I've been a working musician for years — rehearsals, gigs, studio sessions, all of it.
Somewhere in there, my neck started paying the price. For a long time, I didn't think much of it.
A little stiffness here. A little tightness there. The kind of thing you shake off between sets...
...and forget about by the next day. It didn't stay that way.
Somewhere over the last year or so, it stopped going away between shows. I'd notice it creeping in before I'd even picked up my instrument.
Just going about my day... Turning my head a certain way... ...and there it was. Then came the night before a big show.
I remember lying in bed, unable to turn my head without a jolt running down my shoulder.
Thinking: I might not be able to play tomorrow.
I'd been dealing with it for months by that point. Always telling myself it was just the cost of doing this.
Hours in the same position every night.
Headbanging through sets. Hunched over an instrument. Holding a position steady for as long as it took.
Nobody warns you about that part when you start playing.
That night was different. That was the night I stopped accepting it as normal.
