Help: Tendonitis

Subject: Tendonitis
From: Jeremy J Woodland
Date: 04 Oct 99 - 01:06 AM

Hello fellow musicians. I just found out that I have tendonitis in my wrists. I'm a guitarist, so naturally I'm quite concerned. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on coping with this disorder. Your help would be quite appreciated

Subject: RE: Help: Tendonitis
From: MudGuard
Date: 04 Oct 99 - 02:54 AM

Hello Jeremy, there was a thread about tendonitis not too long ago.
Click here to go to previous thread about tendonitis.
HTH,

Subject: RE: Help: Tendonitis
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 04 Oct 99 - 08:27 AM

Hi Jeremy, I read through those previous threads about tendonitis and most of it focuses on cortisone. Alison and Mama katlaughing mention alternative approaches which I feel are worth looking into. I guess people so in love with playing music would never dream of not playing for a while. Tendonitis is not that complicated. It is caused from over use. The simple solution is to stop playing a rest your wrist for an extended period of time. (That's the difficult part) It's like trying to tell a marathon runner to stop running. But I do know if you completely rest your wrist and that may mean no JO. It will most likely get better. Luv The Little One

Subject: RE: Help: Tendonitis
From: Easy Rider
Date: 04 Oct 99 - 02:15 PM

Also remember:

ICE ICE ICE

that wrist for twenty minutes after each use.

Subject: RE: Help: Tendonitis
From: Bert
Date: 04 Oct 99 - 02:26 PM

'phyte's got it right. STOP PLAYING WHEN IT HURTS

Subject: RE: Help: Tendonitis
From: annamill
Date: 04 Oct 99 - 02:51 PM

I had a serious case of tendonitis in my elbow. It's sometimes called tennis elbow, but I don't play tennis. It was caused from lifting weights incorrectly. Now my doctor gave me a serious of exercises with 5 lb weights to cure the problem. It had to do with movement of my wrists while holding the weights. I increased the exercise myself when I found it was working and the tendonitis went away completely and is totally gone today. When you exercise you strengthen the area and the pain disappears. I strongly suggest going to a doctor for your problem. Resting the area will stop the pain for now, but it will reappear when you try to play again. The area, in this case the wrists, needs to be strengthened.

Love, annap

Subject: RE: Help: Tendonitis
From: Marion
Date: 04 Oct 99 - 02:52 PM

Oh Jeremy, I sympathize with you. I don't know what the fix for tendonitis is - I have it too, it's been three months since I've played my instruments, and it's been a very miserable three months (the pain doesn't bother me that much, it's the silence). I urge you in the strongest possible terms to take this seriously, and don't play until you've dealt with it. Playing through the pain will make it worse.

As for how to deal with it - neither rest (i.e. no music, trying to minimize other stresses) nor wearing a splint nor taking ibuprofen frequently for a few weeks did much for me. I am now in physiotherapy, which mostly involves muscle-building exercises, also some ultrasound treatment, electroshock therapy (that's probably not the real word for it), and acupuncture. Also, my PT stresses the importance of applying ice as often as possible. Her main idea is that the tendons get hurt because the muscles aren't strong enough to do the work you give them, so the tendons have to share the load, so the main fix is to build the muscles. In the process the tendons keep getting inflamed again, so you need lots of ice. I think I am seeing some progress since starting physio.

Your question mentioned "coping", so if you're also asking about how to deal emotionally with not being able to play: the first two months I was depressed, and dedicated the time I would normally spend on my music to lying on my floor crying. I have now picked up a bit. What I am trying to do is find hands-off ways to work on my music, and some of these might be options for you. Could you study theory? Compose lyrics? Practice intense listening?

For myself, one of my big guitar weaknesses is that I started by just memorizing the chord shapes for the popular chords rather than thinking about the fretboard in terms of individual notes, or thinking about why the chords are constructed in the way they are. So my project now is to become intimate with the individual notes on the fretboard. One way I do this is to play mental guitar; I just read pieces of sheet music and visualize where each note is on the fretboard. Also, I have made up flashcards to help me learn the fretboard inside and out: sheet music to fret position, fret position to note name, "name the notes that are on the fourth fret from high to low", "what common chords contain this note", and so on.

Maybe you already know all this stuff well; but even so, you can probably find something to be working on without touching your guitar. If not, why don't you try immersing yourself in some style of music that isn't currently part of your repertoire?

I hope this helps, be brave,

Marion

Subject: RE: Help: Tendonitis
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 04 Oct 99 - 02:58 PM

When I say rest the wrist, do you realize how long a rest I'm talking about? Actually, I think that's the problem about this prescription. No one wants to follow the advice because the rest is too long for the muscially minded.

Subject: RE: Help: Tendonitis
From: Marion
Date: 04 Oct 99 - 03:06 PM

Little Neophyte, I don't know how long you personally are talking about. At first I rested a couple of days then started again, it got much worse, so now I have rested for three months (giving into temptation a few times, for only a few minutes each). And I still am far from being better. So yes, the rest is (or can be) a question of months, not days. And yes, it is very difficult to not play. If I were offered the deal that I could start playing again today in exchange for having this level of pain for the rest of my life, I would take the deal in a second. It's only the prospect of my hands getting worse, and the possibility of my hands getting better, that makes me abstain almost completely.

Have you been down this road too?

Marion

Subject: RE: Help: Tendonitis
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 04 Oct 99 - 05:01 PM

Hi Marion I lived with someone who was had tendonitis in his hands from ice climbing. I think some people can get away with short rest periods like 3 months, others do feel steroids or medications have helped or atleast mask the pain & issue. But my experience with my mate the ice man, was the need for more rest, more than three months. It took 6 or more months of not using his wrist for ice climbing or skiing and I truly believe the extended rest was a significant contribution to his recovery. But how do you tell someone to stop doing what they love for that long. I don't think I would listen to my advice. Neo

Subject: RE: Help: Tendonitis
From: _gargoyle
Date: 05 Oct 99 - 01:24 AM

Your tendons are encased within a sheath - much like the cable to the handbrakes on a bicycle.

Imagine, small crystals, almost like minute ground glass which rubs and tears from the insides on both the tendon and sheath.

This is tendonitis.

Ultrasound, with immediate use, immediately following treatment....will provide relief in less than 20 minutes. The ultrasound improves circulation to the area and also breaks down the crystaline deposits.

Subject: RE: Help: Tendonitis
From: Hummingbird
Date: 05 Oct 99 - 08:16 PM

Jeremy, I work for a physical therapist, so we see alot of tendonitis. First , I would recommend ibuprofen (Advil) 600-800 mg, 3-4 times a day. That's 3-4 pills, 3-4 times a day, with food or milk. Your MD would probably tell you the same thing, unless you have trouble with ibuprofen, which is also Motrin. I use Motrin IB myself for bursitis in my hips right now. ICE ICE ICE. It relieves the pain,as well as reduces the inflammation, but you have to be consistent. And last but not least. If you can, put down the guitar for a couple of weeks until you don't have any pain at all. then limit yourself to how long you play daily. Good luck, hope this works for you. I've been there and know how it feels. It hurts like the dickens. Hummingbird.

Subject: RE: Help: Tendonitis
From: WyoWoman
Date: 05 Oct 99 - 11:28 PM

I was so crippled up last year from tendonitis I thought I was going to have to change careers (from a computer keyboard or typewriter for 20 years, not from music, sad to say), and it was a terrible time for me.

However, I'm about 80% now, so it can get better. I never had the luxury of stopping my work, and don't know if I'd know how anyway. So I attacked the problem on all fronts. I did ice, and physical therapy and began lifting weights to strenghten all the muscles around the injury. I took Ibuprophen -- large amounts, but unfortunately I didn't take it with meals or milk all the time and it basically ate a hole in my stomach. So now I'm taking Relafen fairly regularly, always with food!

I also get massage every other week and would get acupuncture if there were anyone around here who did it. The ultrasound seemed to help a lot, and massage, particularly on the trigger points in and near the injured area has been almost magical.

And I changed the ergonomics of my desk to use my hands and arms differently. Maybe you can adjust the way you play some and give yourself a break.

And if you CAN take a rest, do your body a favor and lay off for a while. Take this seriously and take care of yourself, because it really can be crippling.

Sorry to hear of your predicament. Hope you'll keep us informed of your progress and any new tricks you might learn. It's something that concerns many of us.

WyoWoman

Subject: RE: Help: Tendonitis
From: j0_77
Date: 06 Oct 99 - 06:11 AM

I think there may be a point here about fretting the Guitar as well as finger or flatpick attack on the strings. When I used do a lot of tution I used work to stop students from placing their fingers tooo far away from the fret wire. That alone creates a lot of *unnecessary* tension in the left arm. The secret is to use a Gut strung guitar when you begin and graduate to the steel string after chords are learned.

Right hand problems are always about timing and bad posture, get compfortable, get a good teacher if the present one is making it a pain to learn. It is not that hard to learn

Finaly learn to listen correctly - if you cannot get it and you have a sound card and a wav recorder then record the bits you cannot figure out, slow them down twice or 200% then sing along with the result. It is realy very easy to play well and have fun as well, it need not be a pain.

I don't a thing about medicine but what Gargoyle posted makes a lot of sense to me.

Subject: RE: Help: Tendonitis
From: Lady McMoo
Date: 06 Oct 99 - 08:29 AM

As I reported in a previous thread on this subject I have suffered from bouts of tendonitis aggravated by frequent long gigs involving over-dynamic rhythm guitar playing. In my case, sessions of acupressure proved very successful and I have also changed my playing style a little and mix rhythm and melody playing on a variety of intruments now which seems to exercise different muscles...not always the same ones.

mcmoo

Subject: RE: Help: Tendonitis
From: WyoWoman
Date: 06 Oct 99 - 01:47 PM

Oh, this is also important: Make sure you stay warm enough when you're playing. It sounds a bit odd, but part of how our bods get injured like this, according to my physical therapist, is that we work (or maybe play, in this instance) in enviroments that are too cold for us. This is certainly true of my office, where I've offered to try to earn us some extra money by renting it out as a meat locker.

ww

Subject: RE: Help: Tendonitis
From: Ely
Date: 07 Oct 99 - 02:07 AM

Amen on the staying warm. Maybe this has to do with the circulation mentioned earlier (since cold hands/wrists have reduced blood flow)? My fiddler friend's wrists bail out on him periodically and he says it helps to keep them warm. Still, we've considered changing the name of our band to the "Repetitive Stress Injury Poster Children".

Subject: RE: Help: Tendonitis
From: Ralph Pride
Date: 08 Oct 99 - 12:32 AM

I am a fiddler & had big problems with tendonitis a few years ago. After heaps of tests, operations to remove ganglions and other largely ineffective treatment, I came across a sympathetic neurologist, also a musician, who suggested that the problem might be the way I held my wrist when playing. He suggested adopting a position that kept my wrist as straight as possible. I followed his advice also using warmth to reduce the inflammation The problem receded without my having to stop playing. Now at any suggestion of pain or discomfort, I have a good look at my posture and I usually find I have been letting my wrist bend again without noticing. I don't know if guitarists can make use of this idea but I can say that it was a miraculous success for me. Good luck...

Subject: RE: Help: Tendonitis
From: Jeremy Woodland
Date: 08 Oct 99 - 03:19 AM

Thanks to all of you for your great advice. I am currently studying music at university, and i sat down and had a great meeting with the string class teacher. He repeated alot of the comments that were posted here, but what he emphasised it that one should not play for more the 30 minutes without a break. He showed me a series of stretches that have also been helping me warm up before i play. I thank you all very much for your advice, and your concern, MUDCAT RULES Jeremy J Woodland P.S. please keep the tips coming, i really have been trying to listen to them , and they are really helping!

Subject: RE: Help: Tendonitis
From: alison
Date: 08 Oct 99 - 04:37 AM

Find a sports injury specialist..... believe it or not they do a lot of work with musicians (because depending on your instrument.. musicians spend long periods of time in the same position) as well as sports people...... and can find a regime to suit you.... becasue they are used to dealing with sports people who want to get back into the game as quickly as possible.... they may help you to get back to playing too. they use heat, cold, massage, ultrasound etc...... worth a try..

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Help: Tendonitis
From: Jason LaPrade
Date: 08 Oct 99 - 10:35 PM

A few things are helping me overcome hand pain. Use as little pressure as possible when pushing the strings down. Monitor your body for any areas of tension while you play. Make sure you breathe properly (I wasn't). I try to play for no more than 15 minutes at a time. Avoid playing when you're tired.

A couple of supplements that seem to be helping are Ginkgo Biloba and Glucosamine Sulphate. The Ginkgo increases blood flow. I've noticed my usually cold hands are much warmer now. The Glucosamine helps strengthen the joints.

I've recently started learning Dobro. Using a slide seems to cause very little, if any, pain or discomfort for me.

Hope some of these help. Jason LaPrade