Taking guitar for granted (and its implications)

[Br1ck]

At 72, my hands have various troubles. About five years ago, I had carpal tunnel surgery. Solved the numbness, but boy can I tell exactly where they cut. My left index finger can't grab a cowboy C chord when I start, but works after about 5 minutes or less. My right thumb hurts from the pounding it's taken, so I lighten up on my grip.

I'd say overall, I'm blessed as collectively I play two hours over the course of any day on both mandolin and guitar. Perhaps the differences cause the pressures to be distributed across hand parts. But I know folks far worse off than I, and I'll take whatever good fortune I get.

I've prepared mentally for not being able to play a dread with .013s anymore. I'll buy a player grade Martin 0 18 from the mid twenties, and string it with silk and steel .010s.

[Pdubs76]

These type of threads are depressing, because I know what I have to look forward to. Hell, I’m already having pretty bad arthritis in my mid forties. To the OP…something tells me that you’ll be playing again in no time. Don’t give up!

[Pdubs76]

Originally Posted by lowrider

See a hand specialist. There are really good doctors out there who can help you.

I retired from working as a heavy construction carpenter foreman, 11 years ago because my hips had failed and my hands were failing. I had surgery right after and hand surgery a few years later after my left was failing.

About a year later I got a Yamaha guitar to use to strengthen the hand. I had another surgery on that hand this past April and it's now doing just fine.

Don't give up, there is someone out there who can help you, you just have to find them.

Good luck!

I hear ya on the bad hips. Been a framer for over 25 years. Ladders and heavy tool belts are a bad mix!

[Glennwillow]

I'm sorry Slothead and all others who are having trouble as age advances. I've had my share of problems with osteoarthritis, but somehow I have managed to keep playing, though I have lost a little.

I am grateful for every day. I was relieved yesterday over some lucky news on the medical front for my wife. Sometimes you get a little extra time.

Hang in there!

- Glenn

[devellis]

If you're over 50 or so, you've very likely got some degree of arthritis, although it may not be causing any problems. For folks who have symptoms causing limitations, it's probably a very good idea to connect with a rheumatologist. Arthritis-related illnesses (the so-called "arthritides") exist, literally, in hundreds of forms that can range from inconsequential to life-endangering. Most forms (and the overwhelming number of cases) are in between those extremes and can cause from mild to severe discomfort and functional impairment. Truth be told, the term "arthritis" has been a catch-all for lots of diseases that vary from intimately to loosely related to one another. If it impacted joints, it stood a good chance of being classified as a form of arthritis. In recent decades, a lot of that ambiguity has been clarified, especially with the recognition of the role of autoimmunity in some forms of arthritic disease.



All this complexity and variability is why seeing a rheumatologist is a good idea. They can more accurately determine what treatment plan is most likely to provide relief with the fewest side-effects. A lot of the drugs used to treat arthritis can have quite serious side-effects, such as increased susceptability to infection. So close monitoring is often important.


The good news is that treatments for both imflammatory, autoimmune forms (like rheumatoid arthritis) and erosive, wear-and-tear forms (like osteoarthritis) have come a long way in the last decade or so. But diagnosis and prompt treatment remain important.


There are also a lot of non-medicinal treatments that can help. But it's still important, I think, to get good medical treatment as the core intervention for arthritis. A competent, knowledgeable rheumatologist can refer patients to other forms of care as warranted. It's a matter of choosing the right mix of treatments for a specific case and monitoring the impact the treatments have. Some seemingly innocuous things can have both surprisingly positive or surprisingly adverse impacts, depending on the circumstances of the individual being treated.


Be wary of other people's recommendations based on their own experiences, not because they're not telling the truth or aren't sincerely trying to be helpful but because different people can react differently to identical interventions.


Arthrits in many forms tends to wax and wane. While that's better than a condition that always stays really bad, it's also conducive to misattributing improvements that may be part of that cycle to some external factor. Consequently, there are lots and lots of unsubstantiated claims for various remedies. To complicate things even further, some remedies may work for some people and not others or for a short time and then stop being effective. Something a lot of unproven remedies have in common is a strong sensory component: they may have a very strong taste or smell, or more often may have a noticable warming, cooling, or other "feelable" effect. I think a reason for that is, it's easier to believe something is having some sort of effect if you can "feel it working." Warming or cooling may actually have some therapeutic value under the right circumstances but mistakenly attributing its benefits to something that only produces the effect as, essentially, a side-effect doesn't strike me as the ideal treatment approach. Some unproven treatments are actually painful, like bee stings. Those may work by stimulating endorphins, natural hormonal pain-killers that may be released in response to the pain. But that, again, strikes me as a pretty inefficient and imprecise way to manage pain. Having some help from someone who understands the underlying physiological mechanisms makes a lot of sense to me.



Most people can get releif with proper treatment. Sometimes, early treatment can even seemingly arrest a process that was causing arthritis symptoms. So the worst-case scenarios aren't at all what everyone will experience. But getting good expert advice and guidance early on is probably the best course of action. Also, a treatment that is effective initially may need to be revised at some point. Being under the care of a rheumatologist can make recognizing and adapting to waning regimen effectiveness a quicker and easier process.


Finally, let me emphasize that this is all just personal opinion, not credible medical advice. It's based on some familiarity with arthritis research and indirect familiarity with arthritis treatment. But I'm not a physician or therapist.

[jricc]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

I'm sorry Slothead and all others who are having trouble as age advances. I've had my share of problems with osteoarthritis, but somehow I have managed to keep playing, though I have lost a little.

I am grateful for every day. I was relieved yesterday over some lucky news on the medical front for my wife. Sometimes you get a little extra time.

Hang in there!

- Glenn

I'll echo Glenn's sentiment and send you all healing thoughts and vibes.
I'm happy for your lucky news Glenn.

[PTL]

Truly sorry to read this. Hope you get better. Prayers for you.

I wonder if it could be gout or something like that? My Dad had something similar and improved.

Originally Posted by Slothead56

I’ve been playing for almost 50 years…solo shows in college, Open Mics, weddings and funerals. Anywhere I could

I stopped performing out while I built a career and raised a family but I never quit playing and I never quit writing songs.

About 6 or 7 years ago I started playing out again on a limited basis.

So, it was with tremendous anticipation that, upon my retirement this Summer, I’d play more, play out more, write more, learn more and generally feed the musical beast that has been cloistered in me for several decades.

And then my hands quit on me.

Waiting to see what the diagnosis is but the sudden onset of painful joints and non flexibility- especially in my left index finger-makes playing impossible. I haven’t played in weeks. I can’t.

This isn’t about sympathy for me as much as it is a cautionary tale….don’t take this wonderful instrument-and all its ancillary appendages-for granted. Learn, practice, stretch, dare, achieve. Be impatient.

For me, I’m looking at other instruments and styles that put less emphasis on digit flexibility. Maybe bass, maybe piano, maybe Dobro…who knows.

(BTW-this is not my first post on the subject of my hands. But recent reflection has me looking back more than looking forward.)

[Jim Owen]

Keep us posted. I hope there’s a solution, Slothead. I’ve endured periods when I couldn’t play.

Your reminder is quite apt, even for folks not yet in our generation.

[Slothead56]

I appreciate the number of positive and encouraging responses to my original post.

Last week was not a good week. Lots of pain and uncertainty. Still couldn’t play and in a major funk as I was relying on music to take up a fair chunk of time in my recent retirement.

But wait…there’s good news!!!!

I met with a hand surgeon yesterday who gave me my fourth Cortisone injection in my left index finger and I just got done strumming away for about 10 minutes pain free and with full range of motion. Follow-up visit in 6 weeks but I CAN PLAY!! YEA ME!

I am soooo excited-I just restrung my OM 42k ands my D-18. (Also strung up my Gurian with Nashville strings and will be posting separately about that.)