This Spring and summer I made a serious attempt to learn how to fly HLG.
What I learned was all about shoulder strain.
The XC Nats might have had a hand in it. My job on the XC team was to
throw the monster plane.
"So, what do you do on the XC team, Nagel?"
"I throw up."
Anyway, the right shoulder got so bad I was having trouble combing my
hair and using the remote for the garage door opener. It was getting close
to the proverbial "Can't find his ass with both hands" situation. One of
the hands wasn't working. Is that an excuse?
I suspect that I am not alone in this problem, and I have been
researching treatments. So here is a three step program to cure Handlaunch
Shoulder Syndrome that seems to be working for me.
A. Make a minor modification to your HLG, to help prevent further injury.
Carefully locate the CG on the fuselage, and make a small mark at that
point. Drill a hole in the bottom of the fuse 1/4" ahead of that point and
install a little towhook.
2. Naproxen, two tabs twice a day.
III. A series of four very low impact and simple exercises.
-- bend over so your torso is more or less horizontal, let your arm
hang down and gently swing your extended arm around in a circle, going first
clockwise 12 turns and then counterclockwise 12 turns. Don't do anything
that hurts. Each day, add a few circles.
-- stand up and pretend you are using the arm on one end of a crosscut
saw--12 or so push-pulls on the saw. Each day add a few saw cuts.
--hold your arms to your sides and gently flap like a bird. If you are
a severely wounded bird, like I was, just flap a foot or so up from your
side, and do 12 or so flaps. Each day flap the arms a little higher and a
little longer.
--shrug your shoulders, and from time to time pretend you are trying to
hold a soccer ball between hour shoulder blades.
Tom Nagel
Columbus, Ohio
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