Tendonitis/Carpal tunnel

[Star Ark]

I've got it. Well I've got tendonitis which is responsible for the carpal tunnel. Because of the holiday season I can't find a good hand specialist until mid Jan. I know it's a fairly common thing for musos, anybody had experience with it? I want to know about recovery times and sucess stories to cheer me up. Mine isn't too severe, it hurts to play guitar and open doors/jars but the worst of it was maybe 2-3 weeks ago.

I'm an instrument teacher for a living, I need to be right by the end of Jan or I wont have a job. I'm thinking of taking a few more weeks off and then trying nylon string guitars, and working my way up to steel strings and bass strings. Anybody been in this situation? Any tips?

 

[dale_a_smith]

you need a nerve conductivity test. Its pretty weird, but nothing serious. They strap electrodes to your fingers and shoulder, and make your fingers twitch. By timing the delay of the signal from one point to the other they can establish whether you have Carpal Tunnel problems or not.

My sister works in neurophysiology at the local hospital, and tested me for it.

The operation is far far easier than it was 15 years ago. It used to require 2 months off work, and it was a very invasive procedure. Now its keyhole surgery, the recovery time is a week or 2. ( the long recovery time from the old surgery was mostly caused by the opening up of the wrist, and not by the actual clearing of the carpal tunnel itself )..

Problem is, its not thought of as serious, so getting treatment can take ages, so better to get it sorted asap than wait till it stops you playing..

 

[Star Ark]

Sorry for the late reply....

Thanks for getting back to me dude

I currently have a sling for me left arm, just 2 days completely off my left hand has made a big difference. Booked in for mid Jan to see a specialist musicians hand doctor, she tells me my symptoms could be gone in as little as a week using a sling, but I'm not supposed to play until she has taken a proper look at it.

I'm confident

Rock on

Neil

 

[muckypup1]

Yeah don't play at all until its totally cleared up, I DID play and now i have injuries that probably won't go

 

[amarshism]

Yep. Time off is paramount. Unfortunately once you hit a heavy touring schedule it gets difficult. I went to the doctor knowing full well what the problem was. I'm also unfortunately anatomically blessed with small wrists which constricts things. He knew the problem right away, I said stopping is not a viable option and asked for specialist referral and medication which he refused saying I wasn't helping myself by not taking a break so he shouldn't assist me until I complied. Moron. Now I'm back I'll just go to a different doctor.

 

[AD Chaos]

What are the causes of this (I mean for us gtr players), how does it happen exactly?

I heard a fellow gtr teacher once say that GripMaster thingies where to blame, in lots of cases...

 

[Boerboel666]

Rest and not just a couple of days . Also have a look at your warm up routine as we all neglect this from time to time and in my experience this is when probs flare up .

 

[guitarguru777]

What are the causes of this (I mean for us gtr players), how does it happen exactly?

I heard a fellow gtr teacher once say that GripMaster thingies where to blame, in lots of cases...

Super thin, super fast shred guitar necks. They get your hand in an unnatural position that causes the tendons and ligaments to rub against one another causing inflammation and eventually carpel, also slinging your guitar super low causes it too, puts unnecessary strain on your wrist.

I had to stop playing Ibanez Jem guitars and late 80s RG's cause of this.

I took 5 years off from playing, and it still hasnt fixed it. I get so much pain in my forearm if I play with my hand in one position too long.


Things To Do:
Stretches - very important
Ergonomic Keyboards and workstations
Take breaks, don't play till your fingers bleed
Braces and Gloves, I wear mine at work all the time.

 

[Adenosine]

I'm a bricklayer during the day and guitarist at night.
I know this pain all too well!

I've never done anything about it though, it seems to fix itself (with rest?)
The worst I had once lasted for 3 weeks, i could barely lift a cup to drink.

 

[muckypup1]

Super thin, super fast shred guitar necks. They get your hand in an unnatural position that causes the tendons and ligaments to rub against one another causing inflammation and eventually carpel, also slinging your guitar super low causes it too, puts unnecessary strain on your wrist.

I had to stop playing Ibanez Jem guitars and late 80s RG's cause of this.

I took 5 years off from playing, and it still hasnt fixed it. I get so much pain in my forearm if I play with my hand in one position too long.


Things To Do:
Stretches - very important
Ergonomic Keyboards and workstations
Take breaks, don't play till your fingers bleed
Braces and Gloves, I wear mine at work all the time.

5 fucking years?! Man I only took a year off and I felt like dying

 

[muckypup1]

I'm a bricklayer during the day and guitarist at night.
I know this pain all too well!

I've never done anything about it though, it seems to fix itself (with rest?)
The worst I had once lasted for 3 weeks, i could barely lift a cup to drink.

Yeah thats how bad mine used to get, now I'm careful what i play and how much i play, and i've kind of got it under control now, but i still don't get to play no where near as much as I want

 

[Line666]

also slinging your guitar super low causes it too, puts unnecessary strain on your wrist.

Yeah, I had problems with this and had to take a few months off.

Bad posture, not good.

 

[guitarguru777]

5 fucking years?! Man I only took a year off and I felt like dying

Worst 5 years of my life, but hey it got me into production and writing other forms of music on the PC. I learned a shit ton about music in general when writing orchestrations and symphonies in midi. I was still being creative, just not on the guitar

 

[AD Chaos]

Super thin, super fast shred guitar necks. They get your hand in an unnatural position that causes the tendons and ligaments to rub against one another causing inflammation and eventually carpel, also slinging your guitar super low causes it too, puts unnecessary strain on your wrist.

This is weird... I always found thin necks much more comfortable than round ones.