malachi wrote:1 - hip height tamping surfaces are the dream (in case you don't know - I'm short and have suffered with too-high counters a lot).

2 - make sure your forearm is vertical when tamping. This seems to reduce strain on the shoulder.

3 - 30lbs is probably about half what you think it is. You really don't need to tamp any harder than this and in fact you don't need to tamp hard at all for the most part (tamping really is just about preserving the bed - not crushing the coffee).

4 - check out your wrist angle when tamping. A lot of tampers have handles that are too long for my hand size and force my wrist to a weird angle. Others are too short - which also creates a weird wrist angle. The goal is to find a tamper that allows a neutral wrist position while tamping.

The above are for shoulder strain while tamping. Not all are universal for wrist or elbow problems from tamping.