What is Your Longest Layoff Due to Injury or Surgery?

[Cotboneman]

As we get older a lot of things can interfere with the thing we love so much - playing the trombone. For me, I'd more or less played in both paid and amateur settings pretty much continually from the time I finished undergraduate school in 19796 right on through the most demanding parts of my career as a high school music educator. But there were a couple of unavoidable breaks. In 2010 my truck was rear-ended at a stop light, and soon after I found out that my right rotator cuff had been torn completely. Being terribly right hand dependent, that surgery and rehabilitation put my trombone playing on the shelf for almost eight months. I literally could not lift my arm to even move the slide for months. What I found very helpful was a lot of mouthpiece buzzing to at least preserve some semblance of chop muscle memory throughout the long rehabilitation period. That can get boring, but the alternative was not something that I wanted to deal with. I buzzed on both trombone and trumpet mouthpieces almost daily.

And then, two years later, I slipped and fell out of a school bus emergency exit during a bus evacuation drill in 2012 - and tore my left rotator cuff! I swear, if I didn't have bad luck I would have none! That surgery sidelined my trombone playing for another six months. But I'd become a pro at mouthpiece drills by then, so once again I kept my chops in relatively decent shape, so I was able to resume playing after the second rehab fairly quickly.

I'd love to hear other members stories too. How long has injury or surgery sidelined you, and what did you do to keep up your chops during the layoff?

[Burgerbob]

In 2014, I was riding my bicycle in San Francisco. I'm pretty good at riding with no hands, so I was cruising down a street, probably 15-18mph. Surprise, there was a MASSIVE speed bump that I saw at the last moment. I flew over the handlebars. Thankfully I was wearing a helmet. The crash actually destroyed my heretofore unbreakable Nalgene water bottle.

When I landed, I bit almost all the way through my bottom lip, just to the right of center, below the pink part.

Thankfully, I had few playing responsibilities coming up, so I took of a total of 6 weeks off to heal. No buzzing, nothing. I also decided to use it as a reset- try and eliminate some bad habits I knew I had, but had no time to work on previously.

I don't recommend biting through your lip, but the time off was good. That remains my longest break since I started playing seriously, I think. Knock on wood!

[Cotboneman]

In 2014, I was riding my bicycle in San Francisco. I'm pretty good at riding with no hands, so I was cruising down a street, probably 15-18mph. Surprise, there was a MASSIVE speed bump that I saw at the last moment. I flew over the handlebars. Thankfully I was wearing a helmet. The crash actually destroyed my heretofore unbreakable Nalgene water bottle.

When I landed, I bit almost all the way through my bottom lip, just to the right of center, below the pink part.

Thankfully, I had few playing responsibilities coming up, so I took of a total of 6 weeks off to heal. No buzzing, nothing. I also decided to use it as a reset- try and eliminate some bad habits I knew I had, but had no time to work on previously.

I don't recommend biting through your lip, but the time off was good. That remains my longest break since I started playing seriously, I think. Knock on wood!

Oh man, I can't imagine doing that! Thankfully you didn't have any more serious injuries than that. Still, six weeks off must have hurt almost as bad as the injury itself.

[stewbones43]

In September 1975, I moved to the far South West of our little country to start a new job. I had to leave my trombones behind until I had sorted somewhere to live but planned to collect them and lots more bits and pieces in the October. The day before I was due to drive back and collect them I was knocked off my motor bike and ended up in hospital with both legs broken-the right one quite badly. I spent the next 18 weeks in traction, unable to get out of bed, never mind play a trombone.
It was May before I was able to get my trombones and other things back and I did my first gig in the June, after 4 weeks of hard practice. Total length of time without playing was about 7 months altogether.

Cheers

Stewbones43

PS. I haven't ridden a motorcycle since then.

[soseggnchips]

I had elective surgery to repair an inguinal hernia in summer 2014. The doctor said not to do anything strenuous for 6 weeks afterwards, so I didn't!

I was expecting a real uphill battle to get back into shape once I started playing again, but actually it was surprisingly easy. The first few days were pretty ropy, but after a week or so I was back to normal. I guess 6 weeks isn't long enough for the muscle memory to fade.

[Crazy4Tbone86]

I had open-heart surgery (quadruple bypass) in November 2019. I had to take three months off from work. Fortunately, I only had to take about ten weeks off from playing. I had a cold/sinus infection after surgery which complicated things. I continued to do the same respiratory therapy exercises well after I returned to work and playing the trombone. The exercises turned out to be very beneficial. By May of 2020, I was doing some of my best playing in over 30 years. Being stuck at home during the pandemic also helped!

[Cotboneman]

The time it took to get back to previous playing levels is a question that I neglected to ask, but many have brought into the narrative. It is an important one, thank you. For me, after my first rotator cuff surgery, I'd have to say my chops were okay 8 months later, but physically just trying to wrestle with a dependent bass on a long gig or concert was something that I could not physically do for some months afterward. And then came the second incident injuring my left shoulder and I was down again for another 8-10 months. I will say that since those injuries I'm probably playing better now than I ever have, and I'm back to playing tenor in quintet work and the euphonium as well. The enforced Covid shutdown did have some benefits for me, I'll add.

[Mikebmiller]

I ran my face into a low hanging tree branch while riding my mountain bike about 6 years ago. Had to take a month off after that one. Before that I crashed and messed up my right shoulder pretty bad. I had to play euphonium for a while after that.

[ArbanRubank]

I basically lost this past July due to repeated efforts at removing kidney stones. Procedures and stents were no fun. Back on the horn now. Stones gone.

[PosauneCat]

4 months

[BaritoneJack]

Quad heart by-pass at the age of 69. Time off? Probably 6 months in all - partly down to the after effects of the surgery (the sawn-through breast-bone carried on hurting like hell for months), and partly due to the battery of pills the medics put me on which I didn't need, and which actually did far more harm than good - most especially the accursed statins, whose side effects developed insidiously over a period of months, and which ended up with me looking and feeling as though I was in the early stages of Altzheimers.
I point-blank refused to carry on with the statins (in the teeth of opposition from my doc), but it took about 6 months before I felt myself again, and was able to not only play my baritone horn, but also work as a signalman on a steam railway (lever-operated box), and go riding.
I know other people who've been on statins for years with no problems, but I know from talking to friends that my experience with them is not unique. I'm convinced that if I hadn't been so mule-stubborn about going against my doctor's advice, I'd have ended up like one man I know - after a year on statins, he told me that "even crossing the road is an adventure, now", and he was stunned when I told him what I was doing after coming off them.

With best regards,
Jack

[Pezza]

In 2014, I was riding my bicycle in San Francisco. I'm pretty good at riding with no hands, so I was cruising down a street, probably 15-18mph. Surprise, there was a MASSIVE speed bump that I saw at the last moment. I flew over the handlebars. Thankfully I was wearing a helmet. The crash actually destroyed my heretofore unbreakable Nalgene water bottle.

When I landed, I bit almost all the way through my bottom lip, just to the right of center, below the pink part.

Thankfully, I had few playing responsibilities coming up, so I took of a total of 6 weeks off to heal. No buzzing, nothing. I also decided to use it as a reset- try and eliminate some bad habits I knew I had, but had no time to work on previously.

I don't recommend biting through your lip, but the time off was good. That remains my longest break since I started playing seriously, I think. Knock on wood!

5 years ago I had a car accident where I too bit thru my bottom lip, along with at least 5 broken ribs, broken sternum & broken nose.9 weeks off, 4 over the normal Xmas break inc no Xmas carols. 4 months on eupho, then back able to play bass bone! Still swollen, probably will be for life.
Have to restrict myself to playing tenor & bass trom & eupho. Soooooo upset I can't be moved around a lot anymore.

I have since downsized. King 5B with 2Gish mouthpiece for bass.
Small & medium bore tenors with 6.5AL or 5G mouthpieces are now my main horns. Eupho with a 3Gish mouthpiece.

[harrisonreed]

Quad heart by-pass at the age of 69. Time off? Probably 6 months in all - partly down to the after effects of the surgery (the sawn-through breast-bone carried on hurting like hell for months), and partly due to the battery of pills the medics put me on which I didn't need, and which actually did far more harm than good - most especially the accursed statins, whose side effects developed insidiously over a period of months, and which ended up with me looking and feeling as though I was in the early stages of Altzheimers.
I point-blank refused to carry on with the statins (in the teeth of opposition from my doc), but it took about 6 months before I felt myself again, and was able to not only play my baritone horn, but also work as a signalman on a steam railway (lever-operated box), and go riding.
I know other people who've been on statins for years with no problems, but I know from talking to friends that my experience with them is not unique. I'm convinced that if I hadn't been so mule-stubborn about going against my doctor's advice, I'd have ended up like one man I know - after a year on statins, he told me that "even crossing the road is an adventure, now", and he was stunned when I told him what I was doing after coming off them.

With best regards,
Jack

I feel for you in this story. Some good can come from telling it. Let food be thy medicine. There is a lot to be said for just eating clean, plant based whole foods, and not a large quantity of food, at that. Some of the chemicals the industrial medical complex will foist on people and call medicine is crazy. Sure, they will save lives under some circumstances, but they are so powerful. So easy to overuse.

[Kingfan]

OK, I have spinal fusion and decompression surgery coming up. Anybody have something like this done? How soon can I expect to be able to schelp my stuff to rehearsals? Doc says don't resume normal activities, lift much heavier than a gallon of milk, etc. for around 6 weeks. I weighed my bass tbone in the case and mute/stand/music bag at 35 lbs. What is your experience?

[BGuttman]

I would follow your doc's recommendation. It took me about that much time after knee surgery before I could carry all my gear to rehearsal. If you can get yourself a "sherpa" to haul the gear you will be able to play earlier than that, but given it's a spinal, make sure you are comfortable sitting up for the duration of the rehearsal before you go back to playing outside.

[jbeatenbough]

10 Weeks

Rotator cuff repair (full thickness tear) in right shoulder...no trombone for 10 weeks, but I bought a front valve baritone and was able to start playing it about 10 days after surgery - I could play it with the sling still on. So I continued to play in all the groups I normally do - I just played the trombone part on the baritone for 10 weeks, then gradually started switching back to trombone (I'm at 13 weeks now and still have a little trouble with fast slide movement past third position - but I'm getting there).