One of the discussions I’d really like to have is around ergonomics, injury, and long-term health. How have people accidentally worked themselves into longer-term health problems or injuries making shoes by hand, and what can we do to prevent?
The closest I’ve seen to this on my own journey into shoemaking concerns volatile organic solvents in solvent-based cements, like toluene. There are now companies marketing toluene-free and low-VOC adhesives, so they’ve a good reason to raise awareness of concern for related issues.
Are there particular techniques, or maybe even tool designs, that have hurt shoemakers more than others in the past? Has anyone seen signs of stretches, exercises, or other ways to take care of our hands and arms?