This weekend was our global drums retreat in beautiful Fernie, British Columbia. We had a special guest artist down to help us learn samba, did some steel pan, and played a gig. It was a wonderful weekend. Yet there was 2 hours of samba friday night, another 2 hours saturday morning, 2 hours saturday afternoon, 2 hours saturday night, 1 hour sunday morning and 30 minutes at the actual concert. And I was playing a surdu. The word is linked to a google search. Oh yeah, and you strap that around your right shoulder. So I was carrying that for 1-2 hours or more on my right shoulder, and it weighs about 7-10 pounds. Can you imagine how much my shoulder and arm hurt? |
But then the worst thing that could happen did on Saturday night.
At around lunch time I could feel my arm starting to tense up. I thought I was just building muscle to I ignored it. After the afternoon rehearsal my arm was getting a bit stiff. Stretch here and there, apply some peppermint, get everyone wondering where that smell is coming from (Yeah, it's Margaret. Her. *sniffs arm*). And by bed time I was the grumpiest girl in the world. I felt like I pinched several nerves and my arm was out of commission. After hitting the drum at a constant beat for many hours, your arm gets into a lull and the muscles you were originally working on, get tuckered out. I lay in bed, not being able to find a comfy position to lay in with my arm. I put it on my side, it tenses up and hurts. I put it across my body, and it stiffens up and is uncomfortable. I managed to put it above my head, but after a while it just went numb from lack of circulation. So I had to bend it and lay on it and sleep on my side.
I am a side sleeper, but it wasn't comfy in the least.
So I applied more wintergreen and put some ice on it (apparently I feel asleep with the ice on my arm and luckily my boyfriend came in, told me my arm was seriously cold and I could have gotten frostbite if I slept with it for 8+ hours. I love my honey!). I managed to get a full nights sleep and my arm felt as good as new in the morning. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to play and show off my new samba skills. But it happened and we had a lot of fun! I am so glad I brought my oils and my brand spanking new wintergreen!