Hand/wrist injuries - please share tips/stories

[tossom]

As stated in SunnO)))'s thread, looking to see if any of you guys can share tips for dealing with hand/wrist injuries - guessing I am not the only one carrying an injury.  No problems with my wrists, but have serious tendonitis in my middle finger on my left hand.  Got so bad when I was younger that I couldn't pull the finger in to make a fist and had to stop playing for a couple of months to get it to settle.  Imagine how annoyed I was when I turned 18, got given a guitar by my folks but couldn't play the bloody thing!  A guitar playing locum doctor eventually told me he reckoned playing in standard tuning from the age of 13 to 18 with guage 11s was probably to blame, that and the amount I played.  Too much tension on my still growing tendons etc.

Just started playing again after a layoff of about 3 or 4 years - worried that it is going to cause problems again, as I still have what feels like a knot on the tendon.  Can feel it through the palm of my hand.  Playing with lighter strings now, just playing for fun, don't practice near as much plus tuning a LOT lower

Any tips you can give other than lower string tension?

Been told by a friend to start taking cod liver oil and glucosamine sulphate daily to help with it, he is a professional violin tutor so willing to give it a go.

[ROWDYBEER]

I do a lot of manual labor and my hands, wrists, fingers are beat. No tendonitis just sore. Anyone have any luck with guitar/bass specific hand/finger work out gadgets?

I crank down on my guitar when I play like Im going to fall off. 

[Chovie D]

Ive been there. Had to have a splint on my finger and cancel a bunch of shows. It was after switching to heavier gauge strings. (I used an .070 on the bottom and tuned to A). The specialist I saw suggested stretching the fingers out before playing  and I think that helped as it never came back. Hold your hand with your fingers out straight like your gonna karate chop something. Take your other hand and put pressure on your fingertips, all of em at once, bending them back gently toward the backside of your palm. Then do the reverse, take your other hand and bend the fingers forward toward your palm. Thats the stretch the doc showed me. also take it easy, no playing 12 hour a day or anything. You could probably find some other stretches online designed for guitarists fingers i bet.

[clockwork green]

I've had numbness in my pinkies and ring fingers from ulnar nerve compression from riding my bike. I've stretched as well as used those spring hand exercisers, the ones where you can do each finger individually. It's helped a lot in both getting it to go away and keep it away with regular use. Not sure what it might do for you but it's a cheap try.

[black_out]

I've been getting a massage once a week through the company I work for, for a couple of years now and I haven't had problems with paresthesia since. I'm not trying to down play the importance of stretching, but a massage once a month can go a long way, too. A lot of places offer half hour chair massages for exactly this purpose and it's typically in the $35-$50 range.

[Chovie D]

do you get a "happy ending" with those massages? I might have to look into that, sounds pretty swank

[VOLVO)))]

I have serious tendinitis in my right arm from thinking I was Yngwie Malmsteen from 2006 until I started REALLY playing guitar in 2009. Trem picking, with a stiff arm because I didn't know dick about technique at the time lead to occasional flare ups when I play hard. I just joined a black metal band. Will report back in a week or so, and let you know how bad it sucks. Don't be like me, pick correctly.

[black_out]

do you get a "happy ending" with those massages? I might have to look into that, sounds pretty swank

haha nah, I wish. She ain't much to look at anyway.

[spookstrickland]

Ice is your friend.  Every time it gets sore or after you are done playing ice it down.  I had really bad tendonitis in my wrists and it was just a bastard the only thing that got me back in shape was starting out really slow with my guitar playing for short amounts of time every other day then every day and gradually building up and then icing down after every work out.

[chlorpromazine]

skip to 1:45, because this guy likes to hear himself talk

[johnny problem]

Yoga is just a great way to stretch, final.  But for people who've never done it, you can experience "blockage" in parts of your joints.  Basically, after a few yoga exercises, you can get this tingly feeling, which is supposed to run all over your body.  But if you don't do yoga or practice it enough, "blockage" can take place in joints, keeping that tingly feeling from going all over your body.  With more prac, the blockage should go away.

Also, I had some tennis elbow during the christmas break, due to skiing.  Applying pressure on my forearm helped a tremendous amount.  I would put pressure around the tendon that hurt and push down towards my finger tips (stop just before the wrist).  There are these gizmos that wrap around your forearm and are supposed to help alleviate the pain.

Just an example:
http://www.braceshop.com/productcart/pc/DonJoy-Forearm-Strap-w-Pad-50p556.htm

[RacerX]

This was my fretting hand just about a year ago:



My surgeon put it all back together, but it took her 6.5 hours. It still hurts when it gets cold, and the range of motion is limited at the wrist, but I can still play.

I find that stretching and warming up before playing does help, and my surgeon also said that playing itself is probably the best therapy. The occasional ibuprofen and some moist heat when it hurts, and all is well.

Now if I could just get my fuckin' thumb behind the neck above the 12th fret...

[Jor el]

Fuuuuuuuuudge

It's amazing how many drivers are on autopilot and do not pay attention to what goes on around them.