Hello Guest
I am an Osteopath in the UK, the same as your Chiropractors, and as part of my work I treat injuries which occur at a number of Folk Festivals. The major part of the diagnosis is to understand WHAT causes the injury.

Much of the advice given above is excellent.

In particular, Richard Bridge has made comment that is particularly relevant, about the style of music you play and the "fashion" for holding a guitar in a particular manner.
Just because Joe Soap, who has very lax ligaments in his joints, holds an instrument in a peculiar way does not mean that the same method will work for others.

Glucosamine, a sugar amino-acid, helps form the "network" of strands covering the joint surfaces of bones. Chondroitin is the cartilage itself, which is then laid down upon that network. The two substances are symbiotic and must be used together, which is why manufacturers package them together. To take one without the other is tantamount to useless. As Jacqui c. states above, a very few people may have side-effects, but not as many as have gastric bleeding from the use of Ibuprofen and other over-the-counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and other analgaesics.

I have to admit that I know little about the type of music you play and the terminology that Richard Bridge uses is foreign to me.
However, any patient that came to me with a condition such as you describe would be told to lock his guitar away for a few weeks while I found for him a practitioner with the expertise to help them.

While a Chiropractor specialising in sports therapy might have given you instructions within his own knowledge, I would suggest that you hunt around for another practitioner with knowledge more pertinent to your own problem - a guitar-playing Osteopath or Chiropractor.

In all cases, rehabilitation includes rest, then gently repeating the movements causing the pain, just up to where pain can be felt. Then put away the instrument for several hours, at least. From what you say inyour posts I would suggest that one hour is far too long for a single session. Several sessions per day of no more than 30 minutes each, with a three-hour rest between, would be my recommendation. As time passes and provided there is no further pain the sessions could be extended for fifteen minutes each.

Pain is the body's warning system that something is wrong or is in danger of being damaged. "No pain, no gain" is a saying that says much about the lack of knowledge of the individual uttering it.

I would also suggest that you take lessons from another guitarist, concentrating on your technique, where you state that your own observations show that it could, perhaps, be improved so that you are holding the instrument in a more relaxed manner.

Hope that I have helped in your quest to heal yourself. If you have any comments please come back to me.

Colyn.