Guitar Players....Anyone else dealing with a Shoulder problem?

Right shoulder and Your a right handed player?

I get tons of issues that are mainly bad posture and bad newb habits.

A bone spur that impinges a tendon is probably not going away. It becomes a quality of life vs. feelings/fears of surgery discussion with yourself.

Oh man that sucks. If you have shoulder issues you could try a bigger, wider strap. That might help.

I briefly owned a '79 LP Standard some 10'ish years ago that was righteous sounding but weighed nearly 14 pounds according to the local post office scale. To date is is the heaviest solidbody electric I've ever been around. It was so heavy, other guys who owned Norlin-era heavyweight (10 lbs and up) Gibsons would say "now THAT'S a heavy Les Paul." Gigged it one night for four hour-long sets and I spent the next day alternating between a heating pad and an ice pack.

I say that as a segue ... you might look for a lightweight guitar if you are playing a heavyweight. If that's the case, stock Gibson SGs and mahogany-bodied Ibanez Sabers tend to be in the lighter spectrum of weight. The right cuts of high quality swamp ash (strats, teles) can be super light.

And if you really wanna get insanely feathery and aren't opposed to guitars that employ composites alongside wood, all Parker Fly Deluxes weigh between 4 and 5 pounds. Think broomstick with strings.

Thanks for the responses.

I'm usually sitting when playing.

I would be in a world of hurt standing with the weight of the guitar.

I'm Rt. handed,so it's my picking shoulder.

At least I'm not the only one hurting.

Yep, have had lots of various shoulder problems.

The bigger question might be better understanding the underlying condition causing the bone spur? They happen for a reason. One temp work around might be to change positions, maybe even standing with a strap to really change (raise/lower) height, or such thing; however it sounds like you know this already. I once got by doing this with an approximation of the AC joint.

For me I had to stop things several times for a while but it was always soft tissue damage or vertebrae conditions and never a skeletal/hard shoulder problem. So I guess only you can determine just what you'll forgo until having it corrected. And will putting it off mean a more evasive fix later on?

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Continuing to push through the pain is a bad idea I think

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I agree.I went to the Surgeon that I would have do it,around 1-2 years ago.

He sent me to Physical Therapy.It was nice but didn't fix anything.

I had my Left Knee scoped on 4/20 so I'm not wanting to have it done right away.

Thank y'all for the responses.

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And will putting it off mean a more evasive fix later on?

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Didn't think about that.

yeah, think that should have been invasive

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I've had an MRI.I have a Bone Spur on my Rt Shoulder that's impinging on my Bicep Tendon. I can only play 2 or 3 songs an have to stop. I don't want surgery.So I guess I'll grin and bare/bear it.

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i’m not a guitar player (just own a few), but i do suffer from the same thing due to years of abuse playing baseball.

i’ve been dealing with it for 6 or 7 years now.
bone spurs causing impingement and slight tears to Rotator Cuff and labrum.
it doesn’t go away. at least it hasn’t yet.

my Dr. recommended not having surgery until it’s absolutely necessary.
said the rehab/recovery is brutal and takes a long time.

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I don't know which shoulder surgery you are speaking of. I had the rotator cuff surgery. It is 6 weeks of your arm of the repaired shoulder, fixed to your midsection with Velcro, to immobilize movement.

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my throwing arm.

to do it right, would need open surgery to remove the spur. while in there, would repair the partial tears to labrum and rotator cuff.

Guess you'll have to be a steel guitar player now.