I've been wanting to post this thread for a while now, but just haven't been able. I fele like explaining my ordeal might be useful for someone else, or maybe get some feedback from others that have gone through this.
Several yeras ago, I hurt my shoulder by throwing a softball too hard. I could not throw at all for the rest of the season, and it continued to bother me for about a year. I was OK this past spring. During the summer, I had some aching in my right shoulder, and just shrugged it off to bursitis or just plain getting old. In october, I suddenly developed sever neck and shoulder pain. So severe that I went to a Chiro for the first time, as he is a good friend and I trust him. After 3 weeks, the pain was only somewhat better, and I still had numbness, weakness and tingling in my arm. I went to my MD, and we did an MRI on my neck and shoulder. It turns out that I had two herniated disks, C5-6 & C6-7, and a torn rotator cuff in my rt shoulder. The lesson I learned here is that even if Chiro treatment is effective, it takes time, and your chiro can't prescribe any help for the pain. Nothing over-the-counter helped, so I was greatly relieved when I got some real relief from my MD.
I decided to have surgery on my neck, and then see what the shoulder felt like. On 10/25 I had surgery, and went home the next day. Because they went in from the front of my neck, the main discomfort I had was a constant sense of being choked. The same feel you have after being hit in the adams apple. It took weeks for that to go away, and I still have that sense once in a while. I had some soreness in both shoulders for several weeks, and I was concerned that there still may be a problem, but that has gone away completely, and I am now pain free. I have been doing physical therapy 1-2 times a week ever since the surgery, and that has been a tremendous help.
Although the pain was much better after the surgery, and the numbness and tingling were gone, I was surprised by the amount of weakness I still had in my right arm. The medical explanation is that the nerve was and still is damaged, but will heal with therapy and time. The grip gauge measured my left hand strength at 85, and my right hand at 35. Big difference.
Of course one of my biggest concerns through all of this has been how it will impact my bass playing. While I was hurting and trying chiro care, I just took Ibuprofen and dealt with the pain the best I could. I did play sitting down, but was tight and had my normal groove. Fortunately we are not gigging that much, so I've only had to deal with practice. My surgery was on a Monday, and I was at practice on Friday. I had a soft collar, continued to play sitting down, and practiced a "No Bobbing Allowed" rule.
While I was not in any pain, I could tell right away that my groove was gone in a couple of ways.
First, I could not keep a steady rythm with my right hand fingers. It was like I had no control, and could not hit the string right. I was either too deep on the pad or just brushing the tip, but I could not get it right. I also had problems shifting strings. My left hand would be there, but my right finger would hit the wrong string. It was really pretty annoying and frustrating.
Now, after almost two months of PT focused primarily on my arm, shoulder and hand, I can say I feel like I am getting my groove back. Those PT vguys are amazing. They can take my complaint, test a few of my abilities, and identify exactly which muscle to work. I am going to add a couple of their tools to my home gym, especially the bands. Last week I started getting back into my nightly technique and scale exercises, and I think this will be a big help. Always go back to the fundementals when you need to get your groove back.
Something else I learned is that heat is not always the best therapy for soreness. Because my pain was coming from a pinched and damaged nerve, I needed to use ice. Ice reduced the blood flow, and hence, the swelling in the area, releaving pressure on the nerve and reducing the pain. Heat increases blood flow and swelling which is what you want when trying to releave muscle soreness.
If any of you guys have had this experience, please let me know if there is anything else I can do to speed up my recovery. And if you have any pain in your neck or shoulder, don't ignore it. The earlier you deal with it, the more likely you are to respond to lighter, easier, and cheaper treatment.
