Hand/wrist pain

[badassmak]

theraband

hehe well I dont see myself ever becoming all holy and knowing, in fact i do forsee many stupid things to come this lifetime, just hopefully none of them involves the dogs of death anytime soon. One thing I use pretty religiously everyday, is a piece of theraband. Basically a big piece of rubber band, any physio place has it, I use it to stretch everythinggggg...well almost hehe, definately obviously stretching is a big thing also...as far as drugs are ya they arent good i try too avoid them at all costs, because the body does become immune after aawhile, or rather the disease, whatever it is. Surgery is also something else i avoid, before i radically changed myself they were gonna slice me apart, they were at such a loss. I was freaked out as it was cause I hadnt played a freakin note in 3 months, that must have been when I dropped the case of beer a day from my habits as well as all the porno links on my puter...cheers!!
ps Dave Mustaine of Megadeth fame if you haven't heard has a fairly career threatening problem right now I believe in his shoulder, I think its along the same lines as this kindof problem, tendonitis wise, maybe theres some ihelpful info there......

 

[Cyrokk]

Yeah I read an article awhile back on Mustaine. He had to disband Megadeth and his docs are recommending to him to lay off the guitar for at least a year.. It's been some time since I read that, so my details may be off..

I severely reduced my caffeine intake about six months ago. Man, if someone told me ten years ago that I would lay off alcohol, cigarettes, and caffeine, I would tell them to piss off. But that's exactly what I've done. I stopped all but the occasional beer or coffee, and it totally flatlined my mood swings.. And when I do have a cup of coffee I get paranoid. I could've saved a hell of a lot of nonsense had I not started drinking it in the first place.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled topic...

Cy

 

[ausrock]

Steven and others............

I have suffered from LH wrist/hand pain, mainly back from my little finger for almost 2 yrs. It got to the point about 1 yr ago that I couldn't play chords for more than about 5 minutes before the pain became so severe I had to stop. This was pretty frustrating seeing I clocked up 40 yrs of playing not long ago.

Anyways, I was chatting online to Steve (aka ThatUpstateGuy here on HR) about this problem some months ago and he suggested I go to a health food shop and buy some Glucosamine capsules, which an extract (depending who you ask) from sharks or other fishy type things, which if taken regularly, helps build up the cartilage in your joints. Virtually all of the "osteo-arthritic" health supplements contain Glucosamine.

A doctor friend confirmed this information although he did warn that it can take some time for the benefits to become apparent.............I guess I must have been lucky as I noticed a major improvement within 2 weeks.............it is now about 6 months later and even though I tend to forget to swallow a capsule regularly, I can now play my guitar a hell of a lot more with a hell of a lot less discomfort.

 

[VertuGoGo]

try using lighter guage picks and strings to minimize the impact, and if you're a low-slinger you'll need to raise your guitar a bit. those things will help a bit.

 

[StevenLindsey]

I tried some light strings on my six (acoustic) not long ago and took them right back off. Threw the intonation off terribly. Mediums sound so much better anyway. Looks like I may have to trade my 12-string in for a Strat or something. I can definitely feel the strain playing bar chords on it. I love playing the 12 but ..... may not be worth it. I've started on vitamin B6. May check out the Glucosamine also. If it's only available in health food stores it's probably pretty pricey.

 

[ausrock]

Steven,

You should find the Glucosamine or at least products containing it anywhere that carries a good range of vitamins and other "natural" health products. Over here, most supermarkets have a section for all that stuff...........just look for products aimed at arthritic problems. And it isn't particularly expensive.

 

[mikeyc222]

steven, i forgot to mention before but much like the Glucosamine capsules, the b6 unfortunately takes a little while to build up a noticable difference. don't give up if you don't feel better after a few days.

 

[freakindisplay]

I have troubles with my fretboard hand also, mostly just numbing of fingers and such when I am not playing, then after I will play, even after warming up, 10 min. tops and I am hurting big time. I recently went to a local drug store and purchased a brace for the wrist, I wear it at night and whenever I do not play, then when I do play I take it off like 20 or so minutes and get blood flowing and stretch and stuff then jam some, it has helped a lot, pain is still there, but I can play longer and think this may be a trick for everyone with pains. Its worth a shot, I fear I am catching tunnel, but absolutely can not deal with the run-arounds the docs give around here, nor the pricey payments that linger. Try the glove as I call it, it may help.

FrEaK