matter how much i exercise or stretch it.
...just gettin old i guess !
 
Pain pills are not all good. Look here for some pain relief ideas.
Anyone suffer from chronic back pain?

My shoulder is still causing pain. Some days i can barely get through 8 hours at work with pain killers. In fact friday i gave up and went home early. The problem is it hurts through the pain killers im taking but i can't take more during the day as they mess my head up which is not good for writing software or working arround high power inverters and super capacitors etc.

The thought of poking at a computer for 8 hours is making my shoulder hurt. About 10 minutes to write this reply is enough for me. Try a different chair. Try putting keypad and monitor in different positions. If you are using a laptop? Try a desktop. Take a break. Drink water. Try a different job. Healthy food is good. Sex might relive stress. Relax.

I have a little towel in front of my keypad. Makes a nice cushion for my arms.
 
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