Getting a 2nd opinion through an Orthopedic Physician….

[Michael Bishop]

Some of my Sax playing friend encouraged me to contact an Orthopedic Physician to get a 2nd opinion on my TMJ Injury besides what my family doctor and family dentist have both told me, which played a part in my decision that it was over for me with the Saxophone. I contacted an Orthopedic Surgeon who I did externship with when I was in school, he actually remembered me 🙂 I told him what I was going through and he agreed to see me later today at 5 pm when the office closes to the public and he would take a look at my injury, free of charge–nice of him to offer, that’s his decision that I’ll leave to him. He told me that, yes, he has seen cases where a TMJ injury has put an end to Saxophone player’s playing, but he’s seen it go the other way too with usually 3 months of natural healing, no medications or mouth guards; but that he couldn’t answer that for sure until he took a look at me. He totally understands where I’m coming from when I say my playing days are over, but urged me to wait before selling everything and that he would take a look at me. We’ll see how it goes later today, will keep you all posted.

[Pete]

Some god news hopefully Mike fingers crossed for you.

[William Cingolani]

GOOD plan Michael. After numerous head injuries and broken bones and brain concussions a doctor told me the body will heal itself. So here I am tone deaf but still attempting to blow the sax.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a good idea. From my own personal experiances with family doctors – they have’nt got the expertise of a specialist, and have always refered me to a hospital to a see someone like a consultant that specialises in that specific field of medicine.

[Michael Bishop]

Okay, so I got checked yesterday afternoon and he said to let it heal naturally for 60-100 days without using the mouthguard/medications I was prescribed by my family doctor/dentist. His assessment was that the mouth guard was actually making the problem worse v.s. helping it to heal, which would explain why there were days it seemed like it was getting better, then the next day it would feel worse. He said wind Instrument players who are prescribed mouth guards are told to use them because the cartilage in the jaw slips out of place, causing the jaw to misalign itself; that’s what TMJ disorder is. He said the cartilage in my jaw is NOT out of place. What I have is a severe strain in the Masseter muscle (chewing muscle) itself, has nothing to do with the corner of my jaw. He took x-rays and showed it to me, the corner of my jaw is fine. In other words, my dentist actually misdiagnosed me and should have taken the time to examine me more closely. When I asked why he would have misdiagnosed me, he said it was because he’s probably seen Wind Instrument players who had similar problems and did have TMJ, so here I come along with pain and he just assumed that I, too, had my jaw out of alignment. It’s kind of like “you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all” type of thing. So my dentist got complacent on me. My family doctor isn’t to blame, because he was just going by the Medical Records that the dentist provided to him. He assured me that he would be having a talk with my dentist.
I feel better knowing that I don’t have a misaligned jaw and by letting it rest naturally that it will heal itself and I can start playing again. I guess the best thing to do now is use this time to go and do other fun things like hiking, camping, fishing, etc.. to get my mind off of this. My Instructor assured me he wouldn’t drop me for something like this; he only drops students who aren’t putting forth the effort/taking things seriously. I was supposed to do my assignment of Improvising on Tenor Sax over the song of “Moondance” by Van Morrison on the 30th of this month, but he told me to just chill and we’ll take care of it when I can start playing again. He told me he didn’t think it would take very long for me to get back to feeling like myself after I heal because the Saxophone is already in my head, fingers, etc.. it would be just a matter of getting my body to respond to what my mind wants to bring out on the Sax. I do feel better now, but this is going to be a really, really LONG 60-100 days of having to wait……

[Pete]

Michael,
Its looking better everyday for you, told you
I would cross fingers for you, it worked hey.

[Anonymous]

@Michael – cool, i may not be your number 1 fan, but the Jf blogs woouldn’t be the same without you, now you can get back to your normal self. One suggestion spend the spare time learning music theory, on average it takes about three years to do it properly.

[Marc]

You see… it’s good to have a second opinion.
In this case it was way better for you. Even if you don’t take the sax outta the case during 3-4 months, it’ll be a time well invested. A proper healing period is a must. You’ll have plenty time later to go back to blowing the horn.

[Author]

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