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I'll be 76 next month. Sometimes my left thumb hurts after a gig-old non bass playing injury. Seeing a quac...er, doctor might mean having to stop playing for ? amount of time to rehab or repair it and who knows how much longer I'll be playing. I have Advil.I would call it olditis caused by the the onset of age, after all, I am 69
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Do you have arthritis in your hands? If so, that may adequately explain the pain (or not).I would call it olditis caused by the the onset of age, after all, I am 69
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Yeah, I hear you. I can no longer take advil/aleve etc. I was taking it daily for years to deal with pain that needed surgical correction and it has reduced my kidney function, so no more. Now I use tylenol and steroid injections in the worst joints.
Yikes! I'm not a fan of needles and-for me-Tylenol is useless. I have a lot of Advil 'cos I rarely take one. By the time I get home from the gig, unload the van, and have a drink-or 3-I don't bother with the IB.
So much to unpack there...No arthritis, probably just another life well lived, and many thousands of hours playing. The guitarist in my suspended Country Band has no cartilage left in the base of his fretting hand thumb. He's had steroid injections which work for a while, but pretty much just plays in pain. His medical option is a dicey surgery with a long recuperation and a low success rate, he's 70, and not gonna do it. Like GonePlaid sez, we don't know how long we have left to play. The singer in my now on hiatus Country Band came down with COPD 2 years ago, not seeing much or any improvement, so you never know.
On a separate note, my wife is less tolerant of my playing in bands than she used to be, and makes it hard on me. She keeps asking me when I'm going to get tired of it and quit doing it. I remind her I asked her at dinner with friends the night before we married those many years ago, that a condition of our marriage was that she never interfered with my music and she agreed, but says it doesn't count because it's been so long. Next time she asks, I'll tell her I'll quit music when she quits gambling, that should do it?
Right. Of course he should check with a doctor first. What he's is positional overuse when playing certain basses.
In all, we have insufficient information (and nor should that information be posted). It is hard to figure out what is going on. My own approach is to consider what the best and worst possibilities are and consider how willing I am to suffer the worst outcome by ignoring things and hoping for the best outcome.
A lot of people think OTC NSAIDs and other common pain relievers are completely safe with no side effects because you can buy them off the shelf at the grocery/drug store. That's why it's important if taking something all the time your doctor knows it and monitors the effects with regular lab work.
Best advice ever, and why I posted on the thread with the smartest people; those being of course, Thunderbird players (tongue in cheek because bass players in general are smarter than most).Lots of sound advice here about hand problems, of which I’m struggling through as well. As our melon inclined friend from the north noted, we don’t have all the info, so prescribing effective treatment could be hit or miss. Thumper clearly has a problem with his hand and should see his doc for diagnosis, being sure to mention his bass playing history and how the pain is impacting that now.
My personal experience on putting off professional diagnosis and treatment (which I was notorious for) in lieu of self diagnosis and OTCs or lifestyle changes is that it just delays the inevitable. Sooner or later the pain gets worse or starts to creep into other areas of your lifestyle. None of us are getting any younger, and as we age past 60 it seems like our bodies have a more difficult time recovering from corrective surgery.
@Thumper - get to the doctor, tell him what you did to that hand in the past, tell him what you’re doing with it now and tell him what you want to do with it in the future. Don’t assume he knows those things, they may impact his recommended treatment plan.
….or just do what I’d stupidly do and switch to a more comfortable bass neck, in essence kicking the can down the road a few years only to find out later that now every bass neck hurts and simple functions like using a screwdriver or writing with pen and paper has become difficult. Don’t be me, be smart.
My '66J, hate the neck, not a great tone either. 9 lbs 2 ozs. I bought it in 1983 for $350, still had original strings on it, had been in the case under a bed for 11 years, it was bought by a professional guitarist to have a bass for people to play at jams. My son will get it when I'm gone....
Yeah, it's a beauty, was my main player until I bought my '76 Tbird in 85 or 86. It's not one of CBS/Fenders best, or maybe I'm just not a J person.
