I suffer from a disease called osteochondritis dissecans. When I was a child, I did something that destroyed the blood vessel running to the growth plate in my right elbow. Now, the piece of bone is dead, just kind of hanging out in there. I was diagnosed about two years ago, after my arm was immobilized while doing pullups. Since then, my doctor has warned me not to strain my arm by lifting heavy things or doing gymnastics. However, luckily, I am able to still play drums as much as I like.
Unfortunately, about a month ago, I strained my arm doing yoga, meaning that I had to stop playing drums. Three days ago, I finally felt that my arm was strong enough to get behind the kit. So, what's the lesson here?
While I could have sat down and worked on 3-limb independence, I decided to take a few weeks off, and just step AWAY from the drum kit, instead focussing on other interests I have. Although my groove isn't as tight as it was a month ago, and I can't
play as fast, I can now really take a closer look at my hands. The positive side is that I'm now separated enough from my old bad habits and techniques that I can start over with a fresh approach. I'm using Jojo Mayer's "Secret Weapons" DVD as a tool to improve my skills. Interestingly, my left arm is now stronger than my right arm, since I haven't used my right arm for much over the last 4 weeks.
So, although I'm now a full month off of my pracitce routine, I got to spend a lot of time reading Zizek and my mind is now ready to utilize improved techniques.
