Hero Of The Day

Obviously, playing guitar can damage your hands if you play over a long period of time. Carpal Tunnel, tendon damage, athritis, etc. I would like to know how to avoid this, if theres anyway too, and what to do if you already have it.

 

INeedX

I was actually wanting to ask something like this. I was wondering how much practice/playing is too much.
I know carpal tunnel is caused by repetitive motion repeated many times over a long period of time and can be avoided by changing the motion, in other words if you're going to do one repetitive motion you have to make a conscious effort to move that body part (hand, wrist, elbow or whatever) in other ways and frequently. Simple daily exercizes can ward it off.
Also I'd like to know some people's views on building hand strength for guitarists.

Aqualung

I remember Stringbender mentioning that he got messed up wrists from playing too much. He's probably got some good advice on this.

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Hero Of The Day

When i was just starting to play guitar, i read an articial that Dimebag Darrell was in. He said to build up strength in all your fingers, just trill up and down the neck. To start, go to the 1st and 2nd fret on the high E string, use your first and middle finger to trill a little bit and move on to adjacent strings, when you reach the low e string slide up a fret, do this until you reach the 12th fret. Then, use your middle finger and ring finger and so on and so on. It really works, after about a week of doing that every time before you play, your hands will be nice and strong.

The Coker Variations

Well I think at the least you should make sure you don't play straight for an hour. Every 5 or so minutes you should have a little rest and stretch your hands and arms. I recommend massaging your knuckles rather then cracking them (trust me its much better, especially in the long run).

Its probably best to do these stretches before you start playing as well. Don't just jump straight into the hard stuff but start slow and maybe play a scale and slowly build up speed to warm up your hands and get the blood flowing because from what i recall the hands have the worst blood circulation of your whole body.


As for strength exercises. Myself I just played a lot and didnt really do anything specific. Some people use those hand spring things (i can't remember what their called) but i don't think they'd really make a difference physically. If your just starting out I recommend practicing your barre chords to get your strength up. This way you'll get better at barre chords while improving your strength.

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Mongo97

Stretch, take breaks, practice good hand postion and picking motion.

And don't believe "no pain, no gain." Perhaps when you're first building your fingertips up, but after that first bit if you wrist, elbow, fingers start hurting STOP. Take 10, then go back.

Stringbender

You guys knew I would have somethjing to say on this! LOL.
What is being said here is good- VERY important stuff! Definitely stretch before and after playing- take each finger and (taking your other hand) slowly hold it against your fretting fingers and bend them slightly back to stretch them. If you stand a lot when you play- try sitting when you play and adjust where the guitar rests on your knee -this will help with the angle your fretting hand is attacking the strings. After playing really complex stuff- (where you stretch the hell out of your hands) this one might seem odd- take the thumbo of your left hand (or reverse if you play left-handed) and place it about on inch or so down from your left elbow. Press down and massage this area- after moving around a little, you will find your ulna nerve. This is the "funny bone" and it actually controls (I think) 3 of your fingers- massaging this with a little pressure will help to make sure that any inflammation from guitar playing is kept down and also that no scar tissue builds up.
OH- I'LL SAY THIS RIGHT HERE AND NOW- ODDS ARE IF YOU ARE JUST RECENTLY STARTING OUT ON GUITAR- YOU WON'T HAVE ANY PROBLEMS FOR YEARS AND IT DEPENDS ON HOW MANY HOURS OF ABUSE YOU PUT INTO YOUR YEARS! -However, stretches can help. I did damage from 30+ years of playing- challenging myself to play harder and faster (like Bach and Rachmaninoff pieces) and between typing all day (with my hands at one angle) then playing guitar all night (with my hands at a different -odd angle) it really did some damage. pace yourself- stretch often- don't jump in Randy Rhoads stuff right off the bat- ease into it slowly.. and pay attention to each little twinge or pain you get and let your doctor know! I'll give more pointers when I have time!

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Music Resource

Stretching before, inbetween playing each hour, and after playing. Take breaks. It makes a big difference in playing as well. Switch to other instruments and then back again each day - it helps to avoid repetitious movements.

Aqualung

In Musicophilia I read about musicians who do the same repetetive, small-muscle movement over and over that their brains re-align to where the muscles overlap and get tangled and so the movements cannot be accomplished. That would suck.

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indieaaron45

Yes!!! take lots of short breaks.

INeedX

That's cool because I just naturally take little breaks often usually to stop and think about the music I'm looking at or whatever, but I'll play for a few hours.

Stringbender

A good thing to do before and after playing (I will do this sometimes before playing live) is to fill up a sink with water (as hot as you can stand) and put your hands in for a few minutes and stretch your fingers. You don't want to leave your hands in too long because you don't want the skin or calluses to get too soft. After playing, soaking in hot water and then wrapping in a towel for a few minutes is good for the hands and fingers.

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Brain

I've played alot guitar in the few years I've been playing and never had any 'hurt'. 1 time I played constantly for 8 hours.. didn't hurt abit.

Joel

I overworked my wrist playing drums poorly once, and during the 2 weeks it took to get back to 100%, playing guitar was definitely bad for it.

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Cirrus_Minor

Man, I really should have paid attention to things like this. I actually think I have developed some slight tendonitis in my left hand ring finger. I noticed it a little yesterday, or the day before, and now again today, but a bit stronger. I instantly started searching on the internet about what could be wrong, and this seems correct. Its a little sore where I think my tendon is on my forearm, and my ring finger is not really sore, but seems a tad weak almost. Actually, not even weak, more like I can feel its on the verge of being weak.

So, does anyone have any recomendations as to what to do? I've heard a few days rest and an anti-inflammatory should do the job. Is that true? How do I prevent it from happening again?


EDIT - Keep in mind, it's very slight. I looked into tendonitis some more, and I think it's just slightly inflamed as of now, and the real pain and numbness that comes with tendonitis hasn't actually hit yet. I'm stopping playing guitar anyways of course, but I'm glad I'm stopping now rather then doing some more serious damage.

Stringbender

Ibuprofen (advils) will help -as will putting some slight pressure massaging the tendon. Resting it for a few days is good too- you can usually pick up a decent wrist/hand brace too. i have a brace for carpal tunnel- it's maybe about a foot long-and you put your hand through and it holds your wrist at an angle (it's really very comfortable) and sleeping with this on for a couple days really helps. Of course, in my case the damage has been pretty severe from some 30-odd years of playing. you can check out drug stores or any super-large-marts around for a brace. A few days of resting in a brace and some advils should help tremendously. keep an eye on everything- if it gets too painful or feeling numb or weak- see a doctor. Anything else I can say to help- I'll be happy to.

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Jowed

Hey can this happen to any other instruments? Like drums? Or piano?

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Mongo97

It can happen with any repetitive motion...

Typing, playing an instrument, playing with yourse....er... and other things!

thomasdk

Take time to rest your wrist with a beer!

Stringbender

good idea! It's cold so it's like putting ice on an injury, a can has a good curve to it (which is essential to hold your hands in a natural curved position- many doctors reccommend holding a tennis ball) -this would work perfectly! but you have to make certain not to run out of beer.

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Neverlife

all this wrist stuff is nice, but my god when you start, your fingers will get torn up, especially if you play bass, but the Bassist Salve (somewhere on this site, search for it) Really does work.

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MetalIsUrMom

Breaks are hard for me cuz I love playing my guitar and I don't wanna stop. haha.

Hero Of The Day

I know that feeling. Everytime i think about breaking, i'll say ok, just one song. Then 2 hours later..... another 2 hours later....... done! I play about 6 hours a day, with hardly any breaks inbetween. But i do stretches and warm-up stuff to loosen up.

Brain

lol you're quite a guitar nerd huh

I bet Malmsteen didn't even practice that much (seeing he was a bad-boy).

yeesha

Yes, too much of everything can hurt you. Playing the guitar a lot can create aches and pain to your fingers.