repetetive motion injury?

[barbietta]

Uh oh...I think I may have done it. I've been on a guitar frenzy lately, playing 3-4 hours a day. I started noticing a dull ache in my left wrist yesterday. If I look at my hand palm side up, it's right below where the hand attaches to my arm, and just to the right of those two tendons. I'm icing it and will try to lay off for a few days. I hope it heals and doesn't keep nagging forever. DRAT!!!

I probably need to lighten up my touch a bit, too, but I like to play with somewhat heavier strings (.011's) and I find I need to press pretty hard for the notes to sound clearly.

Has anybody else had this happen to them?

[gck]

hmm, I also practice between 3-4 hours a day (for more than 2 months now), sometimes even more, an hour or so.
However, I do not have any pain in my hands or wrists (my wrists are somewhat strong, because I play basketball in a team), so probably you are doing something wrong. Did you consider seeing a doctor to make sure you are not develloping an inflammation?
For how long have you played yet? It is important (for most people) to gradually increase your practice time, not starting out from 0 to 3-4 hours a day!

However, I might know the kind of pain you mean. A friend of mine once got a similar pain from the scrubbing motion you do when you use sanding paper on a piece of wood. It wore off after a week or so...

But if I was you, I'd see a doctor! Any maybe double-check my technique! I hope you will be healthy soon again!

PS: I always thought the finger joints would be a guitarist's "weak" point, not the wrist?!

[barbietta]

I've only been playing for about 2 and 1/2 months total. I've been trying to learn some new songs lately that have some awkward chord fingerings and barres and whatnot. It's hard for me to get these chords to sound clearly, so I can tell I'm pressing a little harder with fingers/wrist/arm/Jedi mind power to try and do it (the only thing worse than doing stupid stuff is doing stuff and being aware of it at the time. DOH!). I think generally my form is okay. I had a couple of lessons in the beginning and the guy said everything looked good. I hope my form is okay, anyway... I could probably use a few more lessons, but I'm a little short on $ lately. :(

I stopped right away when I noticed the pain, so it probably isn't too serious yet. I sure hope it heals fast too. It's killing me not to be able to play. I just bought a new capo and a book of James Taylor (my apologies to the Metallica-heads) songs too. Hmmmmphhh! But better to suffer through a few days without playing than a few months when I have a serious injury, I guess!

[Krieselman13]

I know where you are coming from, I had pain when I frirst started, I was playing since I got home, till I went to bed. I had a bad pain in the wrist after a couple weeks. I stopped playing as long and it just went away.

[gck]

Pressing harder never is a good solution: it cuts on your speed and may damage your hand. If, for example, a bar chord does not sound right, check the positioning of your bar finger. Maybe you just have to shift it a little or whatever to have all the notes sound cleanly.
Be aware that you target isn't pressing strings against the fretboard, you just press them so that they lie on the fret (look at the neck from the side when you fret a note: there is still some space between the fretboard and the string even if the string lies on the fret an sounds cleanly. So pressing harder does nothing :))

[barbietta]

well I will definitely try to be more gentle now! I don't want to be out of commission entirely!!! :)

[smfulla]

(maybe some encouragement here to press softer)Joe Satriani aparantly has one of the lightest touches (on the strings) for a guitar player. So I guess by not concentrating so much on pressure he is able to do more speed. He has very low action on his guitar.

[gck]

hey barbietta!

I just wanted to ask wether the pain has gone away!
If it is still there, I would suggest to see a doctor now:

1) Don't associate seeing a doctor with serious injuries only! In every case, you don't need to worry just because you go to a doctor: they won't make things worse, they can just make them better! Many people are afraid of doctors because they make them feel as if their injury was more serious than it is, if you understand what I mean.

2) I don't know wether you have to pay the doctor yourself or if the state does this for you, and wether you have time to see one or not, but if the pain is still there I would definitely see one, even if this causes some inconveniences to me!!!

But if the pain has already worn off, don't worry any more. I would be glad if it was so ;) !

[barbietta]

Hi there! Sorry I haven't had time to post lately. I had to work late all week--blechhh!!!

Everything seems to be feeling better now. I iced it for a few days and took a break from playing, and the pain went away. I've been a lot more careful to press gently now. If it acts up again, I would definitely see a doctor about it. Better safe than sorry, I say!

Thanks for checking up on me! :)

[gck]

ok! I'm glad everything is ok now!

The stronger your hands get over the time, the less likely an injury will occur! The risk will never go away entirely but it will greatly decrease!

And don't press too hard: you can do this as an exercise: find the least amount of pressure your fingers have to make in order to have the strings sound cleanly. Then, play any piece you know slowly, concentrating on only using exactly this little amount of pressure you've found earlier. The main focus here is keeping the pressure little, not speed. Over the time, it will become so natural for you to only use this little pressure that you won't ever accidently press too hard any more: it's like practicing alternate picking: after some time, you don't have to worry about up/downstroke alternation, you do it automatically!

Good luck!