Trombone Playing is a Pain In the Neck--Literally

[cigmar]

Lately whenever I play for about 15 minutes or more I get this sharp pain in the back of my neck. I've tried adjusting some things-posture, way I hold the horn, head position, horn angle but nothing seems to help. Any suggestions or recommendations?

[tbdana]

Is your wife standing behind you with a knife? Does she have a voodoo doll of you?

[Posaunus]

You can't really expect much help on this issue from an Internet post!

[hyperbolica]

Have you had any injuries? I get a pain in the neck, shoulder, elbow forearm and fingers. Had a bike accident long ago, and have a couple of displaced disks in my neck that impinge on nerves. Steroid shot helps. After that it's surgery. You might try chiropractor first, though.

[Burgerbob]

So many things to check. Posture, horn carriage, flexibility, slide width...

[tbdana]

So many things to check. Posture, horn carriage, flexibility, slide width...

And an irate spouse. Don't forget that!

[Mr412]

Is your wife standing behind you with a knife? Does she have a voodoo doll of you?

Funny you should mention that because I've often thought that Bill Watrous (whom we all love to hate) often times looked like somebody was stabbing him in the kidney with a knife when he played.

[ghmerrill]

Degenerative disc disease? (Sorry, but unfortunately possible.) I've had this problem for over 25 years, and it first presented (dramatically) in the neck -- resulting in two surgeries a few years apart to fuse two pairs of neck discs. Alas, it's now moved a lot lower, and medical technology and surgical techniques have advanced substantially. At least my neck doesn't bother me -- so I can play my instruments without pain (though I do have a somewhat minor range of motion issue).

But seriously, getting checked out by an orthopedist or neurosurgeon might not be a bad idea if it's persisting and no other cause becomes evident -- or at least get some initial x-rays via your primary care doc to see if anything looks fishy. This can happen suddenly, or over time. Halfway measures are not a particularly good idea. I hope it's not this, for you.

[Doug Elliott]

Is your wife standing behind you with a knife? Does she have a voodoo doll of you?

Funny you should mention that because I've often thought that Bill Watrous (whom we all love to hate) often times looked like somebody was stabbing him in the kidney with a knife when he played.

Maybe it was Dana

[tbdana]

Funny you should mention that because I've often thought that Bill Watrous (whom we all love to hate) often times looked like somebody was stabbing him in the kidney with a knife when he played.

Maybe it was Dana

Well, if it would have gotten me his gigs...

[Posaunus]

Maybe it was Dana

Well, if it would have gotten me his gigs...

A tale that Shakespeare could have told ...

[JohnL]

Well, if it would have gotten me his gigs...

A tale that Shakespeare could have told ...

Full of sound and fury...

[cigmar]

So many things to check. Posture, horn carriage, flexibility, slide width...

Curious as to how slide width might be a factor.

[cigmar]

Have you had any injuries? I get a pain in the neck, shoulder, elbow forearm and fingers. Had a bike accident long ago, and have a couple of displaced disks in my neck that impinge on nerves. Steroid shot helps. After that it's surgery. You might try chiropractor first, though.

No, no accidents or injuries. A chiropractor is a good place to start. Thanks for the suggestion.

[cigmar]

Degenerative disc disease? (Sorry, but unfortunately possible.) I've had this problem for over 25 years, and it first presented (dramatically) in the neck -- resulting in two surgeries a few years apart to fuse two pairs of neck discs. Alas, it's now moved a lot lower, and medical technology and surgical techniques have advanced substantially. At least my neck doesn't bother me -- so I can play my instruments without pain (though I do have a somewhat minor range of motion issue).

But seriously, getting checked out by an orthopedist or neurosurgeon might not be a bad idea if it's persisting and no other cause becomes evident -- or at least get some initial x-rays via your primary care doc to see if anything looks fishy. This can happen suddenly, or over time. Halfway measures are not a particularly good idea. I hope it's not this, for you.

Sorry to hear all this happened to you. Thanks for sharing, will take all this under advisement. Think I'll start with a chiropractor as a previous responder suggested and go from there.

[Burgerbob]

So many things to check. Posture, horn carriage, flexibility, slide width...

Curious as to how slide width might be a factor.

It feeds into the other things, but if you are manipulating your posture or head position because a slide is too narrow (or too wide who knows) it could contribute.

I think it would help to see some photos or video of you playing.

[sacfxdx]

Does it only happen when you play?

[cigmar]

Does it only happen when you play?

Yes, but it lingers for quite some time after.

[Kbiggs]

Have you had any injuries? I get a pain in the neck, shoulder, elbow forearm and fingers. Had a bike accident long ago, and have a couple of displaced disks in my neck that impinge on nerves. Steroid shot helps. After that it's surgery. You might try chiropractor first, though.

No, no accidents or injuries. A chiropractor is a good place to start. Thanks for the suggestion.

Just my opinion, but you might want to consult a doctor, and ask to see a physical therapist or massage therapist before a chiropractor.

[ghmerrill]

We all hope, in cases like this, that a simple and "non-invasive" approach will be the solution. I went that way myself both the first and second time around. The first time (neck disk rupture), I wasted a year being "treated" by a neurologist. Then the neuro-surgeon fixed it. Interestingly, I later learned that at almost exactly the same time, the same thing had happened to my urologist -- during surgery he was performing!: "I just leaned over the patient and wham! Intense neural pain in the neck. I had get get someone in immediately to finish the surgery." He didn't mess around, went directly to the neuro-surgeon and (as a consequence) didn't suffer either for a year or from lingering results of not treating it effectively immediately. Of course, being a doctor himself, he knew immediately what the problem was.

The second time (lumbar disc and intense scream-inducing sciatica), I went to a very dependable orthopedic practice I'd used for decades, and their spine guys wanted to do a classic open laminectomy with 6 month recovery. "No thanks, I said," and went to a neuro-surgeon. (Basic principle: Nobody touches my neural system except an experienced board-certified neuro-surgeon.) They thought I should try a completely non-invasive approach (cortisone injection, physical/massage therapy), and that was done for almost a year. Waste of time. Then I carefully picked a neuro-surgeon specializing in "minimally invasive" surgery. In and out in one day; the surgical scar looked like a pin prick in my back; due to a new long-lasting (3 day) topical analgesic they now put directly on the surgical site, I took only one dose of Tylenol post-surgery for pain (and I'm not sure I needed even that), and had a totally uneventful recovery. Best surgical experience I've ever had.

But we all have to make our own choices and plot our own courses in these things. What's really important at the beginning is that careful and competent diagnosis should precede any treatment -- so that you don't make things worse. (Massaging or irritating a ruptured disk or an area where you have a bone spur or a spinal stenosis can be a really bad idea.) Then pick the treatment you like.

[baileyman]

A chiro emphasized to me that all the vertebra need to get moving every day otherwise they get "stuck" and then little pains happen that you may not feel but cause protective actions to be taken that you may feel quite a bit. This all surprised me.

[ghmerrill]

This all surprised me.

I think that description would surprise a lot of people. However, details aside, it does fit in with the favorite saying of my best physical therapist: "Motion is lotion." Of course that assumes the absence of any underlying pathology -- which is where the preliminary step of diagnosis is so important.

[cigmar]

Oh boy, I'm not liking the sound of all this.

[ghmerrill]

Probably just a "crick in the neck". But if it's persisting and resistant to normal relaxation/stretching exercise, then ya gotta find out. A good diagnostician can run you through an initial routine in a couple of minutes, and then maybe take an x-ray if it seems warranted. Definitely worth it for the peace of mind.