As we age, the wear and tear on our joints, tendons and muscles sometimes shows up as we age. I know, as I work with patients who have worn out their knees and hips to the point where they have to be replaced. On the orthopedic sub-acute unit I work on as a Registered Nurse, we as a team build up the patients endurance with hip and knee replacements using various stretches and exercises, so they can go back home and live a productive life again.
Tennis elbow, or epicondylitis the technical term, is an inflammation of the tendons of the elbow caused by overuse of the muscles of the forearm. It can get painful, and take weeks to correct itself. You may notice, that when the pain begins, your endurance decreases quickly, and you usually end up cancelling your hunt. If you are prone to this, switching to a straight rod on your Garrett metal detector, should prevent tennis elbow and allow you to still continue using your AT Series detector.
Anderson Detector Shafts is a company which designs and builds straight rods and other great accessories for metal detectors. It is a proud sponsor of Findmall, and well looking into to lesson the wear and tear on your body. Using a straight shaft can eliminate the flexion of your elbow, and allow your stronger shoulder muscles to carry most of the load of the metal detector, allowing the stronger upper muscles to move that coil back and forth. That means much longer hunts for you. Please check them out.
http://andersondetectorshafts.com/
Pete from Anderson Detector Shafts was kind enough to send me his latest designed shaft for an AT Pro. He had asked me to try it out and give him some comments on it. When I received it a few weeks ago, I quickly assembled it and made plans to do a water hunt using the AT Pro on a straight rod the next morning. I headed out to a lake, and hunted for 4 hours straight. The rod is slightly lighter then the Garrett Factory rod and using my shoulder mostly to move the coil back and forth, instead of the "S" handle, I did hunt longer without a break and less fatigue. The next morning, my left shoulder was not sore ( I swing the detector with my left arm mostly, but can easily use my right arm also) however, my right arm was sore from scooping so many targets. I also hunted on Sunday for three hours at a school coin shooting.
So, overall, it was a nice positive change switching to a straight rod. Less fatigue on the elbow and more lasting power using the shoulder muscles. Having an adjustable angle for the box is a great option, as we are all built differently and being able to see the VDI numbers is an asset to most hunters. The lower rod fits very snug in the upper rod. There is currently absolutely no wobble in that lower rod.The lower rod is very well built and engineered.