Joint Pain in the Woods: How to Protect Your Body While Logging

By Brie Weisman, OTR/L, Maine AgrAbility. Winter 2024.

It’s early morning. The air is cold and damp. You’re dressed for the elements, but a day of work awaits. Maybe you’re working the feller buncher, or you’re in the forwarder, or you’re in your self loader truck. You already notice the soreness in your hands, a bit of redness and swelling. You have difficulty making a fist.
These are most likely symptoms of arthritis, and you are not alone. Like machinery, our joints need lubrication and cushioning. We often begin to lose this as we age, and working our own unprotected joints can lead to wear damage similar to that of un-greased machinery. The CDC says about one in four adults and fully half of all people over 65 suffer from arthritis.
Arthritis causes pain, inflammation, and limited range of motion. Osteoarthritis is the most common form typically affecting hands, hips, knees, feet and lower back and is the most treatable.
Risk factors for arthritis include:
Family history

Age

Obesity

Previous injury to the affected joint

There is no cure for arthritis. Fortunately, there are several proven natural, non-invasive methods that can dramatically reduce symptoms:
Relaxation therapies. Mindful breathing, yoga, meditation, listening to music, guided imagery,
simply getting out in nature–are all proven techniques for reducing pain.

Acupuncture: This 3000-year-old practice has found validation for arthritis treatment from so many studies that insurance companies cover it.

Heat: Applying heating pads to aching joints, taking hot baths or showers, or immersing painful joints in warm paraffin wax can all offer temporary relief from pain. Use heating pads for no more than 20 minutes at a time.

Massage: Massage can both offer pain relief and reduce stiffness/inflexibility. Make sure your massage therapist or masseuse knows where and how your arthritis affects you.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: CBT has been recognized as the most widely used psychotherapeutic treatment for adults with chronic pain. CBT employs talk therapy & behavior modification to help identify & break cycles of harmful or self-limiting thoughts & actions.

These conservative treatments are often enough for effective management of arthritis. In more severe cases, your physician may recommend medications and more invasive treatments:

Therapeutic injections: Cortisone shots may help temporarily relieve pain and inflammation.

Fusion: A procedure that permanently fused two or more bones. This reduces pain greatly, at the cost of the joint’s mobility.

Joint replacement: Damaged, arthritic joints can often be replaced with artificial joints, dramatically increasing joint function and movement while reducing or eliminating pain.

Even in your work cab, you can make a few simple changes to your routine to lessen joint pain through adaptive techniques and through the use of adaptive
equipment. To learn more about implementing these changes contact Maine AgrAbility program.
Today’s loggers do have one advantage in controlling arthritis: heated cabs. It won’t eliminate arthritis, but it can reduce symptoms. Coldness and dampness are the enemies of the arthritis sufferer. Dressing to keep the joints warm will go a long way to reducing symptoms. Beyond a nice pair of winter gloves and boots, consider heat activators to put in your gloves and boots. Also wear clothing that will keep out the water without trapping in sweat, like Gore-Tex and similar fabrics.
Today’s cab-bound loggers are also at heightened risk of arthritis due to sitting for hours on end with very little mobility. Make a point of occasionally stretching briefly; get outside and take a walk around the machine once. Inspecting it a few times a day gives your own parts the movement they need.
As with so many things, addressing the earliest signs of arthritis and sticking with a treatment will give the best results with least effort and greatly reduce the risk of increased suffering and hardship. And, as many of these treatments have benefits beyond treating arthritis and are free or inexpensive, it’s hard to argue against giving them a try.
Lastly, we need to remember that an active lifestyle is the best way to maintain a healthy body. “Move it or lose it” applies particularly to joint mobility. It seems that I promote this in so many of my articles, and that is because an active lifestyle is the closest thing to a cure-all that we have.