Injuring myself on the job
Yesterday, I made a silly decision on the job that has resulted in an injury. When I was making some heating and cooling repairs, I dislocated my shoulder. Unfortunately, this is something that has happened a handful of times, so I am starting to get the hang of popping it back into place. In the movies, it’s always a big dramatic scene where they smash the shoulder against a wall. However, it is much less theatrical in real life. You just have to grab your arm with your other hand over your head and use your head as leverage to pull the hurt arm up till your shoulder sets into location. The air conditioner was also the first culprit which caused it to dislocate, as I was holding it up to put into the window when my shoulder popped out. Luckily, my coworker was there with me. Prior to working in the Heating and A/C industry, he worked as a nurse, so it wasn’t the first time he had seen an injury like this one. Last time I had my shoulder pop out on me, it took a few weeks before it healed enough for me to work without any strain on the body. This time, I am just relaxing it and icing it some, along with some over the counter pain meds and some Biofreeze gel. I hope to get back to work within a week, but I am not going to return until the injury is fully healed, so it could take a little longer. I shouldn’t have tried to lift up that heavy air conditioning unit on my own. I won’t make this stupid mistake again.