Dodging Tendinitis
Any time you spend an extended period on a task that stresses your hands, you risk developing tendinitis or other overuse injuries. I put my left hand through hours of said stress every day, so I take measures to keep it healthy.
I see three different scenarios for action:
- daily preventative measures
- kicking it quickly after onset
- recovering from a full-blown injury
Of course, the logical place to start is the middle, so this first post on the topic is about how to avoid a serious injury when you feel it brewing. (I have my own routine of preventative exercises, and I've had the unfortunate experience of recovering from a bad case of tendinitis, so I can write about the other scenarios later.)
The first step is to learn what the onset of an overuse injury feels like. If you've been through it before, you'll recognize that dull, throbbing pain that doesn't interfere with your playing much and can almost go unnoticed. If you've never felt it, no need to go looking for it. Just keep your eyes peeled when you suddenly play four hours of finger-stretching scales out of the blue.
When you notice it, stop playing immediately (unless you're at a gig). Playing through it will make it worse. This is absolutely essential. Accept that the loss of practice time is inevitable once you've felt the onset. The sooner you stop, the less practice time you'll lose. I've been out for as little as a few hours when I catch it early. If you play through it, you risk losing days or weeks.
Anti-inflammatory painkillers work wonders. I pop a couple right after I stop playing. They ease the pain and tendon inflammation in my hand. The goal is to banish the injury completely and immediately in one shot, so you shouldn't develop a dependency. If you have to take them on consecutive days, stop playing and pull yourself together. Deadbeat.
I keep a queue of music reading materials for these occasions. I got all kinds of stuff to read about music theory and history online or in books, and none of it involves playing, so I stick to that for a few hours. Writing chord or scale charts is a good use of time if your writing hand isn't injured.
I double all my prevention techniques for the rest of the day. If I feel healthy again before bedtime, I'll get back to playing easy stuff. Sometimes I ice my hand if it's bad enough, and that's a real bitch. It's excruciating, but helpful.
Josh (15 Dec 2007 at 1:02pm)
I've been struggling with some hand pain this week, so unfortunately I know what it feels like. However, I've been doing things similar to what you've mentioned, and I can affirm that your advice works well.
Mark (20 Dec 2007 at 8:42pm)
I have had some pretty bad hand problems in the past. I make a point of stretching my hands before and after I play. I also have a paraffin wax bath like they have in nail salons, and I soak my hands in the hot melted wax...this loosens the muscle and helps blood circulation throughout the hand. Those two things have been the best treatments for my problems...I used to take a huge amount of anti-inflammatories, but I've tried to cut that back....
Dave (12 Feb 2008 at 8:34am)
Another thing to do that really helps the hand muscles is to engage in a "cool down" routine, i.e., take your last few minutes to gradually decrease the tempo of whatever you are playing. This technique is used by runners to avoid muscular cramps (and damage to the heart muscle, though that shouldn't be a concern for our situation:) ).
Joe (12 Feb 2008 at 8:39am)
Actually, it breaks my heart whenever I have to stop playing, so that is a concern. :(
Mark (1 Jul 2008 at 10:30pm)
I've been struggling with tendonitis in my left hand (fretting hand) for years, with a little arthritis also. The arthritis showed up on an X-ray at the hand doctor's office when I went in for the tendonitis. My doc's advice is to 'manage' the problem. All the advice I've read so far one this site is good. But I've also decided to expand my musical abilities beyond guitar to relieve the playing time on my left hand. I've discovered that a few of the brass instruments like trumpet and trombone don't require as much from the left hand. Blues harp (harmonica) is also a good choice, as well as one handed keyboard. It's actually made me a better all around musician, and opened up more playing (and earning $) opportunities. It's also helped me become a better composer and arranger. I think it's really true that when God closes one door, a window opens up. And by the way, I still play guitar and banjo - but I'm really careful to pace myself and stop when it hurts.