alparrott
Diamond Member
Last night was my first gig back with either of my regular bands after the musical, and in my opinion it went poorly. I had numerous issues, but the biggest one going on right now is that I'm having a lot of stiffness and pain in my hands, and it's really giving them the dumb when it comes time to execute.
A little background here. I have issues with my neck going back to a serious injury while I was in the Army. Since I've gotten out, it's resulted in what's called cervical radiculopathy, where the nerves that run to your arms and hands get pinched where they come out of the spinal column by bulging discs. After several episodes of this, I've lost feeling in my thumbs and first fingers of both hands. Surprisingly, this hasn't caused me as many problems as you might think.
However, now I'm starting to get stiffening of the tendons and finger joints, with occasional pain. It can cause real difficulty in grasping and holding sticks, especially if my hands get sweaty. Occasionally during a fairly fast song, the numbness in my thumbs and fingers intensifies to a somewhat painful level. The newest development is that I've developed trigger finger in the middle and ring fingers of both hands.
I try to stretch and stay hydrated when coming up to play, but it's not enough. I'm wondering what some of my older - ahem, more seasoned - drummer brothers and sisters may be doing to address similar hand issues. Favorite balms? Heating or cooling? Dietary modification or supplement?
It hasn't gotten quite to the point where I'm ready to see a doctor, and my sister, who's a nurse practitioner, has been great about answering my questions. I figure there might be one or two home remedy fixes that might keep me going. The last thing I want to do is get to retirement in a couple of years and sit around not being able to play. Thanks in advance.
A little background here. I have issues with my neck going back to a serious injury while I was in the Army. Since I've gotten out, it's resulted in what's called cervical radiculopathy, where the nerves that run to your arms and hands get pinched where they come out of the spinal column by bulging discs. After several episodes of this, I've lost feeling in my thumbs and first fingers of both hands. Surprisingly, this hasn't caused me as many problems as you might think.
However, now I'm starting to get stiffening of the tendons and finger joints, with occasional pain. It can cause real difficulty in grasping and holding sticks, especially if my hands get sweaty. Occasionally during a fairly fast song, the numbness in my thumbs and fingers intensifies to a somewhat painful level. The newest development is that I've developed trigger finger in the middle and ring fingers of both hands.
I try to stretch and stay hydrated when coming up to play, but it's not enough. I'm wondering what some of my older - ahem, more seasoned - drummer brothers and sisters may be doing to address similar hand issues. Favorite balms? Heating or cooling? Dietary modification or supplement?
It hasn't gotten quite to the point where I'm ready to see a doctor, and my sister, who's a nurse practitioner, has been great about answering my questions. I figure there might be one or two home remedy fixes that might keep me going. The last thing I want to do is get to retirement in a couple of years and sit around not being able to play. Thanks in advance.