Most Injuries Are Self-inflicted… A look Into the Mirror of Bass Player’s Health

When you want to professionally approach your body for playing bass, you will be required to look into the mirror of how you treat yourself… every day.

‘Before you heal someone, ask him if he’s willing to give up the things that make him sick.’- HIPPOCRATES

As artists we often think pain and strain, to some extent, is the measure of our coolness, our rebellion on stage, a measure of growth, the originality and uniqueness of how much your body can withstand without sleeping, hydrating, changing our stage costume that was never comfortable to begin with, etc. However, if we go down that road to outsmart our health, competing band or cooler player than you, it can be a short path very quickly.

Growth and development and pushing ones boundaries, especially on stage, is often simply self-inflicted harm and mistreating the body’s early signals, that something is not serving us. That first sensation of discomfort, burning, tingling, that subjective “somethings off” but, never mind, that subtle moment, we’ve crossed a threshold, because we didn’t listen.

How many times did you sit in a session until your leg went numb? How many hours in an evening did you hold on, not having a single sip of water, cause you ‘have to’ drink a toast with every fan you meet after the show? How many times your headpiece pierced into your scull inflicting an initially dull headache that would after many hours cut circulation, press against sensitive sutures of your scull until it inflicts blurry vision, impaired hearing, dizziness or nausea? How hard did you head-bang, feeling the next day you probably sustained a mild concussion?

These are just some extreme examples of what musicians and bass playing performers put themselves through. For the crowds, for the applause, for recognition or fame. Sacrificing their health, their body and wellbeing. That only accumulates, in our cellular memory, yet cannot continue to regenerate, properly heal and reconstruct.

Most of the time, pain, discomfort or dysbalance the body projects onto you, is your nerve system communicating with you, “Your habits are harming me and my health. I need rest, the position you’re playing in is causing wear and tear, the free stage dives without any warm up or preparation are going to fracture a bone or inflict a decent strain of muscles or ligaments. If you don’t properly hydrate, and drink alcohol instead it’s going to develop and inflammatory state or an infection and heal much much slower than you could”.

Yes, that is you, the touring musician overlooked, ignored, brushed off, numbed with a painkiller or worse, glued with superglue and scotch tape because there is no time for that being on tour, performing, recording, writing under the pressure of a label, management, or the very first fans or followers of a newly established project.

Most of injuries and heath problems, are self-inflicted.

Most are functional and come from self-sabotaging habits that neglect your health, look for quick fixes on the go temporary solution hacks, pain-killers, walk-in massages or dangerous chiropractic manipulation manouvres, 3 hour-long nights with minimum sleep, followed with lots of coffee or energy drinks, open wounded blisters closed with industrial glue. Should I go on with examples? You know who you are.

All of this might seem cool and rebellious, when you’re a teenager, but when you’ve passed a certain age of biological maturity, it all Is just detrimental to your health in the long run, causing chain reactions leading to sickness, injury, burn-out, depression and chronic health problems that take months if not years to treat, and sometimes leave irreversible damage for a surgeon to contemplate on.

If you’re willing to commit and admit how you’ve been treating your body, your instrument of your artistic expression, worse than what it deserves, you are ready to face the mirror.

I’ve developed a special service allowing you work with me individually. The Medical Throne of Wisdom is an exclusive health experience with me, a performing arts medicine expert and Physiotherapist for Rockstars. Find out more here:
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