When I was in my mid 20's I was the victim of a hit and run. I was run over by a car, and actually declared dead at the scene and had my body covered. Fortunately, while being put in "the wagon" vital signs were found. I had both my legs and ankles broken, my pelvis crushed, a busted sternum, and my right clavicle was virtually turn to dust from being crushed. As a doctor told me later, "my right side is held together only by tissue, not bone.
I was told I would never walk properly again, but with sheer determination and a ton of physical therapy I was able to get off a walker and start doing the "6-Pack Shuffle", as my friends called it, (at the time my nickname was "SixPack").
I would use my hand to drag my right foot out in front of me, then I would shuffle the left foot heel-to-toe, heel-to-toe up to my right foot and start the process over.
The physical therapy got me interested in weightlifting, but after a year of it, I started to get real bad headaches. I would just eat lots of aspirin and work through it. But, I couldn't get my right side to grow equal to my left side and I tried everything - literally. Finally, I went back to the doctors to see what the problem was and why the headaches were so bad. As it turns out, because of the damage I had and the fact my right was held together "with tissue and not bone", I was actually twisting my spinal column. The left side was growing because it had bones for muscle to pull against and the right side was not, thus causing the twist. So that was that, no more weight training.
Anyhow, to make a very long story short, as many of you know, I got over the walking problem and although they said I would never walk properly again,Rachel and I were able to walk 850 miles from San Felipe to Cabo. However, as much as I want to play my guitar standing, and as much as I try, and believe me I did try...I can not play my guitar standing up without huge pain in my back due to the nerve damage. So, to answer the question "why am I always sitting when we perform?" It is because it hurts too much to play any other way. Believe me if I could play standing and running around the stage, and do some head banging, I damn sure would.