I broke my right wrist. Damn. More of a chip, really. No, the hand doctor called it a fleck. So I guess we could say my wrist is flecked.
The pain killers are long gone. No fun there. Haven't played in a week and it's killing me. I'll miss performing at a festival tomorrow, probably miss a couple more sessions, and the doc says 3 more weeks of this.
Let's just say I spend 10 hours a week on music. What should I do with my time?
A bilateral wrist injury put me out of commission for a few years. My music energy went into singing and a bit of harmonica huffing. How many other one-handed instruments are there? Tabor pipe, … uh, hmmm… Shakey…never mind.
It wasn't broken - or flecked - bones. It was strain/stress that caused an intractable inflammation which became systemic. Not at all like your situation. Didn't mean to scare you, just to point out that the musical life can be sustained - one way or another.
You can play piano keys with one hand, too. (Or even one finger or nose).
When I sprained my thumb badly enough to be in a cast for two weeks, I had to spend music classes learning theory, although I wouldn't suggest that as an entertaining alternative...
Keith, I know how you feel. I've got tendonitis in both wrists (mainly my right one) and sometimes it keeps me from playing when I want to. And I also hate television. Hang in there. Atleast it's only for a couple more weeks.
I know a couple of players personally that have had injury or repetitive stress problems that have forced them to stop playing a particular instrument.
The good news is that they're musicians at heart, and they found some other instruments to play, and ended up playing the new instruments quite well.
Here's a tale of horror for you. A carpenter friend of mine who has been playing guitar since dirt was invented managed to cut off his left thumb a couple of years ago. Pretty ghastly. Fortunately, the thumb was re-attached and things sort of grew back together. It took a while, but he was playing again within the year. His band took a bit of a sabbatical, but they are playing around the area again.
Now be a good patient, let your wrist heal and don't go sneaking around playing before it's ready to be used again.
Well, I know of a fiddler who managed to cut off the tip of one of his fingers - I understand he got it re-attached and is playing again, though has never fully regained sensation in that finger.
So, "it could be worse......"
A good use of time would be simply to listen to lots of tunes over & over again that you'd like to learn.
Grego the Wise has a point there. I’ve noticed several times over the eons that after I take a break from playing for a week or two, after a warmup period I often play better than before the break. I think what’s happening is that I had accumulated some bad habits or too much tension in my playing and the break allowed some of the bad stuff to fade away, while the core competency remained. I think it can be a good way to evaluate your approach to playing.
You could practice whatever you can with your good hand. When my left hand was out of commission for a few weeks, I spent time just bowing open fiddle strings, practicing every variation I could think of (loud and soft, long and short strokes, crossing over strings, triplets, etc.). When I could play two-handed again, at least my bowing technique wasn't rusty.
You could also visit all your friends, tell them your tale of woe, and borrow lots of recordings to listen to.
(part two of the above reply) and I am now going through a long-term wrist injury. I've had an MRI and lots of advice from different doctors who contradict each other. It comes and goes, and right now it's not bothering me, so I can play...but sometimes it's so painful I can't even tie my shoes...I sympathize with you.
I used to play with a violinist who cut his left hand completely off with a chain saw. It was reattached, and he wasn't able to play for about a year while he went through rehab, but now he's playing again. Although his intonation isn't the greatest anymore (he doesn't have a lot of feeling in his fingers) the fact that he's actually playing never ceases to amaze me.
A friend's father was a good fiddle player. He also worked in a sawmill after he came back from the Second World War. Latterly, he was a good moothie player..............
A young girl came to me years ago for Fiddle lessons, but only had the use of two fingers on her left hand, & her right handed.
Well she still plays the Fiddle very well, sliding her 2nd finger up & down the fingerboard as necessary.
She also plays the Whistle using two fingers from one hand and four from the other.
She is also a terrific Bodhran player & is going on this autumn to start a music related degree.
Now there is determination for you.
So one thing you should NOT do with your time is feel sorry for yourself!!!
I'd say get out there to as many sessions as you can, & that festival.
Not enough musicians spend sufficient time actually listening to other musicians!
We are all guilty of playing too much & not listening enough - so here is a great opportunity for you to really use your ears. - have fun.
TVs not ALL bad, by the way!
P.S. By the way, she chopped off two of her fingers when she was very young by trapping them in the lid of her fathers metal tool box, as she sat on it!!
"I am now going through a long-term wrist injury. I've had an MRI and lots of advice from different doctors who contradict each other."
That's the way it went for me too, Greg. The surgeons wanted to operate, the internists prescribed pills, the physiatrist prescribed exercise, some said use heat, others said No! use ice, and on and on. The medication that finally broke the cycle of inflammation was something that my dad heard about on a TV talk show. I had to talk a doctor into prescribing it. He resisted for a while, then eventually suggested it as if it were his own idea.
By the way Keith, you were Greatly missed at the Saturday Festival.More than one person mentioned your absence. My personal advice for aiding in your wrist healing, is to star out slowly, by using it to gently raise a small glass (or two) of Austrailian Red ,each night,Then after a week or so working your way up to a few pints ( Maybe Three) you should be back in top Guitar playing form in no time.
Hi Keith.
I broke both of mine at the same time once, so it could be worse!
I was out of comission for a while, but when I got back, I was twice as hungry to play etc, and the break actually did me the world of good.
Get well soon
S
My wrist
My wrist
I broke my right wrist. Damn. More of a chip, really. No, the hand doctor called it a fleck. So I guess we could say my wrist is flecked.
The pain killers are long gone. No fun there. Haven't played in a week and it's killing me. I'll miss performing at a festival tomorrow, probably miss a couple more sessions, and the doc says 3 more weeks of this.
Let's just say I spend 10 hours a week on music. What should I do with my time?
And I DON'T watch television.
Keith
# Posted on August 26th 2005 by IC Keith
Re: My wrist
Two words: har monica
# Posted on August 26th 2005 by Bob himself
Re: My wrist
>What should I do with my time?
Have you considered advantage gambling? I highly recommend it!
# Posted on August 26th 2005 by Eliot
Re: My wrist
Sing?
# Posted on August 26th 2005 by Toresica
Re: My wrist
A bilateral wrist injury put me out of commission for a few years. My music energy went into singing and a bit of harmonica huffing. How many other one-handed instruments are there? Tabor pipe, … uh, hmmm… Shakey…never mind.
# Posted on August 26th 2005 by Bob himself
Re: My wrist
A few YEARS, Bob? Now I'm really depressed.
# Posted on August 26th 2005 by IC Keith
Re: My wrist
It wasn't broken - or flecked - bones. It was strain/stress that caused an intractable inflammation which became systemic. Not at all like your situation. Didn't mean to scare you, just to point out that the musical life can be sustained - one way or another.
# Posted on August 26th 2005 by Bob himself
Re: My wrist
Get a tiny cheap melodeon... there are little plastic ones in C for $25. They work. Get one, and you can learn a whole new instrument.
# Posted on August 26th 2005 by Zazzaliss
Re: My wrist
You can play piano keys with one hand, too. (Or even one finger or nose).
When I sprained my thumb badly enough to be in a cast for two weeks, I had to spend music classes learning theory, although I wouldn't suggest that as an entertaining alternative...
# Posted on August 26th 2005 by Toresica
Re: My wrist
Keith, I know how you feel. I've got tendonitis in both wrists (mainly my right one) and sometimes it keeps me from playing when I want to. And I also hate television. Hang in there. Atleast it's only for a couple more weeks.
# Posted on August 26th 2005 by Fiddlekit
Re: My wrist
I know a couple of players personally that have had injury or repetitive stress problems that have forced them to stop playing a particular instrument.
The good news is that they're musicians at heart, and they found some other instruments to play, and ended up playing the new instruments quite well.
Good luck with the fleck!
Pete
# Posted on August 26th 2005 by Reverend
It could be worse.....
Here's a tale of horror for you. A carpenter friend of mine who has been playing guitar since dirt was invented managed to cut off his left thumb a couple of years ago. Pretty ghastly. Fortunately, the thumb was re-attached and things sort of grew back together. It took a while, but he was playing again within the year. His band took a bit of a sabbatical, but they are playing around the area again.
Now be a good patient, let your wrist heal and don't go sneaking around playing before it's ready to be used again.
# Posted on August 26th 2005 by Michele Sims
Re: My wrist
If it's just a couple of weeks, a complete break from playing music can be refreshing, even if it's forced. Might be an opportunity?
# Posted on August 26th 2005 by grego
Ouch!
Well, I know of a fiddler who managed to cut off the tip of one of his fingers - I understand he got it re-attached and is playing again, though has never fully regained sensation in that finger.
So, "it could be worse......"
A good use of time would be simply to listen to lots of tunes over & over again that you'd like to learn.
# Posted on August 26th 2005 by On Sabbatical
Re: My wrist
Grego the Wise has a point there. I’ve noticed several times over the eons that after I take a break from playing for a week or two, after a warmup period I often play better than before the break. I think what’s happening is that I had accumulated some bad habits or too much tension in my playing and the break allowed some of the bad stuff to fade away, while the core competency remained. I think it can be a good way to evaluate your approach to playing.
# Posted on August 26th 2005 by Bob himself
Re: My wrist
You could practice whatever you can with your good hand. When my left hand was out of commission for a few weeks, I spent time just bowing open fiddle strings, practicing every variation I could think of (loud and soft, long and short strokes, crossing over strings, triplets, etc.). When I could play two-handed again, at least my bowing technique wasn't rusty.
You could also visit all your friends, tell them your tale of woe, and borrow lots of recordings to listen to.
# Posted on August 27th 2005 by John Galt
Re: My wrist
Listen to recordings of ITM; learn some Gaelic; continue to go to the sessions...that's what I'd do.
# Posted on August 27th 2005 by Greg the Piano Tuner
Re: My wrist
(part two of the above reply) and I am now going through a long-term wrist injury. I've had an MRI and lots of advice from different doctors who contradict each other. It comes and goes, and right now it's not bothering me, so I can play...but sometimes it's so painful I can't even tie my shoes...I sympathize with you.
# Posted on August 27th 2005 by Greg the Piano Tuner
Re: My wrist
I used to play with a violinist who cut his left hand completely off with a chain saw. It was reattached, and he wasn't able to play for about a year while he went through rehab, but now he's playing again. Although his intonation isn't the greatest anymore (he doesn't have a lot of feeling in his fingers) the fact that he's actually playing never ceases to amaze me.
# Posted on August 27th 2005 by fiddlebliss
Re: My wrist
Wow! Thank you. those are some stories. I'll stop feeling sorry for myself now.
Yesterday the doc put my wrist in a much more streamlined brace. It gives me pretty good use of my fingers, so I'm working on whistle.
Anybody know a good reel to follow Dick Gossip's...
# Posted on August 27th 2005 by IC Keith
Re: My wrist
One more.....
A friend's father was a good fiddle player. He also worked in a sawmill after he came back from the Second World War. Latterly, he was a good moothie player..............
# Posted on August 27th 2005 by On Sabbatical
Re: My wrist
A young girl came to me years ago for Fiddle lessons, but only had the use of two fingers on her left hand, & her right handed.
Well she still plays the Fiddle very well, sliding her 2nd finger up & down the fingerboard as necessary.
She also plays the Whistle using two fingers from one hand and four from the other.
She is also a terrific Bodhran player & is going on this autumn to start a music related degree.
Now there is determination for you.
So one thing you should NOT do with your time is feel sorry for yourself!!!
I'd say get out there to as many sessions as you can, & that festival.
Not enough musicians spend sufficient time actually listening to other musicians!
We are all guilty of playing too much & not listening enough - so here is a great opportunity for you to really use your ears. - have fun.
TVs not ALL bad, by the way!
P.S. By the way, she chopped off two of her fingers when she was very young by trapping them in the lid of her fathers metal tool box, as she sat on it!!
# Posted on August 28th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: My wrist
Maybe you could start a new band for one handed musicians called the Keith's Fleck and the Flecktoons.
Sorry.
# Posted on August 28th 2005 by zookman2
Re: My wrist
"I am now going through a long-term wrist injury. I've had an MRI and lots of advice from different doctors who contradict each other."
That's the way it went for me too, Greg. The surgeons wanted to operate, the internists prescribed pills, the physiatrist prescribed exercise, some said use heat, others said No! use ice, and on and on. The medication that finally broke the cycle of inflammation was something that my dad heard about on a TV talk show. I had to talk a doctor into prescribing it. He resisted for a while, then eventually suggested it as if it were his own idea.
# Posted on August 28th 2005 by Bob himself
Re: My wrist
By the way Keith, you were Greatly missed at the Saturday Festival.More than one person mentioned your absence. My personal advice for aiding in your wrist healing, is to star out slowly, by using it to gently raise a small glass (or two) of Austrailian Red ,each night,Then after a week or so working your way up to a few pints ( Maybe Three) you should be back in top Guitar playing form in no time.
# Posted on August 28th 2005 by violinguy
Re: My wrist
Hi Keith.
I broke both of mine at the same time once, so it could be worse!
I was out of comission for a while, but when I got back, I was twice as hungry to play etc, and the break actually did me the world of good.
Get well soon
S
# Posted on August 29th 2005 by Hugo Chavez
Re: My wrist
Sh*t th*t m*st h*ve b**n a bi*ch!*!
You broke both wrists & the 'break' did you the world of good???
Yippeee!
Let's all go out & break our wrists
...........................................crack! .....crack!
# Posted on August 29th 2005 by Ptarmigan