Nearly twenty years of playing on stage has caught up with guitarist Nita Strauss. She is set to have surgery in late December for a knee injury sustained in May while on the road with Alice Cooper. The former Alice Cooper guitarist and current Demi Lovato guitarist revealed in an Instagram post that she had been touring with a torn meniscus for nearly eight months and would require surgery. 

A torn meniscus is one of the most common knee injuries. The meniscus is a cartilage that sits between the shinbone and the thigh bone. A torn meniscus occurs during an activity that leads to suddenly twisting when putting weight on the knee. Miraculously, Strauss has continued to play on a torn meniscus for the better part of a year while on tour. The dedication to both fans and rock shown by Strauss is more than admirable. 

Strauss, who has been touring with Alice Cooper as of 2014 and Lovato as of July respectively, opened up to concerned fans about her injury and the realities of playing on stage for nearly two decades.   

In an instagram post on November 23 Strauss revealed that ““I have a little knee update, for those who’ve been wondering. I did have my pre-op last week, and, unfortunately, it didn’t go exactly as I hoped it would. According to my doctor, eight months of performing on a torn meniscus did not do me any favors. The injury has not improved; unfortunately, it’s gotten worse. So surgery has had to be pushed to the end of the year — after Christmas, after the last Rams game — and then it’ll be a full month before I can do anything at all again. So no shows, no performing, no nothing. I’m super disappointed at that; I was hoping to already be on the mend by now. But it is what it is.” 

Strauss reassures fans that she will be continuing as in-house guitarist for the Los Angeles  Rams until the season finishes. Strauss will then go on to take a month long sabbatical to recover from her surgery 

Read more about Strauss’ injury at Blabbermouth  

 

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Photo Credit: Kalyn Oyer