Gina S(c)hock Ices and Massages

unfunkyfooted

unfunkyfooted

Silver Member
people here have been telling me, that if i hurt from playing drums that it is My Technique that is the problem - be all and end all.

no one ever talks about icing down and massaging.

i swear to GOD, drumming HURTS and it is NOT LOW IMPACT.

discuss.

Gina Shock Evan Interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msjcvXOfETw
 
I have never felt pain as a result of playing my drums,the occasional blister aside.If you are in pain...then you DO have a technique problem,starting with how hard and where you hit your drums and cymbals.

You should also examine you plysical set up.Are all of your drums and cymbals in easy reach?

When Dave Weckl does clinics..one of his chief teaching points is how you set up your drums,and how you hit them,and the technique you use.

Steve B
 
You don't say where you hurt but try your throne height, pedal position. I see some pedals that would cause groin pulls they are so far away. This is due to not knowing the proper way to to adjust double pedals and hats. You should sit in a natural position with your feet in fron and then put your pedals where your feet are and not the other way around. If it is hands or arms then yes it is technique. My left thumb/wrist are hurts after a bit but I am an old man with arthritis setting in all over. Check yourself.
 
There are different types of pain IMO, good and bad.

Below are only my opinions:

Good pain: When I'm doing a fast double shuffle, the muscles that work the fingers of my snare hand (which are actually in my forearm) are getting worked hard and I get the type of pain you get from properly exercising a muscle. I like this pain, it means the next time I do this pattern, I will be able to do it longer before I feel the muscle being worked. I feel it is strengthening itself, and I actually try and shoot for this type of pain. (I know I will be flamed for this, but I know what works for me, and what moves me ahead)

Bad pain: You've got a death grip on the stick, the stick is mashed up against the palm, not suspended at all, and you do a loud backbeat and you feel a sharp shock related pain go up your forearm. Not good at all.

I believe in building (fatiguing) the muscle, then spending the rest of your time relaxing that muscle. If I stopped at the first sign of muscle fatigue, my hands would be far less strong than they are now. I push through it and by doing so, strengthen that muscle, much like weight lifting.

You can flame me all you want but I know this has strengthened my hands in a good way.

Hal Galper said ":We are athletes of the small muscles". Couldn't agree more. I believe that drumming muscles need to be strengthened and stretched, and this involves a certain amount of "good" pain.

Again, theses are only my opinions. They work for me, of that I have no doubt.
 
I agree with Larry. Though I'd rather describe it as " pain " and " burn ". The latter I get often when working on stamina. It's the same kind of feeling I get when I take a long run or do push ups. It's the kind of feeling that quickly passes. The former I get when I play stupid (stiff grip/using too many large muscle groups/hitting too hard/hitting my fingers :p). It's the kind of pain that lingers and tells you you are being stupid.
 
You bring up a valid point though.

Many pros with excellent technique still have issues.

Simon Phillips has had lower back issues. Greg Bissonette, Doan Perry, Jason Bitner and many others name players all go see this one physical therapist in Thousand Oaks, CA. Carmine Appice had to have surgery.

Pantera used to have a chiropractor travel with them. Many traveling with big bands get regular rub downs.
 
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Even Dave Weckl has had issues with pain, but no one is going to say he has bad technique

http://www.athleticpt.com/musicians

Dave Weckl
Professional Drummer- The Dave Weckl Band
“Athletic PT is full of caring, knowledgeable, professional people that take pride in what they do. It's not common these days to find a team of people that REALLY know what they are doing as far as the way the body works, and how to fix it if it's not quite working correctly! The most serious physical therapy I've ever been involved in.”
Click to expand...
 
Since I started playing, I've tried to be very conscious of my technique, because the thought of repetitive stress injuries horrifies me. Also, coming as close as you can to perfect technique expands the potential for how good your facility can get.

Due to my honing this awareness continuously and the resources on technique available nowadays, I've been able to get myself progressively closer to minimum impact to my body. For example, I used to get callouses on my fingers, so I focused on practicing a loose grip and allowing the sticks to rebound. I'd get some shoulder pain, so I focused on keeping my shoulders down. Back pain, focused on keeping good posture, with a straight back. So on and so forth.

It's also important to focus on relaxing. Of course we have to contract our muscles to make the movements necessary to drumming. However, I try to pay attention to tensing the correct muscles, and only long enough to execute a stroke. Also, to pay attention to what the times are when I'm more likely to tense up. Like, in a live playing or recording situation, this is way more likely to happen, so it's good to check yourself and actively try to relax. In these kinds of "stressful" situations, it's not even necessarily my playing muscles that will be tense, but can include the neck, shoulders, biceps....

Your setup is also important. It's a good idea to sit high enough to have your legs slope down a bit, or at most be parallel to the ground, but never slope up. This will also allow you to have your snare low enough where you don't have to raise your shoulder unnaturally to hit it. I keep my high-hat kinda low for the same reason. My cymbals aren't very high, and they're angled, so I can hit them with glancing blows and through mostly raising my forearms. Keep your pedals in a position where your legs are in a natural sitting position, and your body is centered between them. You don't want to have your legs too far apart, or one at a different or weird angle from the other.

So, basically I've found that constantly paying attention to doing everything as ergonomically as possible has allowed me to have no pain while drumming, aside from regular old fatigue. One of my bands plays loud and fast psycho-billy punk rock, and I'm never in any pain after playing. If you experience pain, you want to use that as messages from your body telling you what needs to be fixed.
 
Duracell said:
I agree with Larry. Though I'd rather describe it as " pain " and " burn ". The latter I get often when working on stamina. It's the same kind of feeling I get when I take a long run or do push ups. It's the kind of feeling that quickly passes. The former I get when I play stupid (stiff grip/using too many large muscle groups/hitting too hard/hitting my fingers :p). It's the kind of pain that lingers and tells you you are being stupid.
Click to expand...

Yes, burn is a better word. I was going to edit but you nailed it, thanks.
 
Stretching before and after gigs is what helps me. Also, if I'm sitting too close to the drum set, I can feel it burn in my left hand when I hit the tom and snare with it. Also, I try to use good drum seats, or else my bum gets sore after some hours of playing.
 
Vinnie is another who reportedly ices his hands etc. There is a vid posted here on DW somewhere, where he was laying down a version of Manic Depression. He comments at the end of that how sore his hands get from playing.

Sore hands, one or two errant blisters, muscle fatigue, the odd broken stick or indeed the rare broken cymbal. It ain't ALL a matter of "bad technique." I've never bought that line and I never will. However, there's many here who see it very differently.....many claim you shouldn't so much as break a stick, let alone apply a band aid to cover a lowly blister.

Excessive pain, bleeding hands, excessive breakage.......sure, re-evaluate what you're doing....something obviously isn't right. But some general soreness/fatigue or a lone wayward blister or even some callus build up after a 3 hour rock gig......I've always seen it as par for the course. :)
 
I think my earlier post wasn't as clear as it should have been.For some reason I was thinking serious debilitating pain,which can happen in cases of arthritis and carpel tunnel syndrome,or possibly repeditive motion injuries.The later two of the three I mentioned here can be mitigated by a technique or set up problem.I didn't mean to say that if you have pain,it must be a technique problem ....only.

I have felt the "burn"on occasion and some musle soreness ,but not real pain,except from arthritis in my knee,which has more to do with genetics than a drumming related injury.Just getting old I guess.

Steve B
 
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