hey guys, the new year started badly for me, i slipped on the ice and dislocated my index, middle, and ring finger on my left(fretting) hand. this bummer made me think, whats the weirdest/most painful injury you had and how did it effect your playing. my new blacktop tele will have to wait.....

I hyperextended both of my thumbs a few years back. It was extremely painful and rendered both of my hands useless for several days. I couldn't even button my own shirt. Believe me when I tell you, those little guys truly are evolutionary miracles.

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Don't worry, Be happy.

Hi Jack: man, that's rough. What a way to start the decade!

My worst one by far was about six years ago when I badly slipped a disc (not the medical terminology, I know). For about 18 months I couldn't even touch the guitar - it hurt too much to hold it. Hardly an issue though - everything else was such exquisite 24 hour a day agony music was not much on my mind. Gradually I reached the point where I could play the guitar a little lying on my back on the floor. That paints a picture, don't it?

A lot of sensible sounding opinion suggested surgery might be the beginning of a long downward slippery slide and I should avoid it if at all possible. So I went to a very good (and astoundingly expensive) physiotherapist instead and set out on a life-time of back exercises, at least an hour a day, every day. I am very serious about keeping up with it, because years later I am now completely pain free, my back is about 95 percent of full performance and I strongly hope that so long as I don't do anything stupid with it I might not need to go through all of that agony again.

My wife's brother-in-law by comparison has just yesterday had his second dose of big scale spine surgery in a year. His back has now used up all its nine lives and it is the end of his career - he was a builder all his life till this week. Lord knows what he's going to do from here on.

Moral of the story: look after your backs, kids - and everything else about your health. Once it's gone it is very hard to get back.

Happy New Year - C

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Bad luck, Jack, that is not a good start to the New Year!

I had a nasty farm accident 12 years ago, and pretty much wrecked my left arm, among other injuries. Took a couple of years before I was playing at all well - had to re-learn all kinds of stuff, and find a few workarounds where things still don't quite work the way they used to - but God is good - I'm playing better than ever now, and a good deal more thoughtfully.

Prayers and good wishes for a full recovery...

Mike

Hope you get better soon!

sorry to hear about the fingers mate , the worst thing i've experienced (i'm with ceri on this one ) is a slipped disc in my neck, i spent about a month lying on the couch full of morphine , i could only stand for around a minute or so the i was a crumpled screaming heap on the floor . i had to stop shooting as it was bloody sore and i didn't fancy that again
the only plus point is that i picked up my strat again , i had no feeling in my left arm at all and i thought it might help , and it did i now only have numbness between my 2 first fingers , so in a way it's been a blessing to me , i've really enjoyed getting back into playing after a lay off of 8 or so years , i was also lucky i hadn't sold my gear my daughter was a bit miffed when i took back possesion of my strat and jcm800 mind you , cheers
Alan

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thanks guys, even though i feel a bit bad moaning about 3 fingers after hearing what you guys went through. i had an idea:i tuned the tele to that slide tuning, (i think its G or summin like that) ind put a slide on my thumb and managed a few white stripes style riffs, i can't wait to play teen spirit again though. and my band has a gig in 3 weeks!!!

these sound pretty bad guys
my funniest injury happened a few years ago when i fell into a cactus in a conservatory. both arms were covered in needles and turned a bit of an odd colour like i was a corpse
i went to the hospital because i didn't know what to do and they told me to wax them and sent me on my way.
so 5 years on i still have 2 bold arms. at least my femininely bold arms have a funny story to them

Best wishes for a quick heal.

I used to every so often jam my thumbs in the snow when skiracing, usually the follow up to hooking a tip and crashing and burnin.

The worst one was rolling the front tubular on a training ride one early march, that was the result of having flatted less than a Km from my house, switched front wheels ( a tubie that had been dormant all thru the year. I knew better but )
Result was a broken collarbone, a broken thumb, ground down to the bone at the first knuckle and a brand new jersey ruined.
Add insult to injury was a trashed early season as far as competitive fitness and the ignomious sentence of watching soap opera's on the tele for 3 to 5 weeks. ( only had rabbit ears, no cable)
Absolute minimal movement with a broken collarbone. I know I could have had it screwed together but healthcare insurance was not an option at the time.

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

OUCH!



Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

thats bad, hope you get better soon. meanwhile send that blacktop tele down to me

EDIT; BTW the biggest injury i've had that affected my playing is my stroke

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riley

Other than the current neuro-muscular condition affecting my hands the worst damage I ever did to my hand was cutting my middle left finger while drying a razor sharp chef's knife.It was taking a long while to heal since it was so deep but a good slathering of crazy glue speeded it up considerably.Hope your hand heals soon.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

jack

i did the same dang thing about a week before christmas, still stiff in the middle and ring finger nuckle's. not 100% yet, maybe 90 at best.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

I use to teach Martial Arts. Both thumbs and pinkies were severly injured over time along with broken knuckles. On top of that I`m retired from a bad job related back injury ( crushed 6 discs ) that does not allow me to sit, stand, or walk for long periods of time. Your desire to keep playing will teach you how to get around your injuries. Your fingers may never be the same again so learn how to block the pain. Playing the guitar has actually helped my fingers stay limber because arthritis was setting in making it painful to bend my fingers. Start playing as soon as some of the pain lets up, it will help the healing process.

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You're right, JPD. One of the surgeons I saw described getting back to playing as "the best physio you can get" for helping my damaged wrist and forearm tendons. For me the worst thing was a condition called reflex sympathetic dystrophy, which can set in after painful injuries. Apparently the earlier you can begin gentle exercise (i.e. playing!) the less likely this is to develop.