{"id":468,"date":"2007-10-24T20:36:47","date_gmt":"2007-10-24T20:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2007\/10\/24\/with-pain-like-this-i-could-do-without-the-gain\/"},"modified":"2011-05-20T09:50:25","modified_gmt":"2011-05-20T08:50:25","slug":"with-pain-like-this-i-could-do-without-the-gain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2007\/10\/24\/with-pain-like-this-i-could-do-without-the-gain\/","title":{"rendered":"With pain like this, I could do without the gain"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are plenty more books to be written about musicians and pain. It\u2019s easy to forget when you see people on stage in penguin suits and evening gowns that music is a form of athletics, and your body can take a beating. <\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been comparatively lucky with pain over the years. I had a spot of tendonitis my first year in college caused by trying to change everything about my playing while practicing five times as much as I ever had. Since then, I\u2019ve been lucky to have very body-wise teachers, especially Lee Fiser, who was a genius in teaching body awareness. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Some of my friends have not been so lucky, and the medical establishment is often painfully under-equipped to deal with the injuries musicians suffer. As a result, I\u2019ve seen many friends and colleagues get bad advice early in the onset of physical problems which meant that things continued to get worse, sometimes, tragically, to the point of being career ending. I\u2019ve also seen a few friends go through some truly ghastly surgical procedures, not to get back to playing, but just to be able to brush their teeth without agony. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For some years, my one area of concern has been my back. Cello playing can take a toll on tall guys when we sit in chairs that are too short, and it\u2019s easy to twist your torso a bit. In my case, my early years in rock bands meant way too much reckless heavy lifting, so I\u2019ve had a an intermittently recurring back injury for about 15 years. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Back problems for conductors are not to be trifled with, because when standing and waving your arms, your core muscles are put under a lot of stress. Karajan had such terrible back trouble for the last 12 years of his life (following a skiing accident) that he told his biographer that his tombstone should read \u201che died in great pain.\u201d Celibidache had similar problems late in his career, while Mikko Franck has been confined to conducting in a chair since about 19 years of age because of a spine condition. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Fortunately, my back injury was never anything like that. It was something that would flare up about 3-4 times a year for a week- I\u2019d be uncomfortable, occasionally miserable, but functional. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Last night I felt it coming on again, and, although I was not pleased, I was not panicked. After so many years, something like this becomes something you are accustomed to working through. By bedtime, however, I was concerned that it was probably the most acute discomfort I\u2019d ever had from this. Possibly the most acute discomfort I’d ever had. Then, around <\/span>4 AM<\/span> I woke up in back spasms. Really, short of childbirth, kidney stones and having your arm ripped off by a blunt-toothed <\/span>Bengal<\/span> tiger, I can\u2019t imagine anything more painful. Within an hour I was in such misery that I called Northwest to see if I could change my flight- because this is pre-existing condition, my travel insurance doesn\u2019t cover it, and I thought it likely I would need medical care. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It took me about 90 minutes of struggle to get out of bed so I could wake my host to ask him to get the ibuprofen out of my suitcase- there was no question of my bending over for it. With those ingested, I decided to walk around the block and see if anything loosened up. I was reminded of Tim Roth’s performance in Reservoir Dogs- the sort of gurgling\/screamtalking\/moaning sound he makes throughout that film was something I always thought was\u00a0cool but not realistic, until I heard myself making it over and over today. \u00a0In my 5 AM condition, I couldn\u2019t have traveled anywhere without help, my hope was that with a few pills and a stretch I might either able to get myself on a flight home to Cardiff, which meant canceling our concert this week, or perhaps even tough out the gig. I\u2019ve never missed a conducting gig for illness or injury, including checking myself out of a hospital in 2001 just to conduct a concert, but I couldn\u2019t have conducted this morning to save my life. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As the morning progressed, the <\/span>Portland<\/span> nice people network kicked in and I was able to get an appointment with a respected osteopath. His manipulation didn\u2019t seem to help much, in fact I partially blacked out standing up from the exam table, but he prescribed bountiful quantities of pain killers, muscle relaxants and homeopathic remedies. He’s at\u00a0least cleared me of a slipped\u00a0disc or anything spinal, but I would still seriously\u00a0swap this feeling for the Bengal tiger experience.\u00a0Once this blog post is up, the plan is to try to sleep all day then hope the pills will get me through rehearsal. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The doc was sweetly concerned that I might not be musically at my best on a maximum dose of muscle relaxants, but that\u2019s a chance I\u2019ll have to take. I do have fond memories of playing for David Zinman when he was doped up for kidney stones- it was the only week I\u2019ve ever seen him be uniformly\u00a0pleasant with people\u2026.. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, watch this space\u2026. <\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n