The shred generation is hitting retirement age and beyond, and arthritis diagnoses are becoming increasingly common – but the good news is that the condition doesn’t have to be the death knell for anyone’s playing days.
Our aging guitar heroes have shown the impact a life of playing can have on our bodies. Jake E. Lee’s right hand has “basically no cartilage.” A sports doctor laughed in amazement when Steve Morse showed him his hands, ground down by years of shredding – and relayed his ambition to continue touring.
Keith Richards recently revealed that arthritis has cast uncertainty on his continued ability to play for longer periods, while Alex Lifeson, Joe Perry, and Joe Satriani have all suffered their own struggles.
According to Nuffield Health, 50 percent of adults aged 65 and over have been diagnosed with arthritis, and Jimmy Page isn’t immune just because he’s a guitar god. Wear and tear over time is a major factor, but there are measures we can take to prevent and alleviate symptoms.
Dan Turnell, Clinical Director at Elite Performance Physio, has worked in the performing arts sector for over a decade. He wants players to look at their hands a little differently.
“One of the biggest mindset shifts is that playing an instrument is a skilled muscular action,” he says. “They should think of themselves as an athlete, instead of as a musician.”
There are over 100 types of arthritis; but for guitarists the most common is osteoarthritis: the cartilage at the end of a bone gets damaged or worn down, resulting in bone-on-bone contact. It currently affects over 32.5 million Americans including Lee, Morse, and Richards.
Repetitive motion has slowly ground down cartilage, causing pain, inflammation and, in extreme cases, a loss of hand mobility. “Playing guitar is small repetitive movements continuously happening,” Turnell notes. “It runs the risk of potential cartilage changes and microtraumas.”
He adds: “When you’re young you think of arthritis as something that affects your granddad,” warning that the approach is to our detriment. He regularly works with young musicians to help establish “good practice routines that protect the body and minimize the risk of injury.”
Prevention will always outweigh any cure. “I encourage people not to sit and play for six hours at a time, and to understand that a warm-up is important before you even touch the guitar,” he says.
Warm-ups help release synovial fluid, which lubricates joints and keeps muscles warm and responsive. Turnell recommends hand exercises such as stretches and grip and squeeze movements, or using strengthening bands for individual fingers.
Joe Satriani benefited from hand massages after a tour of particularly challenging music. The shows put extra strain on his hands and he suffered the consequences of malpractice to his digits. I’ve used a D’Addario Varigrip for years as part of my pre-show routine – it’s worked wonders.
It might be helpful to think of arthritis as the last domino in a line. The best way to prevent it is to ensure that you’re always working with, rather than against, your body.
“Prevention comes down to making sure that all the muscles around the fingers, hands and wrists are as strong as they need to be to minimize the pressure and over-aggravating our joints,” Turnell says.
“It comes down to load management within the body. For example, if you’re not setting your practice environment up in the appropriate way, then playing for six hours in a suboptimal position, you’re potentially going to suffer microtrauma injuries through the joints.
Guitar lessons are really useful to make sure you’re not falling into bad habits
“Posture is likely to be a secondary or tertiary cause of arthritis, but by being hunched over a guitar, the body isn’t able to move with freedom. Guitar straps help offload the weight; otherwise, all that weight is going to come into the hands and impact shoulder mobility.”
Likewise, diet and lifestyle choices represent another domino. “Certain food combinations can be inflammatory for the body; and if we’re not hydrated, our joints aren’t hydrated either.
Sugar and processed foods are the biggest culprits. “From a socializing perspective, alcohol can act as an inflammatory substance, and it can affect our sleep – which impacts our body’s ability to recover and prepare to play the next day.”
Turnell emphasizes the importance of semi-regular check-ins with a physio, just as you’d take your car to the garage for maintenance. But he says there’s another issue at play too. “Once musicians get to a certain standard, they often stop taking lessons,” he says.
“But lessons are really useful – not necessarily from a technical perspective, but to make sure you’re not falling into bad habits, which can be a potential trigger for an arthritic change.”
After that, it’s time to look at your instrument and setup – should you ditch that heavy, fat-necked Les Paul for something that’s kinder to the body?
Morse has accepted his gigging days are now numbered, as his arthritis worsens, but a key modification to his Music Man signature guitar is helping relieve unnecessary stress. Perry confessed to recording the band’s recent One More Time EP exclusively with his Fender/Warmoth “Burned Strat,” as it’s been set up to be kinder to his hands.
The more our guitar heroes face arthritis struggles and talk about what it means for them, the better it is for the wider guitar-playing community.
“Seeing people doing things with an arthritic condition improves our understanding that it’s more of a self-limiting condition rather than a death knell,” Turnell concludes. “You just modify your activity around it.”
- For help and advice around arthritis and related issues, head to Arthritis Foundation.
