Repetive Strain Injury from guitar practice

Playing Technique
#1

Currently I’m unable to practice much guitar because of pain in my wrists. They started to hurt last summer and I’m pretty sure it’s some kind of repetive strain injury. I’m assuming it was a result of way too many years practicing way too much with way too much tension. Metronome practice I’m sure was partly to blame as well.

Luckily the pain hasn’t interfered too much with my job or general life. Stretches, self-massage and contrast baths seem to help, but I’m only able to play guitar occasionally without the pain coming back. Anyone gone through anything similar? Any suggestions for recovery or management of injuries like this?

Wasn’t sure what topic this fell under, but it seemed relevant to good technique.

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Thank you, and a couple of questions
Tendonitis and injury - what are your warmup rituals?
#2

I have a really nasty RSI in my left forearm that only bothers me, at all, when I play guitar. My left-hand technique is relaxed and near perfect and it comes back every time. I found that only time helps – it’s been 9 years since I first got this and it’s only just starting to not be a constant thorn in my side.

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#3

Try to keep all joints in the center of their movement range. No bent wrists. No finger joints over extended or fully closed. Arm/elbow at 90 degree angle.

If the problem is tendonitis or bursitis, I recommend taking high mg Bromelain pills. It’s an enzyme from Pineapple that attacks inflamed tissue and accelerates the muscle repair.

Unless it’s muscle injury that requires surgery, I think this is all you can do man.

Cheers

#4

Hmm, I was thinking about what kind of supplements might help. I might give Bromelain a shot. Thanks.

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#5

The time thing seems to be true. I used to have bad tendinitis / pain in my elbows from bad weightlifting form. I doesn’t seem to be a problem much anymore after a few years. Recovery is slow. :stuck_out_tongue:

#6

I developed a bursitis knot on the back of my fret wrist when I was 20. It was from playing with a L angled bent wrist. I learned how to play again with a straight wrist, and took 1000mg Bromelain. It cleared up in a few months. Never came back.

#7

You would take 1000 mg per day? I’ve also read glucosamine seems to help.

#8

I don’t remember now. It would have been as much as I could take without ODing probably. LOL

It was 1000mg a day I think. Or 1000mg twice a day. Something like that.

#9

Any recommendations for stretching exercises? Now that I’m older my hand gets sore just watching Troy do those Eric Johnson 3nps pentatonic licks.

#10

If you look up stretches for climbers, they always have good stuff for the forearms.

Here’s a good video on some basic stretches. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITUcwPsM9VY

#11

I used to get pain in my wrists from the time I was 18 on from playing bass and guitar pretty much 24/7. It wasn’t until I started actually doing exercises targeting my forearms that it went away.

#12

I had forearm fasciitis last year, couldn’t really play for a few months. It’s important to stretch; and with intense use, the tendons will tend to shorten over time, adding to it.
I think it’s also important to try and stay relaxed - I know with some of the exercises and techniques i was taking on, my fingering hand was tensing up a lot.

#13

Recently I’ve noticed my picking wrist feels a little stiff and clunky, and it clicks when I move it around a lot, unlike my fretting wrist. There’s no pain at all though. I don’t know if its a problem, I tend to make a big deal over little things. Anyone get something similar?

#14

I developed arthritis on the back of my fret hand wrist. Not only does arthritis run in my family, but just like @JustinArmstrong I made things worse by having poor lifting form in the gym. I had my wrists cocked back during bench press and squats and put WAY too much strain on the wrist joint. I’ve seen learned how to keep it straight, and even use wrists wraps for added support.

Although, after reading what @Hanky_Pooh said, I question if I actually bursitis instead. Either way, inflammation really is the key here.

My pain has subsided greatly. I make sure to get most of my fats from omega-3s, because that fat combats inflammation. Most of us westerners get too much omega-6 in comparison to omega-3s. We DO need omega-6 in our diet, but having a ratio of about 2:1 for omega-6 to omega-3 is considered ideal from what I’ve read from medical professionals.

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen some people say a 1:1 ration is also good. I use cronometer.com to see how much of each I’m getting with a given diet plan. Right now I’m eating hemp seeds(aka: shelled hemp hearts) and ground flax seed which both have lots of omega-3s. Eggs enriched with omega-3 is another thing I’m trying to do more of. I plan on learning how to cook wild caught salmon so I’ll actually enjoy it since that stuff is also high in omega-3s and not omega-6s.

Changing my wrist angle like @Hanky_Pooh talks about also greatly reduced stress on my wrist. I’ve always played with the wrist having a lot of ulnar deviation. I believe that turned out to be a big cause of the strain due to those tendons being pulled and stretched a LOT.

This made me realize you can’t always have your fret hand elbow tucked into your side. Sometimes you can’t do that or else the wrist strain is too much. It might feel awkward, but it’s just something new to get used to.

The muscles that help with that part of your wrist may need some strengthening. What I’ve learned is that tendons/ligaments take on the work of weak muscles and will lead to injury. So, I started doing more forearm exercises. I saw something that works the back of your forearms by placing resistance bands on your fingers and then you open your hand. Definitely a movement we can’t really work on with traditional weights. Only thing I can think of to strengthen the top of the forearms is finger-tip pushups and reverse curls.

Last thing that helped me get my wrist pain under control (besides no gym for two weeks) was to try managing stress better. Shit has been crazy stressful for me lately, and I believe it is a result of my wrist arthritis acting up again a bit more. Deep breathing meditation helps me. Destress teas with Kava are nice too.

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#15

Oh yeah, and Glucosamine with MSM is something I take now.

https://www.vitacost.com/now-glucosamine-msm-vegetarian?q=glucosamine+msm&ta=glucosamine+msm

I WAS taking fish oil but got sick of the fish oil burps. Might try an algae based one someday.

Might want to look into Calcium/Magnesium/Zinc supplements as well. I take them as a “just in case” sort of thing. Supposed to help with your bone and muscle repair. I WAS taking collagen when my pain was really bad. Ran out. Just haven’t bought anymore. Might do so again when I have extra money to do so.

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#16

Remembered ANOTHER thing!

I use a wrist splint to keep my wrist from getting into uncomfortable positions that my exacerbate the problem. They make different arthritis gloves and carpal tunnel gloves that may help give you added stability and help prevent further injury.

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#17

Thanks for the insight. I started taking Hemp seed oil supplements which supposedly has Omega 3s. Apparently people find it very effective at reducing inflammation. The supplement person I got it from says it works fairly quickly. If that doesn’t work, I might just switch to glucosamine / multivitamin.

#18

I got a terrible RSI that affected my right arm and hand. Took me 5 years with a lot of physiotherapy and away from guitar to recover. Today if I stretch before playing, and took at least 15 minutes to warm up and then no problem. I just have to take a few breaks sometimes, but something like 1 or 2 minutes, 3 minutes max.

But if your are feeling your hands I would recomend to get one of those compression gloves. When I got back at guitar, I used a lot this compression gloves and compression arm sleeve after any guitar session.

I just do the stretchs, warm up, take a few breaks and then I have zero pain in most of the cases. When I have any pain is a small one and when I put the compression glove and/or sleeve it goes away pretty fast.

Also I started going to the gym, it helped me with the pain, especially in the arm, and started took some vitamins, this healthier style improved the solution.

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#20

I had some pain in my fretting hand in the thumb side of the wrist and this exercise helped me a lot. Pain went completely away in just a couple of days and never came back (so far). I did this exercise for probably three minutes daily for less than a week.
I’ve seen special equipment for this training but I used a simple hair band.

@milehighshred about omega3 fatty acids: I’m not sure if plant origin omega3 are as great as those of animal sources. Plants have ALA while animals have EPA and DHA. Based on what I’ve read, when people praise omega3, they usually mean mostly EPA & DHA (and some ALA but mostly EPA&DHA)
However, I am extremely unsure of what can I believe about nutrition anymore. Nutrition on internet became more biased than religion.

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#21

Hahaha!! Very true!

ALA converts to EPA and DHA though: http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/omega3

You are correct though; EPA and DHA are what’s talked about most. I think because the omega 3s are in that form already that your body can absorb them quicker. Again, I THINK that’s correct, but I do not know for sure. Kind of like how BCAAs supposedly get used by the body a lot faster than just taking protein or protein powder. The body doesn’t have to break the protein down into the individual amino acids, so the idea is that BCAAs can be absorbed faster. Just like the already broken down omega 3s can be absorbed faster.

I’ll definitely give the hair band thing a try. Crazy how something so simple might be the missing piece of my own puzzle for a better wrist.