Drummers and long term diseases?

jwildman

jwildman

Senior Member
After years and years of drumming, what diseases happen to a drummers body? I'd imagine that all the shock going into the legs and hands/arms would put a strain on the body. Plus all the repetitive motions I would think weakens your joints.
 
jwildman said:
Plus all the repetitive motions I would think weakens your joints.
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Movement helps movement. I have some arthritis (drumming was not the cause) but because I move constantly my joints stay supple.


I do not think drumming causes disease.
 
I use drumming to help me with the diseases of aging. I have also used drumming to help me after I suffered a minor stroke. It is low impact, It makes the mind control the body, It is the greatest thing since bottled beer for older people!
Drum until you drop! But it won't be from drumming!
 
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Back problems spring to mind.

Depends. The worse your technique the more your body has to strain and if you're straining constantly there's no end to the complications drumming could cause.
 
Injury and disease are very different things.

The OP should have used the term "ailments".
 
Get a throne with a backrest and you're golden! Literal and figurative!
 
I''ve been playing for 25 years and don't have a back problem yet (touch wood) but I know people who have. Thought about getting a back rest seat but they're so hefty and impossible to fit in a standard trap case.

You're right though, this is all injury and not disease.
 
There are no DISEASES of drumming per'se. The human condition unfortunately doesn't discriminate, ANYONE can get a disease, not just Drummers.

Drumming is EXERCISE, and it's GOOD to exercise so keep drumming!!
 
bobdadruma said:
I have also used drumming to help me after I suffered a minor stroke. It is low impact, It makes the mind control the body, It is the greatest thing since bottled beer for older people!
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Never thought of this before Bob. But now that you've mentioned it, I can't think of a better therapy for stroke recovery.
 
Pocket-full-of-gold said:
Never thought of this before Bob. But now that you've mentioned it, I can't think of a better therapy for stroke recovery.
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My Doctor didn't believe my recovery rate! I began playing after my stroke after not playing for 15 years. I was depressed, drumming gave me a reason to live again. I had to teach my brain to control my right side again. It was a minor stroke from a blood clot, so I made an almost complete recovery. There was little damage. I was fortunate! The symptoms were treated in time! It was more like a long power service interruption! It frightened the crap out of me though!
 
bobdadruma said:
My Doctor didn't believe my recovery rate! I began playing after my stroke after not playing for 15 years. I was depressed, drumming gave me a reason to live again. I had to teach my brain to control my right side again. It was a minor stroke from a blood clot, so I made an almost complete recovery. There was little damage. I was fortunate! The symptoms were treated in time! It was more like a long power service interruption! It frightened the crap out of me though!
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There's an earner in this for you mate. I can just see you now. Running your own private clinics out of stroke rehab centres. A dozen or so people all recovering by belting out paradiddles. The staff would love it!!
 
Pocket-full-of-gold said:
There's an earner in this for you mate. I can just see you now. Running your own private clinics out of stroke rehab centres. A dozen or so people all recovering by belting out paradiddles. The staff would love it!!
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I did that for a while. Only one person was interested in the drums. He didn't make as much progress as me because he hadn't played before as I had. Most stroke victims are older and the stroke is more severe than mine.
I had two kids at home back then, so I had to get back to my regular job as soon as possible.
I helped out as much as I could while I was being compensated from the insurance co.
My stroke was caused by a neck injury that I received at work.
 
bobdadruma said:
My Doctor didn't believe my recovery rate! I began playing after my stroke after not playing for 15 years. I was depressed, drumming gave me a reason to live again. I had to teach my brain to control my right side again. It was a minor stroke from a blood clot, so I made an almost complete recovery. There was little damage. I was fortunate! The symptoms were treated in time! It was more like a long power service interruption! It frightened the crap out of me though!
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my percussion instructor recovered from his stroke in a similar manor. he had a drumset right there in the pt room and that was his pt...not walking or learning "normal" stuff agian...but by playing drums.
 
georgeman said:
my percussion instructor recovered from his stroke in a similar manor. he had a drumset right there in the pt room and that was his pt...not walking or learning "normal" stuff agian...but by playing drums.
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Im glad that things worked out for your instructor.
I worked so hard that I play better now than I did years ago! I found a new drive to play. It became an obsession! When I played years ago it was just a not so serious hobby.
 
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Pocket-full-of-gold said:
There's an earner in this for you mate. I can just see you now. Running your own private clinics out of stroke rehab centres. A dozen or so people all recovering by belting out paradiddles. The staff would love it!!
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Hahaha they would have to open up a tinnitus clinic next door!
 
Hearing damage! My wife says I have selective hearing disorder.
Another is being immature, I am 40 but I act like I am a teenager somtimes.
I am glad to hear that drumming has helped out with stroke victims cudo's to you guys.
 
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Ten years after I started playing, I started to get these bronze spots all over my body and I'd keep breaking out in Zildjians. So I went to the doc who did a Sonor-graphy and basically told me that my paradiddle was unaccented.

I was shattered. It scared the sticks outta me!

So I went to pray for my health at my church & standing in front of the Gibraltar, I asked " please God, don't let it be Sabianism, for Pearl's sake"!

After waiting for what almost seemed like 64 bars, his assistant, a dwarf called Dr. Metro-gnome finally comes out of the Drum Workshop and tells me "hey Aydee, your paradiddle was inverted so we had to do a little Byzance surgery and remove it. The good news is you dont have the Zildjians.

However, the bad news is that you've got Yamahives"

...
 
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