Question 1 Have you diagnosed arthritis or have you assumed that this is the problem. Inflamed ligaments and tendons in the fingers are incredibly painful.
Question 2 Have you looked at the set up of your guitar, can you adjust the action, if you play first inversions chords only, you can have less relief and the guitar will require less pressure to hold down a note. If you are not familiar with these terms seek out a good guitar technician.
Question 3 What gauge and tension of strings do you use and what is the width of the neck on your guitar. And the scale length of your guitar.
Generally, because there is no 100% failsafe rule, as your hands stiffen up,
• Find and use a warm up exercise before you play.
• Go for a wider neck, that is thick enough to fill the hand but not so thick it's uncomfortable.
• Use lighter or low tension strings as they require less effort to finger. If you do have a problem you don't want to make it worse by playing guitar.
• Seek out a good guitar technician who can optimise the set up of your guitar to keep you playing.
• Complementary medicines are great, but seek advice.
• Look at your posture, eliminate all tension, look at Alexander, Classical Guitar and other techniques.
• If you have to seek out a new guitar, think about a compact body, balance, and ease of action. Dreadnaughts, Super Jumbos 12 strings and medium gauge strings are out. 12 fret necks pull everything into a compact shape and reduce tension in neck, shoulders and hands.
• Play around with tunings, DADGAD gives a fantastic range of options with 2 fingers.
• If you cant be technical, live with it and focus on being musical instead
I have been plagued with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and chronic tendonitis for years, but I have kept on playing. I can't do big stretches or bar chords, but I am musical and I now have to think about the music and the lyrics of a song and not the technique. This has made me a better musician.
Don't Give Up, adapt.
Best Wishes
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sj