[cray]

I have been a drummer for 20 years and I am self taught.... Soooo I was never taught the proper exercises and posture for drumming. Now that I am 38, I notice that I do not play as much as I used to. Now, after I play, many of my joints and muscles ache.

Often times it can become quite painful, esp in high stressed areas such as the wrists( I have always cracked pretty hard on the snare), neck (probably due to posture), elbows, shoulders and parts of the chest.

I stopped playing for a month and felt much better, had a few massages etc.

Missed my drums and went back, now the pain is back.

Have I reached my peak here? Is it time to make a choice. Anyone else have to deal with something like this?

[Paulo]

In a short reply, No.

As far as the question about other's, yes. I'm 29 and have all sorts of pain in my ankles and knees especially, wrists too. This is mainly from my younger days of idiot style skateboarding and bmx'n though. To those kids out there, it will catch up with you. Hard.

Anywhoo, I actually have a pretty good description of a valuable exercise in a thread somewhere....

Drummin' tennis elbow blues

There are myriad exercises and warm-ups out there. Stretches are great, even some basic yoga will really help. Sometimes, little changes can make a big difference. It's worth researching as opposed to throwing in the towel. For you will surely regret that.

[Bo Eder]

So are you saying that you're too old to perhaps learn things correctly?

Maybe you should get with a good teacher and s/he could suggest some things that you're doing wrong. Then get with your doctor and/or a chiropractor to see if there's anything wrong with your body that physical drumming is causing.

I think if you really love doing it, then it'll be worth it to at least begin working on the ergonomic end. I'm 44 and still playing, and there are players who are alot older. Every now and then I deal with bad circulation to my hands, but my chiropractor discovered it was a pinched nerve in my neck, so we work on that and it's slowly getting better.

But it won't happen overnight - apparently it took you 20 years to get this bad. So it'll take some time to fix alot of things. But it can be done if you want it enough.

[xxvenom13xx]

If it's in your wrists, it may be how you are holding the sticks.

That's the first mistake people make, and it can give you major problems.

Look on VicFirth.com for tips on posture and stuff; it really helps!
(:

But from what I can give you, learn how to hold the stick first. Place your shaft to where it balances pretty evenly on your index finger, but to where your hand fits nicely at the bottom of the shaft. Wrap your fingers around the stick (but not in a death grip!) and hold securely. Set your thumb on top of the stick to where it's straight out, and make sure there is no gap in between your thumb and index finger.

If problems persist in the wrists, soak them in ice water. I'm not talking luke-warm here, I'm talking ICE. Let it rest for about 15 minutes.

As for posture, sit down on the throne and find a good center of balance to where you can reach your drums fine. Sit up and make sure you have a straight alignment in your spine. Make sure not to tilt your head a lot or do anything that may cause strain in your neck/back area.

If you need anything else, ask.

[dtxtremeiiispecial]

I think its about 38 years too early to give it up, man.

I like what Bo said about finding an instructor who could take a look at you and tell you what you need to change.

You may want to consider seeing the doctor. You have stopped and resumed playing, and you have a lot of good information to tell a doctor. I don't know if there could be some generalized arthritis you're beginning to get.

Or it may be that it's time to ease up on that hard crack on the snare -- or at least use sticks made of softer wood. Bad posture will definitely affect your neck and your back. Two excellent books that cost about $10 each on amazon are Treat Your Own Back and Treat Your Own Neck. They will explain the correct postures to take.

The thread Paulo recommended to you is a good one -- it may help with the wrists and elbows.

You probably just need to work on a few things like that. But your body is telling you that you DO need to get to work on those. Here's to another 20 years!

[deanc54]

Originally Posted by xxvenom13xx

If it's in your wrists, it may be how you are holding the sticks.

That's the first mistake people make, and it can give you major problems.

Look on VicFirth.com for tips on posture and stuff; it really helps!
(:

But from what I can give you, learn how to hold the stick first. Place your shaft to where it balances pretty evenly on your index finger, but to where your hand fits nicely at the bottom of the shaft. Wrap your fingers around the stick (but not in a death grip!) and hold securely. Set your thumb on top of the stick to where it's straight out, and make sure there is no gap in between your thumb and index finger.

If problems persist in the wrists, soak them in ice water. I'm not talking luke-warm here, I'm talking ICE. Let it rest for about 15 minutes.

As for posture, sit down on the throne and find a good center of balance to where you can reach your drums fine. Sit up and make sure you have a straight alignment in your spine. Make sure not to tilt your head a lot or do anything that may cause strain in your neck/back area.

If you need anything else, ask.

Hey venom!

Just thought I would chime in here to say that your advice was really impressive, and right on the money. Good Job!

[deanc54]

Greetings cray!

There is some great advice on these threads from folks in the know. I'm 56, practice nearly every day for at least 1.5 hours, once a week with the band for four hours, and have a gig nearly every Friday night. My point is that I learned the value of doing warm up and conditioning excersizes religiously before each practice and performance. I still get a bit sore everytime, and occasionally I feel like the walking dead. But if you force yourself to loosen up before you play, it will go a long way to making you feel better both on and off your drum set. I keep a sqeeze ball (like a tennis ball) handy and excersize my hands with it as much as I can during the course of a day. Also, having some experience as a technical rock climber clued me in on warming up those drumming muscles before practices and performances since the same muscles are pretty much used for both. If you have a good sporting goods outlet that sells climbing equipment, you might want to check with them to see what kind of excersize equipment they have you can adapt for drumming. These are devices that only a dungeon keeper can appreciate, but they will warm you up nicely. Hey man, the older you get the more warming up you will have to do. Venom has some great advice (above), as does everyone else who has chimed in for you on these threads. These same techniques work well for me. Last but not least, if you can take them,..one word...ibuprofin.

[dtxtremeiiispecial]

Yeah deanc54, ya' know, Venom runs the clinic here at DSC. The level of drumming fitness of our members has really increased since she took over!

[deanc54]

Hmmmm,..Dr. Venom...has a ring to it doesn't it? I feel better already.

[slingerland]

Cray I've been playing drums for 43 years. I took lessons for over 12 years and can't remember having any pain at all. The best suggestion I can give you is that you look for a drum teacher to help you out, you need a teacher that's been teaching a while someone that's your age or older
let's face it your not going to get the advice from a beginner who claims to be a teacher, you need an old school drummer or teacher who may at one time had or is having your problem.So look in your area and ask how long he's been playing or teaching,as I said you need an old school teacher or drummer not a young teacher. Let me know what happens and GOOD LUCK