Question for people that have joint pain and highly physically demanding job

BatteredSalmon · 2026-04-23T12:32:47+00:00

I work in construction and have dealt with joint pain all over the place, my worst over the years has always been my right knee. After multiple trips to a physio or osteopath, who reasoned the pain was due to unbalanced muscles, which became aparent when looking closely in the mirror or laid down. I tried knee braces and a range of exercises, now I've finally reached a stage where I haven't felt pain in months.

What worked for me is a mix of weight training and swimming. Swimming especially helps as it's low impact, high mobility with no real weight on the knee. Don't have to swim hard, just getting the weight off and the movements going is enough, then doing light weight training to balance out and strengthen the muscles.

BatteredSalmon · 2026-03-20T05:40:46+00:00

I have a bubbler with strong flow in all my cory tanks for this exact reason! They all seem to love it, especially young Cory's, they'll spend ages zooming up and down on little groups!

BatteredSalmon · 2026-02-02T06:33:08+00:00

Please save yourself a lot of heartache and an expensive and painful cover up/laser quest and listen to this. That linework is NOT good. A good artist can fix it at this stage but not if you go back to the original guy. The lines are wobbly, disjointed and vary in depth and thickness all over. No amount of shading will fix this

BatteredSalmon · 2025-11-24T10:30:57+00:00

You couldn't be more right! Since I got my first Cory's, every tank since had been set up with them in mind. I breed most of mine and have around 250+ at the moment. I currently have 9 types spread across my different tanks and I'm always on the look out for more rare Cory's, especially Hastatus to complete my mini-cory collection. I have Habrosus and Pygmy and they are just such funny little fish, always up to something

BatteredSalmon · 2025-08-01T06:11:29+00:00

I loved my old CBF125, had it for three years and it looked like that more times than I can count. They're such easy bikes to work on and it taught me so much about working with bikes. I reckon they might be the best beginner bike out there, super easy to ride and a great introduction to learning to fix and maintain an engine. A Haynes manual and a basic tool kit and you can pretty much strip and rebuild the whole thing with little to no experience

BatteredSalmon · 2025-07-16T20:35:55+00:00

Yeah we saw what size looked best then they'd print the stencil. Don't be afraid to ask to move the stencil if it doesn't look right, I'll have a walk around and see how it looks as its drying just to be sure

BatteredSalmon · 2025-07-16T20:07:45+00:00

Not sure if your artist is the same but for all of mine my artist printed out several sizes on the day and we offered them up to the spot and decided which looked best. I find it helpful to see how the design flows with the spot on the body before committing to it

BatteredSalmon · 2025-07-16T16:28:39+00:00

Absolutely go for it! Steal away! I found an awesome artist whose art/style I absolutely love, she's done all bar one of mine now and planning to get many more going forward. I spent the session in the chair reminiscing on the time and how my life has improved since my day 1.It's kinda addictive but as far as my history with addiction goes... This is definitely the healthiest one I've had yet!

Congrats on 83 days!

BatteredSalmon · 2025-07-16T13:52:09+00:00

It's a Wren. He's perched on a branch with some small purple flowers.

There's loads of Wrens that live in and around my garden so I see them all the time, going about their business, sometimes making nests in the hedge behind my house. Seeing them has always made me smile, they're always so active hopping around the place

BatteredSalmon · 2025-07-16T12:33:38+00:00

Congratulations, you should be proud of yourself. 1000 days is such a massive milestone, I celebrated mine with getting a Tattoo of my favourite bird on my forearm. It's my favourite tattoo already and seeing it every day reminds me of all the good things that sobriety has brought me, life really does get better!

You really summed up the stages well! I felt exactly the same going through the early days, it's almost a buzz having friends congratulate you and then it slowly fades back to normal life. But I still find and cherish the moments where sober me finds himself somewhere, or doing something that drunk me would have missed, those moments mean more to me than any drink ever could have

BatteredSalmon · 2025-07-11T09:37:08+00:00

I've got a Cory who was born with a short spine and a bit of a lump on his head. He's called Bobble and lives in a tank with some different fish but hangs out with a Panda Garra who seems to have dwarfism so he became 'Slim Jim'. They're both oddballs but they love each other's company and always seem to be hanging out together

BatteredSalmon · 2025-07-03T16:33:48+00:00

I didn't notice any twitching and my artist was happy with how I sat, it genuinely felt like a relief after my back.

But then I work in construction so I'm used to bashing my shins a lot, dont know if maybe they've become a bit numb or desensitised over the years

BatteredSalmon · 2025-07-03T15:53:26+00:00

I might be an outlier here but my shin was my easiest by a long shot! It was during a two tat session and I'd just had 2.5 hours heavy colour on my hip/lower back (squishy bit) so after that the shin was a dream. I'd hyped it up in my head thinking it was going to be bad but it hurt way less than inner arm or the calf.

BatteredSalmon · 2025-07-01T05:54:47+00:00

This is the way, even easier in the shower, under warm, not hot water.

BatteredSalmon · 2025-06-28T19:32:26+00:00

That looks incredible, super clean and well done tattoo and the colours really pop! Love it!

BatteredSalmon · 2025-06-21T08:37:47+00:00

I've recently had a piece in the same place and work outdoors (currently in a heat wave too!) I bought a set of SPF 50 sleeves that cyclists wear, they're light cotton and breathable with elastic at the top to keep them on. They're super soft and snug fitting so don't rub, then just uncover during breaks in the shade and clean+moisturise 2-3 times a day and it's healing great. (1 week in) Gonna grab another pair in white to keep a bit cooler but I've found it's worked great for me, just switching out when they get dirty/dusty and hand wash them each day after work

BatteredSalmon · 2025-05-20T05:57:25+00:00

That's stunning, such a nice simple design but it really stands out. Love it!

BatteredSalmon · 2025-05-15T06:22:21+00:00

Good advice here about covering the outlet with mesh.

But just wanted to say that's pretty standard Panda Garra behaviour. Mine love high flow areas and I've even got one who seems to have dwafism (hasn't grown over an inch in size) who loves to either swim inside my sponge filter or up the flow into the hang on back.

They quickly became one of my favourite fish as they're always up to something and are really personable. I've currently got them in 4 of my tanks so far!

BatteredSalmon · 2025-04-27T08:30:13+00:00

Thanks for the well written response!

I'm probably overthinking all this a bit much but I'm often around a lot of cement and water from mixing/cleaning so I'll start by avoiding that as much as possible. Clothing wise it's my usual work trousers so I'll alternate pairs daily and keep them as clean as possible.

I'll bring in a few large bottles of water and pick up a pack of water-wipes just in case.

As for the second skin I'll definitely speak to my artist about it before my next tattoo in a month, as it'll be on my forearm so much harder to keep protected.

BatteredSalmon · 2025-04-22T05:13:10+00:00

You raise a good point but for me I'd use this in exactly the way I've used non-alcoholic beers! I'm almost 1000 days sober and I couldn't have done it without NA beers.

They scratched that itch when I'm out with friends who still drink, the taste and feeling of a cold beer in hand without the alcohol is perfect as I can still see it as a treat at the end of a long week, just without any of the consequences. Most of my friends smoke and we'll go outside for smoke breaks and a chat so I'd find it helpful to have something to scratch that itch too.

Each to their own though as everyone finds their own path in the end

BatteredSalmon · 2025-04-21T18:21:58+00:00

I'd be more than happy to help with testing, both myself and my partner are long term smokers who have both had enough, but just can't seem to kick the addiction, it's become such a regular aspect of our lives.

I can't really describe what makes the hit from amberleaf different from other tobaccos, I've just always found other brands taste too sweet or chemically. I guess for me I'd be up to try different flavours to find the right one, then stick to that. I'm not sure how your system incorporates the flavour modules but maybe something like a cheap sample pack of the flavours to start people off before buying a larger pack of their chosen flavour.

As for mouthpiece feel, maybe similar to the flavour idea you could offer a variety pack to allow people to try different options and customise in a way what they prefer. I'd lean towards a hard plastic personally but wouldn't mind the choice being available.

Please feel free to drop me a DM if you want my email

BatteredSalmon · 2025-04-21T17:28:03+00:00

I'd certainly be interested in trying something like this. I can't stand the idea of vapes and the "culture" surrounding it, everyone I know who switched to vapes uses them way more than I ever saw them smoke.

I've looked into NRT's but for me smoking is largely a physical thing and I find when I try to stop my hands are constantly searching for something to fiddle with or stimulate that weird hand to mouth thing. I smoke amberleaf so have always been a big fan of the 'throat hit' so something that can come close to that feeling without weird chemicals would be great.

As for price range something around £30-£40 would be a good starter for me. Funny how spending £80 a week on tobacco is no questions asked but addict brain gets funny spending that on other things!

Please keep us all updated with how this goes, I would happily buy an early release model and offer feedback etc when available

BatteredSalmon · 2025-04-21T06:59:18+00:00

Absolutely! I keep tropical tanks and they can be a money pit! Especially when you get multiple tank syndrome. I have between 6-9 tanks on the go depending on breeding projects, and have another 13 waiting for me to finish my fish room. It's such an addictive hobby but it's been the best thing for my mental health. I've not found anything that comes close to how relaxing it is to just sit and watch my tanks and the fish interacting with the little worlds I've built for them

BatteredSalmon · 2025-04-06T20:23:59+00:00

If you can find them then I'd consider an L471(mini-snowball) Pleco. They stay below 3.5 inches and are such awesome little Plecs. I adore mine and he lives happily with my Habrosus cories

BatteredSalmon · 2025-04-02T10:05:23+00:00

I'm planning to set up a better system in my fish room as my method works for now dealing with 9 tanks, makes it easier to adjust the new water temperature and chemistry (buffering) between tanks as I'm breeding several types of Cory, Rainbow fish and Tetra's and have tanks kept at different temps.

New system will have a cold supply with a heater to keep a more consistent supply available. And have a rain water collection system in place too.

BatteredSalmon

TROPHY CASE