As reported by many, many, many sites – Phil Collins has stated that he will never play drums again due to a painful spine injury.
It comes from years of playing. I can’t even hold the sticks properly without it being painful, I even used to tape the sticks to my hands to get through.
The article made me think more about how drummers don’t tend to think about their health and how important it really is to their craft.
I read an article a while back about Morgan Rose (sevendust) blowing out an eardrum from an in ear monitor. In this article he talks about blowing out his ear drums and worrying about his health, but that it also might be too late for the damage that has already been caused.
My friend Kent Aberle wrote about his turn from the nacho supreme to working out and eating right on his website.
The closest I have come to what would be an earth shattering injury happened at a rehearsal the night before a CD release show. We were running through the set list and were just about to the end when BAM! A shot of pain ran up from my wrist to my elbow. I fought the rest of the way through the song, but it was extremely painful.
When we finished, the piano player asked me if I was ok because judging by the look I made he thought I had broken something.
Luckily, I had just hyper extended my wrist so after wearing a brace for the next 24 hours I was ready to play at the CD release show and all went well. But, it was the initial worry that was the scariest. Will I ever be able to play drums again? Will I need to go to many hours of therapy to get this fixed? What the hell just happened to my wrist!?!?!
All of this could have been prevented with some simple stretching.
Do you have a routine of warm ups and stretches that you use? Post your suggestions in the comments and I may use them in a later post that talks about warming up your wrists and arms.
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