Health

[J R Knots]

I’m hoping your injections work.

Pushing …I’ll be 67 in January..

My issues are less but it seems there are new pains everyday… still playing and gigging (about once a month).

I wouldn’t want to stop music, I just retired and was hoping to spend most days working on it.

Sorry for your issues. Again, I hope you can tackle it.

 

[Pop C]

I wish you the absolute best! I'm 2 1/2 months from 72, gigging pretty much every weekend. I had rotator cuff surgery on the right shoulder in 2006, tore the left in 2017 and refused surgery, even though workmans comp would have covered it. My left is just as good as my right, even though the tendon is completely torn. I've crashed on my right hip twice on concrete at my job (didn't break it) so it's sore and a weather forecaster. I continued to play and work as much as I could through all of it. If I have ANY advice at all (and it may not be worth squat) it would be to try to keep yourself as flexible as you can without over doing it. Take it slow and try to increase. I sincerely hope you get better!! TRULY!!

 

[basted]

I am 69. Had a total knee replacement in November. I have been cycling and going to yoga each week as part of my rehab.
We played a support gig for our friends band last Saturday. First gig since surgery. Keep exercising and try to keep your weight down. Hope you go well.

 

[Whale guy]

Never stop learning and growing. With your knowledge experience, you could teach, find a combo band, or best of all, find some folks to jam with. Just don't stop. Maybe your situation is buying you time to develop new skills.

 

[climber]

Very sorry to hear you’re in this state. Getting old certainly isn’t for sissies, as they say! I’m 74, usually practice an hour or so most days and am still playing 2-4 nites a week. I have a frayed labrum and slightly torn rotator cuff in my left shoulder, arthritis in both hands and had a S1-L5 fusion in ‘77. Over the years I’ve realized that being sedentary is a bad thing. I’ve made a conscious decision to be active. I ride my mountain bike 2-3x a week, upper body workout in the gym 2-3x a week, walk regularly and still climb once a week. I think being active is crucial. The gym has kept me from shoulder surgery and helped manage my back by strengthening my core. A massage every 4-5 weeks has also helped a lot.

I really try to keep my weight down (180 5’11”), eat lean meat, lots of salads and veggies and don’t do drugs or smoke. My goal is to play into my 80’s if at all possible.

 

[EatS1stBassist]

I'm 67 yrs old, not too old but certainly not young. I'm being sidelined by my health.
I retired and have suffered the worst last 2 years. Triple sinus surgeries, COVID, a heart stent, shoulder rotator cuff and now arthritis in my spine.
In short, most everything hurts and I can't, at this point, continue on stage.
It's taking the life out of me. I've backed out of my last two gigs due to health. I'm trying to put it in perspective but it's emotionally painful.
Is there hope for a musical future or do I resign myself to being shelved by ill health?
Anyone else going through this? Any advice??

Cancer an debilitating Arthritis. Couldn’t get back up! 72 years old. On top of that weeks of constipation from the chemo meds. A locked finger with trigger finger. I started putting Morrocan olive oil on everything I eat including a concoction I called lemon juice with olive oil three times a day, in four months my issues with my intestinal track was cleared my trigger finger was gone and now I’m able to go down and pick up anything I want to. I can come right back up my my own legs without steading myself on some sort of furniture and now I can play the crap out of my bass like I did when I was young. Hope this helps I get it from iGourmet.com
Link Removed

 

[StereoPlayer]

This thread prompted me to go outside and walk around....thank you.

 

[Hectobar]

55. And don’t have those issues. Yet…. I do have skeletal problems playing that didn’t exist when younger. For me, my right hand locks if I’m playing to hard. Scary as hell.

I want to thank you for sharing your situation. For me it is a reminder to be thankful for the gift, for the opportunity to perform and make music. Thank you!!

it is also a reminder that Father Time is undefeated. I’m going to fight it like hell. Planning my music making contingency now.

I appreciate you sharing something so personal.

stay strong and rock on!

 

[stringthrough]

Sorry to hear.

Have you considered composing & recording your works on a computer? I'm 67, still gigging, but also enjoy and get satisfaction from said activity.

Good luck!

 

[Samatza]

Sorry to hear you are having these issues, it’s not easy overcoming painful conditions.

Myself, I had a broken foot, Covid, arthritis in the spine and sciatica that rendered me almost immobile for a few months.

I tried all sorts of remedies, what worked for me was light weight bearing exercises and focusing on eating clean.

I’m honestly feeling much better and going back to the gym as the home weights are now too easy.

The Mediterranean diet works wonders along with moderate exercise. I hope you can find what works for you so you can keep going.

Best wishes and best of luck.

 

[HardNHeavy]

I feel for ya.....My guitarist buddy is starting to go thru some health issues as well, and he cant stand or sit for any length of time due to his back, and my hip now bothers me when seated and playing. Epidural my whole body would be my remedy, but that's not doable..or is it
Many great suggestions already here...But i wish for you pain free good health for the future. ...Anyway id start by making everything lighter and easy to transport and keep bones and muscles healthy take frequent breaks and mostly stay positive.

 

[wysiwyg248]

I'm mobile enough to walk and I do when my back isn't acting up. Ironically I'm on my way for spinal injections this AM. Hoping for good results!

Sorry to hear about your health issues, I also have a couple of stents (heart attack in 2018) but have been religiously walking and going to heart rehab (gym where you are monitored), family care and support also help a lot. Weight loss will help significantly with your heart's ejection fraction, also check if you can go to rehab for your rotator cuff. I'm still playing, not as much as I used to, but heavy equipment or instrument are not a problem, YET. All the best and remember that "success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts" (Churchill said that). BTW, I am also a lefty that learned to play as a righty.

 

[Eric Swaim]

My situation is the following:
Tennis Elbow Surgery
Two partial knee replacements
L5 Vertebre not lined up correctly
When back is out of wack, and bass over 10 lbs makes my left thigh numb and I feel a fire branding pain 2 inches below my left hip. If I take my knucles and run down my leg it feels like a fire hot rake.

My solution:
Chiropractor once a month and massage once a month two weeks apart from each other.

There is nothing wrong with sitting at a gig if that allows you to play comfortably enough. I have never had too but 3 times in my life after I had covid with pnuemonia last year and after each knee replacement surgery.

I will pray for you that you can get through this and still enjoy playing. I am 56 and do not know you but will keep you and your situation in mind as I pray for people.

 

[Nathan Eskridge]

Ummm... I've run the program going from having never squatted before, to progressing to 5/3/1, Texas Method, and Smolov Jr. for various lifts after I was hitting the wall with the volume as programmed in Starting Strength. Pretty sure I understand the program.

From Rippetoe's own website:




Fast forward almost seven years, and I can honestly tell you that I wouldn't even dream of running the program as written if I was starting back up as I'm on the wrong side of 40.

If the only progress a male can do is going to 80lbs, that's indicative of physical issues that would contraindicate doing a powerlifting program. What's more, the lack of flexibility as you get older means that you need to do different types of exercise. It's really easy to injure yourself doing squats if you don't have good shoulder mobility, hip mobility, etc.

I can honestly tell you that if I were to straight up attempt to run starting strength as written, I would immediately undo ALL the progress I've made with getting my shoulder back to being able to play any bass guitar heavier than a Höfner or MiKro - and I know this because even playing a Les Paul for one set at church put me back over a month. If I were to add trying to bench, shoulder press, or rows, I'd have a similar issue. Who knows if the deadlifts would work or not.

If you're under 30, do Starting Strength. If you are between 30 and 40, carefully evaluate any injuries or issues you have and proceed with caution and a Costco-sized bottle of Ibuprofen - I know that I looked forward to evenings in the gym almost as much as I hated the mornings after. If you're over 40, look for a program that is better suited to being in the "Masters" age bracket.

Edit: also, once you stop lifting proper, you are almost certain to keep the same weight you were at, while having a dramatic body composition shift. If I had to do it again, I would have probably started dieting the minute I set the weights down.

Yes so quoting your own rip quote, program modifications are required, but it’s still the program

 

[Pdaddy1978]

I'm 67 yrs old, not too old but certainly not young. I'm being sidelined by my health.
I retired and have suffered the worst last 2 years. Triple sinus surgeries, COVID, a heart stent, shoulder rotator cuff and now arthritis in my spine.
In short, most everything hurts and I can't, at this point, continue on stage.
It's taking the life out of me. I've backed out of my last two gigs due to health. I'm trying to put it in perspective but it's emotionally painful.
Is there hope for a musical future or do I resign myself to being shelved by ill health?
Anyone else going through this? Any advice??

Yes my friend.... You are not alone.
I have recently had a cancer surgery, I've got a prostate like a softball, arthritis and carple tunnel.
When I gave up,.... I got really bitter.
In fact, I didnt pick up my bass for a couple of years.
Then, I got over it. I started playing at home for pleasure. I called a few old friends who are getting older too and set up some casual jams. They understand if I say " break time guys".
Giving up full time gigging is hard. But it has its own pleasures.
Don't stop playing......just play when it dosent hurt.
And Advil.....its your new friend....

 

[g-dude]

Yes so quoting your own rip quote, program modifications are required, but it’s still the program

There's a whole book called "The Barbell Prescription" that is the more appropriate place to start.

Once my shoulder is back to normal, I'll probably be cracking it open if I don't get the clearance to get off the blood thinners and actually get back on my bike. As much as I enjoyed things like getting nicknamed "Wolverine" by one the trainers at my gym during my powerlifting days, it gets really old having docs tell you to lose weight when you aren't even fat.

 

[SJan3]

Sorry to hear about your health issues, I also have a couple of stents (heart attack in 2018) but have been religiously walking and going to heart rehab (gym where you are monitored), family care and support also help a lot. Weight loss will help significantly with your heart's ejection fraction, also check if you can go to rehab for your rotator cuff. I'm still playing, not as much as I used to, but heavy equipment or instrument are not a problem, YET. All the best and remember that "success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts" (Churchill said that). BTW, I am also a lefty that learned to play as a righty.

Yes, I went to cardio rehab for 6 weeks. I felt better until the back issue which disallowed any further exercise. I have one final procedure, a spinal ablation that will hopefully eliminate my back worse. If it works, I may be back in business.
*Good to hear from another Lefty who plays Righty!

 

[SJan3]

Yes my friend.... You are not alone.
I have recently had a cancer surgery, I've got a prostate like a softball, arthritis and carple tunnel.
When I gave up,.... I got really bitter.
In fact, I didnt pick up my bass for a couple of years.
Then, I got over it. I started playing at home for pleasure. I called a few old friends who are getting older too and set up some casual jams. They understand if I say " break time guys".
Giving up full time gigging is hard. But it has its own pleasures.
Don't stop playing......just play when it dosent hurt.
And Advil.....its your new friend....

Lol!! Love your attitude. When I'm feeling better I'll reach out to some players and do that. Thanks!

 

[SJan3]

Your gripes are not inappropriate and I'm sorry to hear about the many challenges you're facing. I'm 60 and have faced significant physical challenges to gigging since 2004, when a motorcycle accident that I was lucky to survive left me with a paralyzed right leg and badly damaged right arm.

I had to give up the double bass, which I'd been gigging frequently until the accident and need a stool to sit on when I perform. My gear is light enough that I can move it myself but it's very hard for me and I gratefully accept help from fellow musicians. I've encountered stages where simply getting on and off them is a nightmare, and living in a northern climate where winters are long with ice and snow, just getting to the gig can be perilous. The ongoing pain from the injury to my spinal column (the nerves in my lumbar region which run to my right leg are extruded and floating around in there) is omnipresent and too often excruciating.

Reading your story reminds me how important the ability to still play bass with great musicians at meaningful gigs means to me and my well-being. Despite my challenges, my playing has never been better and the gigs are frequent enough to feel like I'm part of something; I'm also blessed with musician friends who accept my limitations.

All one can do is address the things you can fix and adjust to those you can't. My health is sound otherwise and I don't mean to compare us, just saying that your writing says to me that you love playing bass in public just as much as I do and that I encourage you to focus on a path toward sustaining that passion. Best of luck!

I'm so sorry for your bike accident but it sure sounds like you're making it happen anyways. I'm inspired by your tenacity.
I'll remember when I can get back on my feet with a bass around my neck.
Thanks and feel well.

 

[two fingers]

So Starting Strength is great, but not age appropriate.

It’s really aimed at people on the young side of 30.

Your body gets different as you get older, and while Starting Strength is great, in conjunction with moving to 5/3/1 or the Texas Method, I would strongly advise against anyone over 40 from using its programming for very long, if at all.

Yeah maybe "Muscle For Life" by Mike Matthews is a better fit. He wrote it for the over 40 crowd. Smart dude.