Darts, a Bad Back and Bounce Outs

Although I've dealt with a back problem for years, recently I somehow managed to take back pain to a whole new level. In what friends and family are describing to me as a pinched nerve, when I bend over for anything pain shoots down my leg, lights up every damaged nerve from my previously broken (and still sketchy) ankle and my toes go numb. While playing darts at a friends last week I painfully took the laughing and kidding every time I made some likely hysterical physical move to pick up a dart that had bounced out. And I guess by Murphy's Law, I sure was getting a lot of bounce outs.

Having experienced that, I reflected on those in the game that are handicapped in some way. I know several shooters who live with back pain every day. Others who have permanent injuries. My recent solution hit me as I was packing up for my weekly blind draw dart tournament. My telescopic / magnetic pickup tool resides on the side of the beer fridge in the Man Cave. I threw it in the dart case and used it with much relief when I had a few bounce outs that night, and decided I'd buy another to keep in the dart case permanently.