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You might think I’m sniveling, but I hate snivelers.
If other darters had shared their stories, maybe I wouldn’t have suffered needless pain, humiliation, and miserable darts. So I’m sharing my story with you.
But, first the caveats and disclaimers. I’m a “wannabe” darter as in
“wannabe-a-world-ranked” darter.
I am not a doctor. I am not athletic. I’m a middle-aged, overweight, gray-haired “gwamma” with lots of darting determination and drive. I’ve heard about and experienced strained muscles, dart-aches, and dart-pains for years. It’s part of the fun of practicing, practicing, practicing, and winning, winning, winning. You know – no pain, no gain.
I used to know a fabulous darter who had shoulder problems that resulted in
surgery. I never heard the details, but he never threw darts again.
Now that’s a dart tragedy, and I sure don’t want that to happen to you or
me. If you want to stay on top of your game, and you think you might have a dart throwing injury, don’t be like me – scared, stubborn, and stupid!
Go see a doctor.
For the record, I have been playing darts since 1989. After years and years
of near fanatical practice routines, I polished off a clean, steady throwing technique that really worked for me.
But this didn’t happen without pain. In fact, about ten years ago, I struggled for three years with Tendonitis in my throwing arm. Not once did I go to a doctor! I stubbornly learned to shoot through the pain, and I eventually got well. Smart? Hah, not very.
In Austin, on October, 26, 2003, I won 28 games out of 33 in the Regionals to
qualify for the ADO Cricket Nationals.
About ten days later, my shoulder started jabbing me every once in a while, and seemed to be gradually getting worse and more frequent day by day. Being skeptical of all doctors in general, I naturally decided to “tough it out” and heal myself. Again.
I hung in there, practicing every day, throwing league darts, and trying to
recapture my “stroke.” Ouch!
My Symptoms:
- Sharp, jabbing pains in the top of my right shoulder
- Stinging sensation in my shoulder
- Dull ache in my shoulder and down my arm
- Intermittent tingling and numbness
from my shoulder down my arm and through my hand
- Inability to pick up my Cuba Libra (Bacardi, Diet Coke, and lime), pull my
darts from the board, or even score a game without pain
- Limited grip in my throwing hand
- Limited strength in my throwing arm
- Limited mobility in my shoulder
Intermittent muscle spasms in my
shoulder, especially at night as I was drifting off to sleep
- Loss of sleep due to shoulder pain
Unable to sleep on my right (dart arm) side
- Occasional “popping” in my shoulder
As my symptoms worsened, I decided to educate myself. I read up on shoulder
injuries on an American Medical Association Family Medical Guide CD ROM and learned that there are basically two types of shoulder injury treatments:
- You use it or lose it!
- If you use it, you’ll lose it!
What to do, what to do...not knowing for sure, I did both!
I babied my arm and shoulder, slept on a heat pad night after night, took Excedrin like a knuckle headed addict, and thought that if I just took it easy and threw darts only on league nights and maybe one blind draw a week, with liberal amounts of Bacardi and Excedrin, my shoulder would heal on its own and in plenty of time for the Nationals in Las Vegas.
NOT!
- My ten-week home treatment regime that did not work:
- Slept on a heat pad every night
- Took hot showers directing the “massage” spray on my neck and shoulder
- Took up to 600mg of Excedrin a day
- Took two Excedrin PMs along with 6mg of Melatonin at night for pain and also
to help me sleep
- Took intermittent breaks from throwing for a day or so at a time and once for
over a week
At the Nationals, I played 15 games and won 3.
What should have been the high point of my darting “career” thus far, turned into quite possibly the most incompetent performance in ADO Cricket history! Aaarrgghhhh!
My shoulder went into spasms twice later that night.
That was Friday, February 5, 2004. I rested my arm until Sunday and played in the Las Vegas Open 501 Singles. I lost two legs out of three in the first match and was out of the event.
Alrighty then, I had to face it, my dart career was in deep crisis and possibly
over. I conceded that, after nearly three months of “toughing it out,” I needed professional help.
Actually, I went to an internist. Here is what I learned.
The very act of throwing a dart puts “special demands on muscles and joints of
the arm and shoulder.” It might sound funny, but a serious darter (that’s you if you are still reading this article) puts a lot of wear and tear on these muscles and joints! Micro-injury resulting in a pinched nerve, repetitive motion syndrome, tendonitis, tennis (dart) elbow, bursitis, arthritis, joint sprain, and an old injury flare-up are common complaints of darters. Old
age... and other non-darting activities such as job-related activities, keyboarding, playing computer/video games, crocheting, knitting, cross-stitching, etc., certainly don’t help, either.
My diagnosis was a sprained shoulder with a touch of bursitis!
Doesn’t sound like much, right? Well, it sure put the whammy on my game.
My Professional Medical Treatment:
- Cortisone with Lidocaine injected in my small shoulder joint (I didn’t know there was
such a thing as a small shoulder joint) which might have to be repeated,
and believe me, the jab from the needle doesn’t hurt nearly as much as the jab- bing pains that sent me to the doctor in the first place!
- Rest my shoulder for at least two days after the injection.
- Take Vioxx or Ibuprofen w/Codeine (I’m allergic to codeine, so I took the free samples
of Vioxx) for pain and swelling.
- Apply ice packs to relieve pain and swelling.
Will I ever be a competitive darter again?
Only time will tell. Can I prevent future injuries and pain? Only if I play smart!
Believe it or not, throwing darts is a sport that intensely uses fine motor
skills! Darters are athletes!
(Hey, I hear snickering out there...) I should have used “proper warm up and cool down techniques.” Hmm. I thought I knew about warm ups, but I had never heard of cool downs. What the heck are cool downs?
We all do warm ups, you know, throwing at the bulls-eye, tossing a few at the
trip-twenty, maybe a couple at the double sixteen. But those aren’t the kind of warm ups I’m talking about. And what are cool downs? Another couple
of Cuba Libras after the event is over?
Seriously, it means “athletic warm ups and cool downs.” Gently stretching
your arm and shrugging your shoulder up and down for about five minutes before throwing your warm-up darts, and do the same stretches and shrugs after a long
practice session or competition. (Do not rotate your shoulder as this only causes more wear and tear!) In other words, prepare your arm and
shoulder so that your muscles and joints are ready to perform, and after your darting session, cool down and relax your muscles and joints for a safe return to
normal function.
The weekend of the Regionals, I threw the longest consecutive competitive darts
ever in my life.
I threw darts Friday night, all day Saturday and into early Sunday morning. Then on that same Sunday from 11:00 am to after 8:00 pm, I threw in a round robin of 33 games, all without athletically warming up or cooling down! Well, no wonder, knucklehead!
In conclusion, I learned quite late in my darting career that a darter must
practice “safe darts” by warming up first and cooling down last.
If you are suffering wrist, arm, elbow, or shoulder pain, do your dart game a BIG favor and see a doctor! Don’t be like I was – scared, stubborn, and stupid! Be a smart, supple darter, and shoot lights out!
My sources:
- American Medical Association Family Medical Guide CD Rom
- http://www.sealweenies.com/documents /technical_article_on_shoulder_in.htm
- http://www.leonardfitness.com/warmup.htm
- http://shoulderandcollarbone.upmc.com/ShoulderSprain/Treatment.htm
- http://www.recoverymedicine.com/tendinitis_bursitis.htm
- Dr. Michael Esantsi, Internist, Houston, Texas
And finally, my new dart buddy and weight lifter, Jason Simes, Houston, TX
Be well and shoot well,
—“Not-So-Very” Mean Irene
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