undeserved injuries - signs age is setting in

I am not that old and I like to think that I am in reasonable shape. I do a lot of manual labor since I am involved in construction and believe it or not, rednecks actually do go to the gym as well and I am somewhat mindful of what I eat as well.

Age is catching up with me though, and an incident that occurred a few days ago that still plagues me now is proof that the worst is yet to come.

The above image is from a very interesting article entitled Can I really hurt myself while sleeping and yes, that has happened to me as well, but my injury was not a case of accidentally putting my arm in an awkward position for 6 hours under a pillow, it comes from something a bit more immediate - and equally silly.

My injury comes from a couple of stuck zippers

I don't like to throw stuff out if i can fix it, even if the replacement is cheap. When faced with an old bag that had some seriously calcified (or salt buildup) zippers, I decided that even though a new bag would be under $10, I would have a go at fixing it. It seemed simple enough: Rub some lubricant on the zips and then use a pliers to get them moving again... simple right?

After soaking the WD-40 for a bit, i pulled on the zippers only to find that they were not moving at all.

Then the really cheap, likely not even metal, "pullers" broke off. Not yet willing to admit defeat, I got a leatherman involved and got some serious torque on it, only to over-exert my arm and also have the lubricant make it really difficult to keep the pliers attached.

Basically, in a really hard pull, the grip released and i ended up slipping badly, nearly stabbing myself with the leatherman and then an hour later I had a sharp pain in my shoulder.

It is now 2 days later and I still have difficulty finding a comfortable way to sit or sleep.

_{it is basically exactly right there}

I am in my mid 40's and am not looking forward to what is bound to be a myriad of additional undeserved mystery injuries in the future. I have never started to feel "old" until today. I guess I'm going to have to start to be more careful.

Oh, i never did get the zippers unstuck either. I am well and truly defeated, by a bag :)