Tendonits??? Any advice is appreciated.

[everdrone]

I have had a battle with it before and want to avoid in the future.  Let me know if there are any other tricks you used.  I did: ultrasound&InfernoWrap, massage with rollerball and finger massage, dfx gyroball and flextend, planet waves varigrip, handmaster plus.  I just got a Theraband flexbar.  I weightlift 3 times a week: DAY1 back/biceps DAY2 lower body  DAY3 chest/triceps/shoulders.  I do at least 15 reps of each set when weightlifting, I am 35 yrs old.  I do cardio 3+ times a week.  I eat really healthy, lots of meat-protein, nonfat milk and fruits/veggies. I keep my wrist straight when playing guitar and warm up 5-10 minutes before playing.  Supplements I take daily consist of: fish oil 1200mg 2x a day, b12 1000mg once a day, vitamin c 500mg 1x a day, centrum multivitamin 1x day, CosaminDS (condroitin400mg/glucosamine500mg) 1x day, Vitamin D 2000iu 1x day, b6 100mg once a day, magnesium citrate 400mg 1x day.  I drink a lot of water.  At work and home I use a freestyle2 keyboard and rollermouse and mousetrapper. I had tendonitis in my left hand fret fingers and tennis elbow from playing guitar really fast sporadically and then typing and weightlifting doing wrist curls. I am glad I don't have it, but this time I am being proactive.

I am trying to make sure I play guitar/bass an hour a day.  Any insights, comments (or jokes heheh) are appreciated

[liquidsmoke]

My wrists and hands have always seemed somewhat fucked up and weak. I keep my fretting arm wrist as straight as possible when playing and that helps a lot.

[Omlet]

Five-ten minutes of wrists and arms warm-up before you start to play.

[everdrone]

cool thank you for the replies

I had chronic tendonitis but it went away and I am lifting weights and could not before.  so I do not every want to go back.

I am doing stuff in the suggestions, thank you for confirming and posting.  I am glad those things work best for you.  I am trying to nuke tendonitis in the bud, thank you for any and all suggestions

[chille01]

Glucosamine is supposed to be another good supplement for this kind of stuff.  My led bass player was having issues with his hands, and it helped.

[everdrone]

cool brutha, Ill keep taking my CosaminDS (condroitin400mg/glucosamine500mg) pills

Ive been taking em for 8 months now

[chille01]

MAybe up the dose? After you research any side fx of course.

[everdrone]

that is great advice!  I actually decided to up the dosage to a CosaminDS pill at morning and at night, since the recommended dosage is 1-2 a day and I already have been taking it for 1/2 a year.

here are some things I have done since my initial post:

will also need to consider getting a personal trainer; I bought a book by an expert for musician health in the past, and this doc online say 15 reps minimum: http://www.musicianshealth.com/weight.htm

"While weight training, musicians should concentrate on high repetition, low to medium weight exercises. Each set of exercises should consist of 15 repetitions. If you feel that you cannot attain 15 "reps" then you are working with too much weight. "

my weightlifting regiment for the past 6 months:

Friday is 1) lateral pulldowns 2) lateral rows, 3) reverse pectoral deck flies for the back 4) bicep curls 5) preacher curls

Saturday is lower body lifting only

Sunday is 1) bench press 2) incline bench press 3) pectoral deck flies for chest 4) tricep extensions 5) preacher tricep extensions 6) military press 7) butterfly shoulder extension machine


my thing lately is practicing with my fretlight blues and Slash lessons and wanting to bend notes when I am not at that strength level!

I need to abstain or I will need the doc. thanks. the docs I went to when I had insurance just xrayed my hand and said no surgery and do not play guitar ever and did not help so I would need to find new ones if I am not careful. glad I do not really have a problem right now, but I feel I could have one if I am not careful.
I am gonna stop bending and start playing 40 minutes every other day and be strict about it with a timer / alarm and all.

I will have to look into this stuff. I have been taking two fish oil pills morning and night, but the past month I started to also take 5 "green pasture blue ice royal butter oil/fermented cod liver oil blend" pills highly revered by health gurus, so Ill buy more refills of that stuff., I have been buying this $50 bottle supposed to help your teeth of all things: butter oil cod liver http://www.codliveroilshop.com/

Ramiel Nagel, Cure Tooth Decay author recommends it

https://www.google.com/search?q=cod+...sm=93&ie=UTF-8


I weightlift 3 times a week: DAY1 back/biceps DAY2 lower body DAY3 chest/triceps/shoulders. I do at least 15 reps of each set when weightlifting, I am 35 yrs old. I do cardio 3+ times a week. I eat really healthy, lots of meat-protein, nonfat milk and fruits/veggies. I eat fish 3 times a week, salmon 1-2 times a week, eat green nutribullet smoothies morning and night with lots of blueberries/spinach/dark-greens/berries, I eat minimal grains/nuts/seeds, 10 walnut halves a day for the brain


I have two sources saying do at least 15 reps at low to medium weight.  I only weightlift to help my guitar playing and for functionality of the body.
I am thinking of modifying my workout to consist of the workout below, would you agree? :
______________________________________________________
I do 15 to 20 reps at a medium weight. I do three sets:
Friday: Lateral rows (80-90 pounds; I do a warmup set with less weight first), lateral pulldowns (80-90 pounds), biceps curls (60 pound barbell)

Sunday, incline bench (120 pounds; I do a warmup set with less weight first), tricep extensions(70 pounds), military press (50 pounds), squat machine (300 pounds; I do a warmup set first).


Then I do cardio every other day to get in 2+ hours of speedwalking/stairclimbing/incline-walking/elliptical. I do bicycle while stretching upper body and using various gadgets I mentioned in my original post.
I don't want inflammation and injury

[sanovine]

I eat pizza most days. The only exercise i get is walking to the door to get the pizza from the deliveryman. I do 15 reps of ball scratching each day.

[Lumpy]

Weightlifting has absolutely nothing to do with playing guitar whatsoever. Some of the best guitar players I've seen are also some of the scrawniest people imaginable. I'm not against weightlifting, I do it myself, but it's not going to help your guitar playing in any way, unless you are too weak to support a guitar, which is unlikely. It's good for your general health though, probably.

As far as Chondroitin and Glucosamine, some people say it's only a placebo effect, but a friend of mine was giving it to his elderly dogs and he said it helped them (no placebo effect with dogs).

Warming up real slow, stretching your hands, not attempting to play anything remotely difficult until you're totally warmed up, seem to help. But I've never had tendonitis, knock on wood. Because the tendons don't have good circulation (dense tissue) it can take a long time to heal. You're probably on the right track with the fish oil (anti-inflammatory) although there's probably a limit on what it can do.

[everdrone]

lol

Lumpy thank you, I appreciate your insights and info, cheers 

[RacerX]

Yeah, fuck weightlifting for guitar.

Strengthen yer paws with this:

[themusketking]

I had serious wrist issues early on in life due to working in landscaping and concrete. I used this:






Only $20 and it's awesome for your wrists/forearms. Absolutely made playing guitar easier for me.

[everdrone]

cool guys, Ill keep using my dfx gyroball (dynaflex gyro exercise ball) and flextend, planet waves varigrip (spring for each finger)

I am gonna research things this week and will modify my weightlifting, I do look like someone that lifts weights a little so I am not sure how great that is in terms of being a musician though.