Hand/wrist pain

[StevenLindsey]

Anybody ever had a problem with pain in your hand you chord with? I seem to have pulled something in my left hand and thumb. The thumb has a very sharp pain in the middle joint and I sometimes can barely hold the strings down hard enough. I've tried working it out, but when I excercise it it seems to kinda go numb on me. The pain extends down into my wrist at times also. This is very disturbing. I surely don't want to quit playing guitar yet. May just be old age. (47) But...my other hand is fine. Just was wondering if anyone else had experienced this and if there is a common remedy. Thanks for any info.

 

[jet-rocker]

Sounds like the beginnings of carpal.

Get that shit checked out pronto. (I almost f-my wrist up playing minesweeper--my job is that exciting.)

-Jett

 

[Even]

No shit, this sort of thing throws me into a panic. I get the stabbies from time to time as well. The whole list of possible afflictions flood my mind. I fear arthritus or any of that. Milk does not do a body good..... boo, evil milk.

 

[freshmattyp]

I was experiencing numbness in my fretting hand about a year ago. I got all freaked out about carpal tunnel. My doctor told me to quit wearing a watch on my left hand while I play guitar. That stopped it from happening again. I guess my wrist position was cutting off circulation to my thumb.

 

[Phyl]

I left the cover band I played with because of this sort of problem. It started out as hand and wrist pain (identical to what you describe) that persisted a few days after each gig, towards the end it was constant pain, 24/7.

I was diagnosed with chronic tendinitis in the wrist and hand. It took thousands of dollars in physical therapy, a lot of anti-inflammatories and a wrist brace to get the pain to finally subside. It still comes back when I play too long or too aggresively. Obviously I can no longer do the band thing.

See a doctor. He can send you to a nuerologist for a nerve conduction test which will determine if it is Carpal Tunnel or Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI), also called tendinitis.

If you wait too long it becomes a chronic condition that you have to deal with for the rest of your life. Cortisone shots will give you some short term relief but don't get the shot thinking that you can go back to playing as much as you did before. Resting the injured limb is essential but often the hardest thing for a guitarist to do.

 

[StevenLindsey]

Thanks for the replies. Man, I hope this mess goes away on its own. No doctors for me. I don't wear anything around my wrist so that can't be it. This almost feels like I've chipped a bone in my thumb or something. It's weird. I'm just going to rest it for a while and abstain from milk. I may just have to switch hands and get a lefty guitar. If I have to quit playing guitar, I might as well go jump off a bridge. < only kidding > It would be a terrible loss though. Picking is one of the few remaining pleasures that I have left. May have to go to piano or some other instrument eventually. Maybe flute. Would you guys feel bad if you couldn't play anymore? The thought is a horror to me!

 

[Phyl]

I was devastated when I couldn't play in the band anymore, but in time I came to see it as one of those "when one door closes, another opens" kind of things.

I ended up buying a bunch of recording gear, spending time on this bulletin board learning, and now I do a lot of composing on the keyboard which has been a lot of fun.

I can't stress enough how important it is to have it looked at by a professional; doesn't have to be a doctor, a physical therapist or chiropractor might give you some good advice.

 

[freshmattyp]

If it is some kind of repetitive motion injury, you may be able to be covered by workman's comp, depending on your job.

See a doctor. That's the best thing to do.

 

[ap]

One of the biggest causes of WRIST problems is playing with a bent wrist, which alot of people do all the time but especially with a low slung guitar and especially when barre chording.

FWIW, I had classic CTS symptoms- your description seems to be more like repetitive stress on your thumb rather than wrist- until I did the following:

• took several days off the guitar completely while trying to use my left hand as little as possible. I wouldn't even open doors or drive with it.
  
• stopped doing push-ups and riding my bike as much, both of which put pressure on the base of hand/wrist while it's bent
  
• shortened my guitar straps to raise my playing position and am always conscious of my wrist bending
  
• NEVER play more than 45 minutes and take 20 minute breaks
  
• make sure my hands/wrist are warm while playing, sometimes going out of my way to where long sleeves or a loose sock around my wrist
  
• avoid sleeping on my left arm
  
• avoid driving with my left hand, motorcycles, power tools, or anything that vibrates the left hand

I found alot of info on carpal tunnel on a websearch.

BTW, piano can be just as bad as guitar. My next door neighbor is a pro piano player and has serious problems. She hasn't needed surgery but has had shots, which have helped.

 

[acidrock]

I've never had problems with my wrists,but my playing could sure hurt your ears!

 

[matty_boy]

This won't help, but it may make you feel like you aren't the only one. I have arthritis in my left (fretting) thumb which acts up whenever it wants to (actually, its an air pressure thing, but I still have no control over it). I sometimes cannot really play for like three days at a time. Just getting over a bout now. Hope you get things worked out and you feel better soon. I would see a doctor if I were you, but I am kind of a pansy.

 

[Cyrokk]

I'm surprised no one has asked you if you are doing any warming up exercises before you play. If you are not warming up then you are potentially screwing yourself for any and all kinds of muscular problems down the road.

Before warming up, my suggestion would be to completely lay off the guitar for awhile. Let your hand recuperate completely from any muscular stress. Then when you are ready to start playing again, run your hands through some warm water (especially during the colder seasons) and give them a few good shakes to get good blood flow. Then spend about five minutes before each playing session doing a repetitive fingering exercise starting at the 12th fret and working your way down the neck and back up. Work slowly at first, and gradually pick up your speed at an even pace.

A good exercise is to write down all possible combinations of fingerings that you can do on one string in a four fret span (1,2,3,4... 2,3,4,1 etc) and then run down and then back up the neck. If you practice regularly, then switching to a different combination each time breaks up the monotony. Also use alternate picking so you can warm up your picking hand at the same time.

Also, if you are doing a lot of downstroke picking, you need bring your motions up to speed slowly or you'll do damage to the upper muscles in your forearm.

Sorry about the long ramble, but warming up often gets neglected because guitarists want to get straight to the music. They don't want to mess around with rudimentary exercises.

 

[jimistone]

at 47 your just getting old and its probably arthritus setting in...if thats the case trying to not use your left hand for a while is the worst thing you can do.

im 42 myself, (so im not a teenage punk calling you an old fart) and i broke my ankle playing high school football and sprained it several times after that...sometimes i will wake up and can hardley walk. sometimes whem im in the middle of a gig a sharp pain with go thru my wrist...i know its arthritus so i just play it off....like the high school football coach tells someone when the get hurt "walk it off...walk it off"

i would agree that you need to make sure that its not something more serious.

but, if you like me you won't go to the doctor. the last time i went to the doctor was 10 years ago when i sliced the bottom of my left thumb to the bone and had to get it stitched up (and even then i tried to use those butterfly adhiesive stitches but they didn't stop the bleeding...so i had to give up the ghost and go to the doctor. it was 2" long cut that was very deep. the doctor told me there was some nerve damage and that i needed to get a nuerologist to look at it. i told him to sew it up and give me some pain medicine cause im not going to a nerologist...unless i can't play the guitar i had no feeling in my entire thumb for a little over a year...that was 10 years ago and i have most (90%) of the feeling back....and to think, if i had of gone to the nerologist he would have took credit for that improvement (and put a very big dent in my wallett).

im thru rambling now

 

[StevenLindsey]

I greatly appreciate the "rambling". Very helpful. I played for about 30 minutes last night and the old thumb feels a little better this morning. I think maybe I overdo it a bit at times. And the warming up advice is likely very good. I haven't ever really done this. Never seemed to need it that much. But I have a feeling that is part of the problem. I also tend to grab the neck pretty hard too. I'm trying to learn to play with less pressure on the thumb. And..... I guess I don't want to admit that I'm getting old. Sad thing is, I'm just now getting to the point where I have enough discipline to actually get good on the guitar but now the body wants to start letting me down. Gonna have to fight it and whup it. It aint' over quite yet! Shoot. Look at old Keith Richards. Thanks everybody.

 

[SS454]

I used to have problems with my wrist also. It went away after I started exercising and lifting weights. But your pain might be arthritus like jimistone suggested, in which case, I don't think exersice would be good. You should just get it checked out, man. Find out what is first. I hope it gets better.

 

[mikeyc222]

take vitamin b6. it's a life saver. i have the EXACT same pain in my left hand. i was even a massage therapist for a while and that is even worse on the hands. i suffered through work and playing guitar for a long time until a lady i worked with told me about b6. if you take it EVERY day you might still get a very small amount of pain but not enough to keep you from playing. i've had a lot of luck with b6 and i hope you do also.

 

[badassmak]

arthritis/tendonitis

this might not be your problem, but recently i went through some nastieness with tendonitis in my elbow. It was so bad I couldnt lift a cup of coffee, let alone play guitar. I went through some physio and a billion different antinflammatories, which really eats holes in your gut. When I was little I was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis, which was really bad, I was hospitalized. The treatment was antiinflammatories then, and I suspect this is why they dont work for shit now. Basically nothing really seemed to be helping, until I started making changes in my diet specifically, hydration wise...no more coffee hehe, lots of water, fruits and veges all that good stuff...and...not so much masterbating...at any rate, I do feel much better than I ever have before, with no pain in the elbow anymore. I also work construction so it pays double to have a good diet. Basically I look at it like this, I put only premium stuff in this engine baby, cause its gotta last... (btw you probably already know all this crap, cause your much older and wiser than me, but I just thought Id reiterate my own 2 cents worth)...best of luck

 

[badassmak]

ps

heres a list of some antiflams ive taken over time...

entrophen
tylenol
aspirin
celebrex
naproxen (extreme hole burningingut meds)
and countless others i cant rememeber

also of note I was taking some glucosamin sulfate as a supplement, didnt work for me but i know its worked for others. hopefully this isnt totally useless too you...

 

[64Firebird]

Have you ever tried doing some warm up stretching before you start playing? Might help.

 

[StevenLindsey]

Well, the thumb seems to be a bit better today. Thank the Lord! I played some this weekend and tried a few of the ideas I've gotten so far. From the info gathered here and on some other web sites, I am going to try doing these things: Warm up exercises on the hands before playing - Soak the hand in hot water - Get some vitamin B6 - Finger exercises - Strengthen the hands/wrists/arms with weight lifting - change playing technique, watching closely the thumb position on the neck, with less of a grip - self massage to the wrists and hand - take frequent breaks while playing/recording - watch the diet. I have done so many different drugs in my younger days that I have a low tolerance for any kind of chemical. I will remain drugless as long as possible. I did quit the caffeine a few years ago. Major improvement - have a much better disposition now - not as easily provoked to anger, more even tempered. And greatly reduced frequency of headaches. Caffeine = bad drug. From the responses here, I think that this problem may be fairly common. I wonder if many professional players have had to fight this animal? Would be interesting to know. Thanks again everbody! I certainly appreciate the responses and the concern. And Bad.... I'm older but not necessarily that much wiser.....still do some pretty stupid things and pay for them. The margin of safety decreases proportionately with time though and you have to watch your back more closely to keep the enemies at bay. But no matter what you do, the Dogs of Death eventually drag you down and eat you. There, a nice thought for the day!