Elbow Room

"They're going to do my elbow next, instead of my knee," Kenton told me. He lifted up his arm to show me his lumpy elbow. It looks like somebody has been hitting it with a hammer. "It's killing me. I can't sleep. I'm not taking any pain meds."
Kenton said the doctor gave him another cortisone shot, but that the time for palliative measures is over.
"It's the same problem as my shoulder," Kenton said.
The doctor described Kenton as "having the shoulder of a 90 year old."
We were in Kenton's office. Kenton stripped off his shirt and sweater so I could see for myself. I'm glad he didn't have prostate surgery. He'd have me probing his rectal canal with a flash light. His right shoulder had three dime-sized bruises, garnished with black thread and medical tape.
"See. They had to make three holes to clean it out."
He didn't have a torn rotator cuff. But the joint socket was lined with spiky bone spurs that tore into the tendons. The doctor drilled the rough spots out.
"It feels great now," said Kenton, waving his arm around. I'd never seen him move his right arm above his head before. At least not without wincing.
The surgeon told Kenton no drumming for at least two weeks. The elbow repair will mean another three weeks of down time.
I'd feel sorry for us, except that I know pro musicians who've got it worse.
Tommy, my brother in law, had to stop playing guitar for a month after developing tendonitis in his left index finger. He blames over-zealous classical guitar practice. I have a new hypothesis: he tweaked the tendon in his finger joint by carrying plastic grocery bags. Carrying a bunch of those things hooked over your fingers really puts pressure on aging finger joints. I thought I'd injured myself the same way a few weeks ago.
Tommy has been playing rock and roll for more than 40 years without hurting himself. And, suddenly, he crippled himself playing classical guitar? The mechanics of the style are differnet, sure, but I'm adding plastic grocery bags to my list of things to use with caution.
Not playing for weeks was a disaster for a guitarist. Tommy did actually play a few gigs using just the middle, ring and pinky fingers on his left hand - an impressive bit of musical acrobatics.
None of these even comes close to the diaster recently experienced by Tommy's long-time musical buddy: the guitarist and songwriter Roger Clark. Roger nearly sliced his left hand in half with a table saw while remodling his home in Mexico. Home alone with his twins, Roger had to do his own emergency first aid so he didn't bleed to death. Then, he had to catch a flight to Mexico City to receive treatment. That had to be the longest plane flight in history, sitting there cradeling your throbbing, bloody hand with two or three fingers hanging off of it, wondering if you're going to have to find a new line of work. I hope they gave him free peanuts. The doctors saved his fingers. No one can say if he'll ever regain sensation or mobility. Roger's story is the kind of thing that makes musicians wake of screaming at night, frantically wiggling their fingers to make sure that it really was just a nightmare.
Fifteen years ago, I sliced my left index finger down to the bone with a chef's knife while slicing an onion. I could see the slimy white surface. I couldn't play without pain for a month. Since then, I've been as careful as a brain surgeon any time I use a knife.
The physical strip-mining operation of aging is bad enough. There's no sense in willfull self destruction.
The tendency is to think that rock musicians are most at risk for liver damage or herpes. But a lot of pros suffer career-threating injuries just from playing. Both Max Weinberg, the E-Street Band drummer, and guitarist Leo Kottke had their hads freeze into claws from poor technique. They got back into shape by relearning playing mechanics and establishing religious warm-up exercises.
Years of head-banging with Metallica damaged Jason Newstead's back and neck. A whole generation of hot shot rockers nearly crippled themselves simply by playing with their guitars slug too low. It looks cool, but doing it every night for weeks leaves you with back, neck and carpal tunnel pain.
Treating musician injuries is a growing orthopedic specialty. Most sites devoted to the subject recommend the usual preventative meausures: diet, rest, exercise, warming up, drinking lots of water and using good technique. In other words: everything Keith Richards does not stand for. How does he do it? Kenton is the closest thing to a health nut I know, yet his body is falling apart. He takes fistfuls of vitamins. He starts most days by drinking a wheat-grass concoction that looks like baby diarrhea. He eats balanced meals - especially soup. He goes to the Vietnamese soup place to often that they named a dish after him: The KDOG Bowl. It's a giant vat of noodle soup with extra chicken and vegetables. They've got in in the billing system. When you order it, your receipt has KDOG's name on it. There is so much vitamin-crammed dark green plant material it's like eating a boiled tree. Afterwards, your pee comes out yellow and smells like cabbage.
A life time of drumming and adult league sports are breaking him down physically. Right when we've finally learned all of the songs, too.

Comments

[Annie Burns]

KDOG can be replaced very easy. He is not all that good. Take a break KDOG, rest the elbow and gives us all a break about hearing about KDOG. Where is Nick???
Get a Gig going so we can come see Nick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Annie and Kim