Have you ever stopped playing because of an injury? How'd it go?

[ehdwuld]

Re: Have you ever stopped playing because of an injury? How'd it go?

I hadn't had the urge to play in years
and then carpal tunnel surgery on my left hand from a freak surfing injury
forced me not to use it
I never wanted to play so badly
And I always play badly

As part of my recovery, I bought my RG2EX1
And the practice helped restore my dexterity

I love that guitar

 

[BriGuy1968]

Have you ever stopped playing because of an injury? How'd it go?

When I had carpal tunnel surgery on my left/fretting hand almost three years ago, the doc who referred me told me that I wouldn't be able to use that hand for 4-6 weeks. However, the surgeon told me that if I wanted to play I should go right ahead and do it as long as I wasn't causing myself pain. He said that playing as soon as I was able would help me to heal faster.

Immediately after surgery:

3 days later:

Today (don't mind the dirt... was working on the car yesterday):

It took about a week-and-a-half before I tried to play, and my dexterity was AWFUL at first so I stuck to really simple stuff.

A week later I was almost back to normal, and a week after that I had full use of my hand back (with the bonus of NOT having it constantly fall asleep on me).

 

[Taz Rules]

Re: Have you ever stopped playing because of an injury? How'd it go?

Our bodies heal faster when we use them
As long as we dont get stupid and go too far of course

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Have you ever stopped playing because of an injury? How'd it go?

When I had carpal tunnel surgery on my left/fretting hand almost three years ago, the doc who referred me told me that I wouldn't be able to use that hand for 4-6 weeks. However, the surgeon told me that if I wanted to play I should go right ahead and do it as long as I wasn't causing myself pain. He said that playing as soon as I was able would help me to heal faster.

Immediately after surgery:

3 days later:

Today (don't mind the dirt... was working on the car yesterday):

It took about a week-and-a-half before I tried to play, and my dexterity was AWFUL at first so I stuck to really simple stuff.

A week later I was almost back to normal, and a week after that I had full use of my hand back (with the bonus of NOT having it constantly fall asleep on me).

I was going to post a pic of my scar
But mine is left to right under the palm pad
And is almost invisible even close up

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Have you ever stopped playing because of an injury? How'd it go?

Had an injury in 1999 that ultimately caused permanent nerve damage that affects the fingers of my fretting hand (left hand). I mostly didn't play from that time up until maybe 3 years ago. I picked the guitar up many times during those years but frustration had me putting it down each time, very quickly. I even bought some gear trying to motivate myself to play it. Never was a great player but that is probably one of the most frustrating things I've gone through. And it still gets frustrating at times. For those with temporary injury, consider yourselves lucky. It will pass. Hell, I consider myself lucky anyway. I have a great wife and family, my injury could have been a hell of a lot worse and ... we just survived Irma relatively unscathed. Plenty of people have things way worse than I do. It would be petty and unproductive to continually complain about what amounts to dumb fingers. I just do the best I can with my playing and try to enjoy it and the related aspects.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Have you ever stopped playing because of an injury? How'd it go?

Didn't one of the great country stars mess up so.e fingers on his fretting hand
And just changed the way people play guitar?
There was one rock guy that lost two fingers and just changed the way people play

I don't think challenges should end your dreams
They should inspire your innovation

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: Have you ever stopped playing because of an injury? How'd it go?

Attitude is everything.

 

[Arwin]

Re: Have you ever stopped playing because of an injury? How'd it go?

Some really inspiring stories on here and also some great cautionary tales. As a lot of people have already noted here the most important thing you need to play music is a desire to play! Look at someone like Jason Becker who lost the ability to play guitar entirely but continues to compose and create music, total inspiration!

I've definitely had my fair share of injuries over the years, try as I might to stay out of harm's way. The most memorable was early in high school where a sports related injury left me with a broken left wrist and 10 stitches across the base of my right palm. I went to my guitar lesson later that week planning on telling my teacher I would need to take some time off for obvious reasons. Instead we worked on sight reading and theory that week and for the next few months straight while I healed. Banging out rhythms on a music stand with a pencil while singing the notes wasn't my idea of fun at the time, but I'm very thankful my teacher insisted on it.


If you've never heard of Kevin Millard before, this is a pretty wild story

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/music/...-most-interesting-one-armed-guitarist-7919139


these two guys also found a way to keep playing despite serious injury, and I am so thankful for that, couldn't imagine living in a world without their music

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Have you ever stopped playing because of an injury? How'd it go?

I have a similar story, I had almost no time or desire to play guitar for nearly a year- I was working 2 jobs, one of them was pro audio oriented and I just wanted to sleep when I was home.

When that craziness ended, I was afraid to play for a few weeks, convinced that I had lost my chops- and for the first couple of days everything on guitar seemed a struggle-

And then, out of the blue, everything became easy- I recovered my chops and started seeing opportunities on the fret board that I had never imagined before and within a few months I was way, way beyond my old self - I credit that stop as one of the best things that ever happened to my playing.

In retrospect, I think I know what happened- Although my tactical skills suffered for a short time, I realized I had been thinking guitar non-stop for a year- In the back of my brain, scales and progressions + keyboard and bass theory had all munged together- my brain had lots of time to explore when I wasn't really aware and I have had similar experiences with much shorter breaks since-

So expect much after a break- Don't get me wrong the first few days were painful, but well worth the reinvestment-

 

[HotHead]

Re: Have you ever stopped playing because of an injury? How'd it go?

I slipped with a box cutter and cut the top of my ring finger DEEP. Literally, the first thing I thought was, "Oh great, no guitar for at least a week." as blood oozed down my finger.

Not the best story, but a story nonetheless.

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: Have you ever stopped playing because of an injury? How'd it go?

It was only in the past week that I was able to resume playing an electric on a strap standing up, due to a sciatic condition that came on strong at the start of August. For anyone else that goes through a sciatic problem in the future: The thing that really kicked the healing process into overdrive for me, was buying and wearing an around-the-waist Velcro back-brace, luckily cost is only like $30 and easily found at major pharmacy chains. The brace idea was my own, not the doctors unfortunately, so I went through a few weeks of hell before the idea came to me on my own and I said, "hmm, let me try this..."