During my first five years in the industry, I was extremely driven to improve the quality of my work. I purchased every new tool that hit the market so I could make sure that the quality of my work was dependent only on my ability to do it and not the tools I had available. During the next couple of years, I focused on increasing my speed without sacrificing any of my quality. I loved the work so much that I just kept pushing myself to new levels of performance.
After eight or nine hard-working years, the wear and tear on my body finally caught up with me. The damage done to my shoulder over time threatened to sideline me for good. So, I found the best physical therapists in the area. They happened to be the same team of professionals that puts the Green Bay Packers back together after football injuries. (Trust did not come easy to this Bears fan).
The lead therapist asked to see some of my best moves. After demonstrating the bending, twisting, pushing and pulling that makes up every day in the field for a PDR tech, he told me that the human body wasn’t meant to hold those positions and that it definitely wasn’t meant to exert force while holding those positions. Also the repetitive motions commonly made during hail repair can cause damage to tendons and muscle tissue in the knees, back, wrists, elbows, shoulders and neck. Damage that can occur without you realizing what is happening to your body. These types of injuries are known as Repetitive Stress Injuries or RSI.
My therapist told me to find another profession.
Not willing to give up on a young and growing industry that I loved and that had done so much for me and my family, I had to look for other options. This is what led me and my team to start reimagining the tools and the working processes of the trade.