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Getting old and knackered.


markstuk
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[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1509444156' post='3398875']
I used to meet up to buy or sell gear and the chat was usually about BC, bass playing, gear or gigs. Now we usually cut to the chase, aches, pains and lightweight gear! Sign of the times.
[/quote]

Man, you've got me worrying. I've got a bubinga 9.75 lb bass incoming.. Have I pushed it too far? :P

[quote name='thepurpleblob' timestamp='1509443086' post='3398864']
I had steroid injections for rotator cuff tendonitis (knackered shoulder) and despite shitting myself because of all the scare stories I'd heard, I didn't feel a thing and it worked. So it's not always bad!

At the risk of stating the terribly obvious - if your playing hurts then you need to stop doing whatever you are doing. Lighter bass, wider strap, sit down even (the world won't end).
[/quote]

... and I always play sitting down as it is! :D

Edited by Grangur
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The other side of this one - I just had a bone scan at the local nuclear medicine department and although the scan was clear in terms of any spreading of my already-diagnosed cancer, the consultant asked me if I had been doing really heavy physical work for a long time, because of the calcium deposits they found, which are of course a side effect of arthritis.

Left shoulder, right side of neck, both thumbs, both elbows.... so as well as telling us to wear hearing protectors they should also have told us to use lighter strings and play gently!
Oh and he also said "I bet you have broken both your big toes at some time, haven't you?
Yup - right again.

:lol:

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Tennis elbow can take forever to fix. The danger is that once 'fixed' you will forget and eventually pick something heavy or awkward up e.g. shopping. You then damage the elbow again and start the healing process all over again. Do the exercises and stick with them, it really helps.

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[quote][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Tennis elbow can take forever to fix. The danger is that once 'fixed' you will forget and eventually pick something heavy or awkward up e.g. shopping. You then damage the elbow again and start the healing process all over again. Do the exercises and stick with them, it really helps.[/font][/color][/quote]

I'm in this boat at the moment with tennis and golfer's elbow in right arm. :( (Grangur - thanks for the message of support on the other thread - couldn't reply as it was locked.) Haven't really been able to play since March. Just about getting 'better' but some days worse than others. Have osteoarthritis in hands and feet, too. Got exercises from physio for the arm and taking turmeric pills for the osteoarthritis which do actually take the edge off.

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[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1498805186' post='3327099']
However can I recommend exercise as one of the few things you can do yourself to help out.
[/quote]

Couldn't agree more.

YouTube is full of channels where you can follow interval training workouts. Everything from gentle beginner workouts up to intense fat burners. Most can be done in minimal space (front room, spare bedroom, office etc) and require no equipment. A 15 - 25 minute workout is all you need. I do approx 20 mins after work daily and just eat less carbs through the day. After the workout I just eat a normal meal (spaghetti bolognese this evening, a roast dinner on Sunday etc etc). I'm fitter and leaner now than I was at 18. Pretty much niggle / injury free now too.

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I'm quite surprised to hear about this 3 injections rule. I've had 5 steroid injections in the vicinity of my nevicular bone. Each time they've told me to fast and that they would give me an anaethsetic (never did) it was a real achy pain when they injected it.. As far as I'm aware they were perfectly happy to inject more but the pain went away.

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[quote name='GuyR' timestamp='1509569841' post='3400041']
Blue, you are an inspiration for us all in very many ways!!

Cheers Guy
[/quote]

Thanks GuyR.

I've seen and learned a few things over the decades. Some are relative and have value and some stuff, not so much.lol

Blue

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I've had a frozen shoulder which was more inconvenient than painful. It took a few months of doing exercises that my doctor gave me to free it up.

I've also had tendinitis in the index finger of my left hand. Luckily I managed to sort that through resting it and massaging the affected joints.

I've got off lightly so far

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[quote name='mrtcat' timestamp='1509578192' post='3400122']
Couldn't agree more.

YouTube is full of channels where you can follow interval training workouts. Everything from gentle beginner workouts up to intense fat burners. Most can be done in minimal space (front room, spare bedroom, office etc) and require no equipment. A 15 - 25 minute workout is all you need. I do approx 20 mins after work daily and just eat less carbs through the day. After the workout I just eat a normal meal (spaghetti bolognese this evening, a roast dinner on Sunday etc etc). I'm fitter and leaner now than I was at 18. Pretty much niggle / injury free now too.
[/quote]

Some links?

I do a lot of walking (several dogs plus enjoy it anyway) but I am right at the "need to do something" stage as (in my early 50s) I'm hitting the flabby and creaky stage. Plus I have some kidney problems that have come with the "sorry mate, just try to live healthily", so perhaps I'd better.

Still smiling though :lol:

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Big problem for me is my throat , which gets so hoarse from singing I can hardly speak if we do two gigs on the bounce. Got to be poor technique on my part.

The other thing is my knees which get really painful after a staircase load in then a gig ( like todays will be). Still - I always remember the story about some bloke complaining about his knee to his golfing partner while playing a round. 'I feel really sorry for you , old boy' said his partner. It was Douglas Bader.

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[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1509962337' post='3402829']
Dr Dave - I completely lost my voice for eight months last year after struggling with if for some time prior to that. A friend suggested giving up dairy and it worked within 2 weeks. No trouble since.

Worth a try....
[/quote]

That's awesome. I'm gonna get my wife a cheese hamper for Christmas.

Edited by mrtcat
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I'm two weeks on from a steroid injection for a trigger finger. It only started after I broke the finger about a year ago, and it's healed very crooked and I've been getting some hand therapy (not as much fun as it sounds). Anyway, they spotted that I couldn't close the finger due to the trigger finger, not the break.

Not a pleasant injection, and the local anaesthetic sent three fingers numb for a couple of days (and I still haven't got the feeling back completely in one finger tip, but it's more or less OK) and then really painful in the rest of the hand for a few days. Then a week later I can close my finger like normal, so I'm back to just having the issues from the break.

I'm told that either it'll stick or it won't and they won't know for certain for about six months. As somebody who's never had a steroid injection that's worked before, and a Type 1 Diabetic which is top of the list of "people who the injection might not work for" I was gearing up for this to be the painful step i had to go through before they operate to fix it. But so far so good

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Heh - I'm an injecting type 2 and had major issues with trigger finger in my right index and middle fingers some years back.
Was advised not to risk steroid injections & given some LIGHT exercises to do plus told to "just play guitar instead of bass" which I did - for several years. Finally started easing myself back into bass and religiously doing the warmup exercises before I played. Touch wood, I have been back gigging regularly on bass for a number of years with no recurrence, but DO baby that finger up!

Incidentally - had a bone scan recently and the consultant asked me what sort of heavy labouring job I had had before I retired. He was quite surprised when I told him "bass playing" but once I explained the loads involved and the strain on your tendons he agreed that was probably why I had really bad arthritic bone growth in both thumbs, both shoulders, both elbows and the right side of my neck. And I thought going deaf due to loud rock and roll was going to be as bad as it got!

:lol:

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Just read through this thread, the pain in my left arm has today been diagnosed as a combination of tennis and golfers elbow (not that I play either, on affects the inside of the sow, the other the outside. Apparently!). Given some exercises to do, bought a tennis elbow clasp to wear when gigging and more tubes of ibugel (anti inflammatory ointment, not an apple trumpet).

Physio suggested narrower necked basses might help, great news when I've recently bought a Classic 50s Precison with a 1 3/4" nut! Might have to blow the dust off a jazz bass for this week's gigs.

Strongly suspect that it's because I've been doing all my heavy lifting (cabs, etc) with my left arm due to knackering my right wrist in a bike accident 2 years ago. 

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16 hours ago, FinnDave said:

Just read through this thread, the pain in my left arm has today been diagnosed as a combination of tennis and golfers elbow (not that I play either, on affects the inside of the sow, the other the outside. Apparently!). Given some exercises to do, bought a tennis elbow clasp to wear when gigging and more tubes of ibugel (anti inflammatory ointment, not an apple trumpet).

Physio suggested narrower necked basses might help, great news when I've recently bought a Classic 50s Precison with a 1 3/4" nut! Might have to blow the dust off a jazz bass for this week's gigs.

Strongly suspect that it's because I've been doing all my heavy lifting (cabs, etc) with my left arm due to knackering my right wrist in a bike accident 2 years ago. 

it was definitely lumping Mesa Boogie cabs up and down flights of stairs that caused my tennis elbow.  That and being a man, so completely ignoring the pain and continuing to lug that cabs for far longer than I should have

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Time takes a cigarette, puts it in your mouth...

...tempus fugit... getting to the age now where pain can't  reliably be alleviated by rest, or drugs, or... tea. Found out recently that several neck vertebrae have fused together. Also I'm getting shorter and I wake up with numb limbs... if it gets any worse I'll have to take up the drums.

 

Edited by discreet
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6 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

I'm taking my Super Compact, light as a feather (well, a feather from a bloody enormous bird!) and the rest of the band can hump the PA speakers in and out. 

apart from some excellent treatment, what really made the difference for me was some excellent bandmates, in fact just excellent mates, who did all the heavy lifting for me for a good few months until I was completely over it (and touch wood it's never come back in either arm and I'm back lifting whatever need lifting).  they'd already done the same when I broke a leg a few years previously.

Sometimes you find out who your real mates are whem things like this happen

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