Wrist Pain

Maddog54 · #1 March 13th, 2008

Got my guitar back last night. Man what a difference after a correct set up! I played with it just fooling around for about an hour. While not my longest "session" since I was kinda beat from work and didnt feel like getting into anything except making noise, I woke up today with a sharp pain in my right wrist. I kinda figured on some pain as things progressed but I thought that would be on my fretting hand? Anyone else ever have this happen? I've been popping advil all day to get by. I'm thinking I should take a break for a week or so(which sucks and I'll probably end up picking it up again tomorrow anyway), but was just wondering how common this is for beginners. The pain is just scary. If I couldnt move my fingers I'd swear it was broken. My uneducated guess is a strain. Had the same pain in my shoulder about 2 weeks ago and ended up on a steroid pack which kept me awake and figity(which ended up with me playing a lot to keep my hands busy since I was awake for like 5 days straight. Of course, dont tell my wife its the guitar....I said I must have slept on it wrong LOL

allthumbs · #2 March 13th, 2008

Back off and do stretches, ice that wrist. Too much too soon can mess you up. It takes time to learn to play relaxed and work out the problem stress areas.

starsailor · #3 March 13th, 2008

I was a bit surprised it was your Strumming hand Maddog, when you were practicing were you doing strumming for the practice or mixing it up a bit, there can be a bit of tension in the playing hand just as in the fretting hand so that has to be relaxed as well, if you're taking painkillers it might be worth running it past the Doctor to see if there's any underlying problem causing it, if it's that painful probably best to take some time off as you could just make it worse, just my opinion, hope it improves soon Maddog, it's not unusual with guitar as there are a lot of repetitive movements, it's always best to do a few stretching exercises or warm ups before you play, we're sort of like Musical Athletes, the old muscles need to be kept warm.

Maddog54 · #4 March 13th, 2008

actually I was just playing some AC/DC, Skynyrd, and tried a couple melodies (halls of montezuma/when the saints come marching in). Nothing too tough, but a lot of repetition I guess.

I've never really 'learned' any warmups or things like that for guitar...I doubt the old football warmups fit here LOL

karcey · #5 March 14th, 2008

Welcome to Repetitive Strain Injury, Commonly known as RSI. Yes it is a real injury, No it is not permanent if you are sensible. Listen to Allthumbs and Starsailor. Give yourself time to recover. You don't have to stay away from your guitar but you do have to stay away from tension in your hands and arms. This may be the greatest lesson a person can get about developing a relaxed style of playing. Treat it like you would any other temporary illness (like sunburn or a cold) give it time to heal and my guess is you'll never get it again. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Maddog54 · #6 March 14th, 2008

Well I definitely think its RSI. I also think its because i am very tense when I play. I'm seriously cornfused now....I feel so relaxed when I'm playing. Usually I'm sitting down, just slightly leaning back, which I know isnt "form" but I'm feeling comfortable.

I just layed out a few bars of Hank Jr's Country Boy Can Survive, painfully, but paying attention to my muscle tension....very bad I guess as my strumming hand was very tense. My fret hand wasnt too loose either.

So where can I find some warmups and learn to relax?

starsailor · #7 March 15th, 2008

Here are some Maddog, hope they help

Guitar Technique and Warm Up Exercises with Tabs

Dansm's Warm-Up Exercises for Acoustic Guitar

Guitar Warm-up - Short Exercises to Start Your Guitar Practice

Learn about the guitar and many more interesting things.

Finger Strength Exercises For Guitar

Touch typing finger coordination, samba exercise improve typing dexterity.

The last one is really for touch typing but is a good exercise for guitar as well and you can do them whenever you feel like it just keeps your fingers and hands nimble and they're a bit of fun, people will wonder what you're doing though

All the Best

Chris

Maddog54 · #8 March 15th, 2008

Thanks a million Chris....I'll give them a go when I'm back up to snuff. Through the rest and advil, I think the pain is subsiding, so another day or two and I'll be back in business.

starsailor · #9 March 15th, 2008

Pleased I could help Maddog, good to hear that the wrist is on the mend, and good to hear you'll be back playing soon

MCH · #10 March 15th, 2008

Is the pained wrist your strumming wrist or fretting wrist? If it's your strumming wrist that is very odd to have an injury caused by strumming. Since you mentioned a previous shoulder injury maybe there is a correlation, like arthiritis.
Life has many twists and turns.
Hopefully your injury is short term.

79Lespaul · #11 March 15th, 2008

Maddog, you need to have an orthopedist evaluate you ASAP!!!!

Midnight Rider · #12 March 20th, 2008

I've been doing the "Finger Strength Exercises" you list by "Dan Henley" Number 1 & 2 to "Zetronome" (avail. online) metronome set at 60......I have made significant improvement since starting them......I will now add exercises 3 & 4.!

Maddog54 · #13 March 21st, 2008

Finally went to the doctors yesterday and going for xrays today. She said is just probably tendonitis and starting me on those friggin steroid pills again to get rid of the inflammation...last time I had those things I didn't sleep for a week. Best thing she said was its not from playing guitar

but all those years of football are starting to catch up with me. So much for being a holy terror of a reckless abandon on the gridiron...LOL.

I never realized how "addicted" I am to playing already. All I wanna do is play and the only thing stopping me is I know two minutes after I start its all gonna tighten up on me. Guess its time to go bak to square one and learn how to relax.

starsailor · #14 March 21st, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midnight Rider

I've been doing the "Finger Strength Exercises" you list by "Dan Henley" Number 1 & 2 to "Zetronome" (avail. online) metronome set at 60......I have made significant improvement since starting them......I will now add exercises 3 & 4.!

Nice one Midnight Rider, those exercises are very good for practice and warm up, thanks for the tip on the Zetronome haven't heard about that before

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maddog54

Finally went to the doctors yesterday and going for xrays today. She said is just probably tendonitis and starting me on those friggin steroid pills again to get rid of the inflammation...last time I had those things I didn't sleep for a week. Best thing she said was its not from playing guitar

but all those years of football are starting to catch up with me. So much for being a holy terror of a reckless abandon on the gridiron...LOL.

I never realized how "addicted" I am to playing already. All I wanna do is play and the only thing stopping me is I know two minutes after I start its all gonna tighten up on me. Guess its time to go bak to square one and learn how to relax.

Good to hear you went to the Doctor, Maddog, I've had similar problems caused by my Job, it got really bad a couple of years ago with shooting pains in my elbows, the Doctor told me to change my work routine and also gave me some tablets which I had to stop taking as they were giving me dizzy spells, changing my work routine and a bit of rest put it right, it's still not perfect but I am able to play guitar which I'm thankful for, sure you'll be back soon and hope those steroids don't mess you around too much. Guitar is very addictive don't get too frustrated, healing mojo coming your way from the UK.

Maddog54 · #15 March 21st, 2008

Well, hopefully I'll be healed up enough once that mojo gets here that you'll hear some AC/DC riffs mixed in with some Hank Jr coming from "across the pond"

thanks for the well-wishes mate