Hwere to Place Ckay So That It Is Easiest Fo the Potter to Speed the Wheel Back Up Again

Beneath are excerpts and additions to an interview I did with Wellness for Makers in early 2016. Because continuing to throw and potter ergonomics are among the most frequently asked questions I receive, I wanted to accept my answers in i place for easy reference and sharing. Delight leave your questions and ain suggestions in the comments section to add to the dialogue.
Happy, Good for you Potting!

Please tell me about your background, and your first encounter with back pain.
I got my Associate's degree from Montgomery Higher in Rockville, MD, my BFA from Alfred Academy, and MFA from Ohio University. I started having back problems while I was nevertheless an undergraduate. In most ceramics programs the students mix the dirt, which involves lifting multiple 50 pound bags. At 20-2, information technology never occurred to me to ask for help, nor that my body couldn't handle mixing five hundred pounds of dirt at a time and loading kilns with heavy shelves by myself. Cumulative lifting is what acquired my back to "go out," which is the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life. It was probably a pinched sciatic nerve, but I never saw a specialist to ostend or treat information technology. I went to the school medico and call back spending the next week or two in bed heavily medicated. My back connected to get out nearly once a year for the next ten, but I didn't take wellness insurance to properly exist diagnosed.

1 of my professors from Alfred, Val Cushing, encouraged me to practice an internship at the Greenfield Village pottery at the Henry Ford Museum outside of Detroit after I graduated. This was the start fourth dimension I stood to throw (1995), which was mainly for visitor visibility, merely it fabricated a big deviation for my dorsum. Beingness in Michigan coincidentally put me in proximity to studio potter John Glick. He is well-known for his work, only too because his back bug almost concluded his career. I worked with him for one year from 1996-97, and know if I hadn't learned a healthy style to throw and other prophylactic studio practices from John, I'd probably be doing something other than dirt.

"To Sciatica and Back" (1987), which includes a 7 point Checklist for Longevity,should be required reading for anyone working in clay. Period. This was the first of two articles John wrote about dorsum wellness for The Studio Potter journal, followed past"Down the Spinal Culvert" (2001) which I besides recommend.

Tin can you lot talk more than nearly continuing to throw and your backrest?
My backrest is designed subsequently the one John Glick pictured and wrote about in "To Sciatica and Back" (linked above, which I can't emphasize enough to read. My comments here are simply further additions to his observations and experiences.). He had a woodshop fastened to his ceramics studio to brand tools and anything he needed, and then it was very obvious for him to design something that could assist his throwing in a healthier manner. The backrest provides support for both your back and behind allowing for leverage past pushing dorsum against the wall, versus someone who is seated getting leverage from leaning over with their forearms and elbows on their thighs.

Standing is very comfortable on the back because your torso is fairly direct, and yous're working in front of your sternum rather than doubled over with your olfactory organ over the dirt. ( The cycle head should be about belly button pinnacle.Mine is an inch higher. As well depression and you're dorsum to the similar bent over position as being seated.) The type of potter's wheel can affect the set a footling bit. Mine (a Soldner) has more leg room underneath than others. Considering I like to change speed mid-throw if necessary and prefer to keep both hands on what I'm throwing, I keep my foot pedal on the floor. (Some potters prefer their pedal next to the wheel head and change speed by hand.) However, if the same foot is on the pedal all the time and the other on the floor —and particularly without the backrest— your hips are torqued, which can also cause eventual pain to the hip and sciatic nerve. John would change his human foot pedal to the other side halfway through the day to stay balanced. (I refer to him as being "ambifooted.") I just have a triangular piece of woods underneath my left human foot to mimic the position of my right, so my hips are even and aligned. So simply elevating the wheel isn't necessarily the answer to good back wellness.

And at that place isn't one answer for everyone either. If yous have feet or leg issues, altering the backrest design to allow a more seated or 'perched' position for your body might be a better solution. Everyone has dissimilar torso bug and work needs, so brand sure y'all find what is best for your situation. (Btw, John addresses throwing taller in his article.)

Do you teach this style of throwing to others?
I teach around five workshops nationally per twelvemonth, and at a craft heart locally during the school twelvemonth and have added 'conversations virtually ergonomics' to my pedagogy. In both situations, I stand to throw and talk virtually why it's beneficial. Most ceramic studios don't have the room to drag all the wheels, so almost everyone learns to throw sitting. Body health and prophylactic are discussed much more at present than they were twenty years ago, so information technology comes upwards readily when I teach. I ever talk to my adult community students well-nigh being aware of their bodies and standing up oftentimes while they're working. If they are not going to stand to throw, I encourage them to elevate the wheel so they are not completely bent over.

Can you talk virtually other precautions you've taken to keep your body healthy in the studio, and how standing to throw and other modifications accept inverse your work?
Wrist pain is second to back bug for a lot of potters. My offset throwing instructor at Montgomery College had wrist surgery for ceramics related problems, so I learned to throw such that my wrists aren't extended back. I continue them in line with my easily so I am not putting unnecessary, backwards pressure on my wrists when I throw. (Run into illustrations left.) Sitting to throw is bad enough, simply some students also learn to constrict their elbows into their hips and curve their wrists back to centre. This technique can crusade the wrists to hyperextend and lead to injury, peculiarly with larger amounts of dirt.

One of my grad schoolhouse professors also had wrist surgeries, mostly from wedging (the potter'southward version of kneading). He would wedge a couple hundred pounds of clay in the mornings to set for throwing, instead of wedging equally he worked. He had wrist surgery twice on one wrist and so once on the other. Despite surgery, he continues to take tingling issues in his hands, peculiarly at night.

Other than throwing, wedging –while necessary to marshal particles– is the worst activity for a thrower. Repetitive activity is what causes injury. In my studio, I regularly change what I'g doing, and refer to it equally existence "purposefully inefficient." For example, if I am working on a series of 30 cups, rather than wedging 30 ane-pound assurance of dirt all at one time and then continuing to throw xxx cups in one become, I wedge five or x and and so throw, and repeat. I also never slip-trail multiple cups in a row because that would put unnecessary strain on my thumb. Irresolute activities regularly prevents injury that can occur through repetition, like carpal tunnel syndrome and tennis elbow. Pottery is all about repeating, but we tin can break up the repetition.

So back to the question, a lot of what I do to take care of my body I learned from existence around people who have had injuries or every bit a consequence of my own discomfort. I have not changed my work, merely I have changed the stride and flow of how I work. During my year-long internship at Greenfield Hamlet I made two hundred pots a month, so I know how to efficiently brand a lot work, simply the efficiency that's good for work flow is taxing on the body.

Exercise you practice stretching in your studio?
I don't really stretch, but I practise exercise. My husband who is a woodworker and powerlifter reminds me that force training is groovy style of taking care of myself. Strengthening stomach and back muscles support your spine. Having stronger arms means that y'all don't demand to employ your back as much when you are lifting heavy objects. We talk almost exercise for existence generally salubrious, merely information technology likewise gives us specific benefits in our work.

Exercise y'all have communication on how to make a studio more ergonomically correct?
The primary matter I would say is to be enlightened of your body. If information technology hurts, you need to figure out a different way of performing the activities that may be contributing to the pain. I always try to work so that I'm non hunched over. (I have friends with neck problems –even neck surgery– considering they decorate in their lap or on a work surface that's too low causing them to exist curled over for long periods of time.) Table and work surface heights* are important. I take a banding bicycle (the potter's lazy susan) on my piece of work tabular array that is elevated and can exist added to in height, then that no affair what size I'chiliad working on, I can stay comfortably upright.

* My work table is the meridian of my hip os, and my wedging table, which I also use to gyre out slabs and rest work in progress is mid thigh peak.

My studio is designed so that I tin can be fairly self-sufficient. One of my work tables and all of my glazes are on wheels so can be moved readily without unnecessary lifting. Glazing is my next back hurdle though. I have to curve over more than I would like while dipping and pouring coat. Ideally, I would take a permanent coat space similar John Glick such that the glaze buckets alive on benches at a good ergonomic height (pictured), so I wouldn't have to curve over, nor would they need to exist lifted up and downwards during every glaze session. This setup requires more space than I currently have notwithstanding.

The of import elements of a healthy studio are beingness purposefully inefficient by regularly changing upwardly your activities, and your equipment (backrest, table heights, an assistant, whatever accessories brand your movements easier). It'southward worth working a little more slowly to maintain a pain-free, healthy body.

In Summary & Other thoughts on working good for you:

Read "To Sciatica and Back" in total. Share it, post information technology, impress it out, and share it some more, online and in person. "If I could give a lasting souvenir to all potters information technology would not be a wonderful glaze formula or a new tool. Instead I would give the gift of awareness about the wise apply of our bodies." ~ John Glick, 1938-2017

• Stop thinking about irresolute how you work, and actually change it.
• If y'all groan after doing whatever activity (e.chiliad. standing after sitting to throw), you lot demand a change.
• Make a back rest, or rent someone to do it, if you lot've decided continuing to throw would piece of work for you. The specs are in John's article as yous know b/c you read it in total. While better than sitting to throw, leaning against a wall and 'costless standing' are not truly ergonomic or the same equally using the backrest.
• Cheque your hips. Standing or seated, it's amend if your hips are naturally facing forwards and even (ane side shouldn't be college or projected frontwards from the other). For both seated and continuing throwing, you can identify an object nether the non-pedal pes to reach this, or alternate the pedal from ane pes to the other.

• Potters can place a mirror in forepart of themselves while throwing so they tin look in the mirror rather than leaning over to see a pot's silhouette.
• Using softer (vs. stiff) dirt is better on your wrists for both wedging and throwing. If you're fighting the clay, your trunk pays.
• It's difficult to modify learned hand positioning (specific to throwing, but relevant to any part of the process), but if you're experiencing discomfort and pain, attempt to change it. Remember most your thumbs and wrists in particular. Years of doing "the claw" to throw has started taking a toll on my left pollex, so I'm post-obit my own advice and re-training myself.
• Allow yourself to be Purposefully Inefficient. Don't do the same activity for long periods.
• Go along your center in heed. Whatsoever you're working on should be around the height of your heart. That will keep you from curling over like a question marker saving your back and neck. If you can't raise your work surface, try a shorter chair. As pictured above, I take bats that are one″ thick I place on my banding bike to change my work meridian. Sometimes I use no bats, and other times at that place are as many as 8-10 stacked on at that place.
• Exercise outside of the studio benefits you in the studio.

• Try non to concord things you lot're working on if possible. If y'all tin place the object on a banding wheel, that'southward preferable. Holding your work –even at heart top– while decorating for example, strains your thumb, wrist, and neck.
• 
  Ceramic artist Kathy King, who does a lot of sgraffito decoration, has found sitting with her legs elevated in an Ikea POÄNG armchair with ottoman while decorating "takes the pressure off [her] lower back and neck (she has ii herniated disks). It is basically like beingness in a space capsule.

• Studio potter Matt Repsher created a rig that allows him to work ergonomically smarter, non harder! A Giffin grip attached to his Shimpo banding wheel atop a backstopped 'T' of wood tilts and elevated his piece of work and so he's non hunched over.

• I tell students they should have dirty easily and clean jeans. Wiping wet clay on clothing creates dust when it dries. Breathing that on a daily ground is non healthy. I rinse my hands in my water bucket and use huck towels to wipe my hands, which I rinse out at the end of the twenty-four hour period. Don't exist Pig-Pen. Additionally and in function considering my studio is in my home, I don't allow drips of dirt or coat dry out on the floor to get grit I trek everywhere.

• Wear a respirator and put cartridges in it that are suitable for the particle size of your activity. I should be worn whenever working with dust (glaze-mixing, sanding, spraying…) Paper masks are not adept plenty.
• Don't sand if you lot don't have to. If y'all're sanding greenware or bisqueware because the surface is rough for example, instead accost burrs and inconsistencies on the leatherhard surface. Don't create dust if yous don't need to.
• Wear middle protection for kiln peeping. I can't believe how many Instagram pix I encounter of people staring into red hot kilns with bare eyeballs. Yous can profoundly harm your retinas by looking into a hot kiln (gas, electric, or atmospheric). Welders glasses. Get 'em.
• Wear eye protection for grinding. Even if you use a dremel tool to grind one lil' blemish, protect your eyes. Whatsoever you lot're taking off is going to fly somewhere, and yous don't want information technology to be in your heart.

• All of ceramics is practice and so you might likewise practice beingness rubber and good for you also.
• "Self-care isn't a nice-to-have, it's a need-to-have."

Once again, I'd love for you to leave a annotate with your suggestions and questions to add to the dialogue. All-time wishes for healthy making now and into the distant future!

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Source: https://kiefferceramics.com/2018/01/01/psa-standing-ergonomics/

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