You can have a $20,000 guitar or bass rig, but if you're physically not able to play your instrument all that equipment can do is sit there and look good.
A $50,000 PA just takes up space if you can't sing.
You get the idea...and this week we're going to talk about the most important thing on the stage to keep working right...and that's you, the musician.
Now, before I go any further let me get this disclaimer out of the way. I'm not a medical doctor, physician's assistant, chiropractor, licensed massage therapist, or anything else like that. I'm a 54 year old musician that's taken a bump or two along the way, and now starting to feel the effects of said bumps.
In addition to the usual stuff musicians my age deal with (arthritis, tennitus, hair loss), I've been fighting pain in my right arm and shoulder since about 2009...most likely due to the marathon practicing I did to get up to speed with Buzzfuel.
SInce then, I've been had issues with numbness and weakness in the fingers, and that's drag when you're a guitarist/bassist. I've been to Chiropractors, Orthopedic doctors and surgeons, Neurologists, and Licensed Massage Therapists. Each one helped in some way or the other, but nobody ever found the "smoking gun". So, after a ton of money in co-pays I just decided that it is what it is. I found temporary relief with deep tissue massage, and would usually have that done a couple of days before a show to get me through. But then, the LMT that I was seeing moved away, and at that point I didn't feel like going through the motions of finding anyone else.
The problem has been is that I don't fit a profile. Sports injury doctors ruled things out because as one put it "there's no way you could hurt yourself playing guitar". No way? Challenge accepted.
I'm going to get a little philosophical here...I believe that every job I've had or band I've been in has been for a reason. I was there to either learn something, teach something, or meet someone...or in some cases all of the above. And that's happened again. This time, I managed to meet a guitar player (and a damn fine one at that) who happens to be an Orthopedic Physician's Assistant. He never pressured me, but would say every now and then that he'd be happy to get me in and have one of the docs look at the shoulder. At first I'm just thinking "here we go again", but then realized that with someone that understood the mechanics of playing as well as human physiology, I might actually get somewhere this time.
Long story short, after an MRI, nerve conduction study (now I know how a circuit board feels when I'm troubleshooting it), x-rays, and a cortizone shot it's come back to my rotator cuff (which 2 other doctors "ruled out" 2 years ago). Not a tear or anything that's going to require surgery. It just turns out that I've managed to keep the bursa irritated for a considerable length of time. But then again, there are a lot of folks who would say that I've been a source of irritation for a considerable amount of time as well.
For those of us without medical degrees, I find an illustration very helpful here.
The worst part...that steroid shot into the bursa. But that's what confirmed to diagnosis.
So, the fix? A week of oral steroids and some physical therapy to get some strength back in the muscles I've guarding so far this decade. Yep...that's it.
I guess where I'm going with all of this is that as musicians, technicians, and roadies we can come up with some rather unique ways to injury ourselves. "Playing through the pain" may be viable in our 20s and 30s, but at least for me not so much now.
If something hurts, get it checked out if you can. If it's muscular and you haven't lost movement then ice works wonders. If you're hoarse, don't keep singing. Give it a rest. And if you're hoarse for no reason (you haven't been straining your voice), then definitely get checked out. I've lost 2 friends to throat cancers that started out that way. If they had gone in when the hoarsenss started, they might still be here.
Now, I've gotta give a shout out to Orthopaedic Associates of Central Texas, and especially PA Gregg Langston, Dr. Jeffry DeLoach, and Dr. Michael Valastro for finally getting to the bottom of what was going on.
OK...dry spell is over with now and I'm going to try to get back on track with these posts. I'm not sure yet what next week's subject is going to be. I've got an amp coming in for service, and I'm building a rack for a vocalist next week. I'm sure we can garner some fodder along the way.
Until then, keep the meters out of the red!
Ken
Ken Carver has been a musician and performer since the early 70's, and involved with live music production since the mid 70's. He worked for 15 years as a broadcast engineer, building numerous studios and transmitter sites around Texas. He's also worked in Critical Care Communications for the medical industry, R&D for an automated lighting manufacturer, and owned Project Lighting & Sound in the 80's. He currently heads up an R&D Hardware Technician Team at National Instruments in Austin, and still performs on the weekends in the Central Texas area. You can reach Ken at itsjustlogistics@gmail.com
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