My neck issues from an injury last December have limited my playing to ~20 minute chunks.
Looking down at my monitor at work too long and playing guitar bring on insane pressure/pain.
The two things I need/want to do the most. Figures.
Disc disease and spinal arthritis on top of whatever I did to my damn spine. 43 next month.
I turn 43 next month too and was diagnosed with a herniated disc in my neck last year May 2019. I've been working in IT since 1999 and my doctors call my issue "Tech Neck" and have seen a lot more younger people with it because it's being caused by looking down at laptop and smartphone screens and probably in my case also from looking down at the fretboard. When my neck gets bad, it affects my arms and legs. My left arm usually goes numb first. I sometimes have to walk with a cane. I got a cane with a flash light and alarm sound, so I don't trip over dog toys and it scares our dogs and cats out of my way haha.
I now have to play guitars under 7lbs and play mostly Ibanez RG series guitars. I can no longer play any of my Les Paul style guitars or most of my bass guitars.
I honestly really like Ibanez guitars now but used to hate them and thought they sounded lifeless. You can get a lot of different tones with the 5 way pickup selector and I really like the 4th position neck pickup in parallel mode. I had to re-learn how to use vibrato bc the Ibanez guitars are so light that the entire body moves along with my open hand wide vibrato technique and the reason I thought they sounded lifeless bc I couldn't get a wide vibrato. Heavier guitars stay put when I'd vibrato, so now I have to hold my thumb on top of the neck and only move the strings.
Here's a list of items that have really helped with my recovery. The Saunders Cervical Traction Device has helped the most and I bought a $5 Yoga mat to lay on when I use it. I use it at least once a day, especially if I start feeling pain and after 10 minutes set to 20lbs, I get all feeling back in my arms and legs and can start rockin out with my guitars and Axe-Fx out!
1. OTC Cervical Traction Kit, Neck Pain Relief, Vertebrae Disk Herniation, Complete Over Door Setup:
Amazon product ASIN B000JNLT0I## This is cheaper and helps if you can't afford a Saunders Cervical Traction Device
2. Saunders Cervical Traction Device With Carrying Case:
Amazon product ASIN B07XSTL6W3
3. urge medical Clever Cane with LED Light,Travel Adjustable Folding Walking Canes, Security Alarm, Two Cushion Handles:
Amazon product ASIN B07LBJLL2S
4. Purple Hybrid 2" Mattress:
https://purple.com/mattresses/hybrid
5. The Purple Pillow:
https://purple.com/pillows/purple-pillow
another thing i did was move to a lighter gauge on the top three strings. so 9's on the top and 10's on the bottom. all my guitars are set up with the action as low as it will go and i use the minimum amount of pressure required to fret notes (this can be quite an eye opener if you've never really thought about it)
playing every day, even if it's just for 10 minutes, is really important, imo
I also had to do this and use Ernie Ball 2222 Nickel Hybrid Slinky Orange Electric Guitar Strings. If you decide to try these strings make sure you get the 2222 because there's another orange pack 2215 that has 10's on top and 11's on bottom. I accidently bought the 2215 once and really thought my guitar days were coming to an end until I realized my mistake haha.
You'll be amazed how much using less fretting pressure improves your playing and sound. It reduces fret buzz and intonation issues because the notes don't go sharp from fretting too hard.
Getting old sucks!