Any suggestions for thumb pain? I play guitar. It doesn't hurt when I play, but later if I'm trying to write, the middle joint is in pain. I can't decide if it's just from getting old or if it has to do with playing (ok, everyone - tell me cause I'm getting old).
This sounds strange. I've been playing guitar and plucked string instruments for nearly twenty years and I've never encountered tumb pain. You must be getting old.
Which hand? The cause can be different for right and left.
Just like any other parts of anatomy,if you subject to new or unusual strain it can take some time to adjust to cope with the demands you're placing on it.If it's that type of problem,it'll disappear over time as the muscles and tendons get stronger.
Then there's another type of problem,more like repetitive strain injury,which can be really serious and frightening and much more debilitating than relatively trivial sweat problems.If you get tendonitis,somewhat similar to tennis elbow,the hand can get so painful that it's useless for anything and can take a year or two to recover.
I play maybe ten hours a day,and pay very close attention to my hands and how they feel.A really small adjustment,I mean a millimetre or two,can make a big difference.For the left hand it can be width or thickness of the neck.For the right hand it can be the space between strings or the height above the soundboard.Or,if you use a pick,the way you hold it.
quite possible DeQuervain's syndrome....third most common type of RSI i think...carpal tunnel syndrom and tennis elbow topping the pile...seems to be a problem amongst musicians, try warming up, stretching, ice etc ...might do the trick...hopefully
Hey,I don't waste ANY time on ANYTHING that stops me doing this playing! I'd do 28 hour days doing it if I only could.It's better than sex,better than fighting,(and i'm getting too old to be very proficient at those pursuits in any case).But I have to take breaks because I push my hands to their limit,and I don't want any permanent damage.So five minutes every hour I stop,have a coffee read emails and this site.Obsessed? Sure,like those lunatics that jump out of aeroplanes at 30000ft wearing wings,the world needs some harmless crazy people.It's the so-called sane ones who lust for power and control that I don't like.Stuff 'being normal'.It's boring. )
its probably repetative strain syndrome it happens to people who playx box to much too!!! try placing your thumb in a slightly diferent position if possible to give the injured muscle a break. or just else just become friends with d pain eh!
I’ve harped on this before and I’ll do it again. Don’t ignore the pain! Get it checked out by an orthopedist or hand specialist. It probably won’t be serious, but you might have to rest the thumb for several weeks or longer. If you ignore it, it could very well become serious.
Twenty years ago, I had a sore thumb and eventually lost most of the use of my right hand for two years. Then it was several more years before I could use a plectrum again. Don’t take the chance.
Yes, De Quervain's is apparently fairly common. It's an inflammation of the thumb extensor tendon where it goes through the tendon sheath in the wrist. That's where my troubles began.
Hold your thumb in the hitchhiker position. If it hurts near the wrist, that's probably De Quervain's. Then go see a doctor.
Wolfbird... I love you! we think much alike.... Obsessed. We even at a session once had the question...if you had to give up the music or sex...which??? Well, most said they'd keep the music. All guys too!
Very true... what wolfbird says, and ......which hand???
If the left (assuming you're a righty) do you have a death grip on that neck? I play from the fingers and wrist on the left, that is where my strength has built up, I can literally note and chord with the left and leave the thumb go free... so no thumb pain there. No finger pain either. You can do an exercise, scales, note by note using the fingers and leave the thumb loose. Arc your wrist so your hand is not touching the fingerboard and go for the notes with just the fingers. It will build up the wrist and finger muscles and loosen the thumb.
If on the right... now I am a heavy on the thumb fingerstyle tune player and backer... loose as can be, no pain from playing. Like Wolfbird, I could easily play 28 hours a day if I didn't have to work. I do work at home and take many playing breaks though.
You need to, A) get thee to a luthier and get the guitar set up for easy playability, and maybe go to lighter strings. You will never get anywhere if you fight the thing to get the notes out. B) loosen up. I know... the question is HOW. It is very unspecific how to loosen up, but the answer is to practice a lot so you gain control of the instrument. In time and getting more comfy on it, you will loosen up. Do the above exercises with scales. C) you can't practice to loosen up, because it hurts... get yourself to a hand specialist now. Before you do any permenant damage to any nerves.
You might run your hands under hot water before and after playing. You might want to sleep in hand/wrist braces for carpal tunnel. Are your hands or thumb going numb at all too? Especially over night?
I got wicked carpal tunnel last winter, not from playing, but from using a chainsaw. Vibrating heavy machinery is a hand killer. I was cleaning up dead trees and getting free heat, and was really liking it. it demolished my hands though, I had thumb, wrist pain, numbness, it was awful. The wrist braces are a Godsend, they really helped things, try them at night. you'll get used to them. It pretty well went away, though will sometimes flare up for a few days and I go back to the braces, but guitar playing helps it somehow, like a physical therapy. I am trying to avoid surgery and it is gone now, but who knows, it seems to appear with no rhyme or reason sometimes.
The thumb is near the carpal tunnel so you may be getting that. Sometimes a cortisone shot will get rid of the inflamation and allow the area to heal. Get it from a good hand surgeon though. Don't take chances, you don't want to be unable to play.
Obsessed Wolfbird...??? I can top you... I got so obsessed I started to build the darn things, Now that is really fun! You ought to try it sometime, bet you won't build just one! it's the best way to get the perfect guitar! I also get right shoulder pain from playing (guitar shoulder, a form of bursitis) so started building egronomic OMs... no bindings and a slope on the body for the right underarm, so no pinch there, and none on your leg. No hard edges at all, just rounded ones, it's a nice look too.
Hi Iris,
Thanks for the compliments.Like I wrote somewhere a few days back,I spent time in hospital expecting
to be dead,which meant giving up everything.I had major abdominal surgery twice and several months
of hell.When that was over I began my life all over again with a new set of values where every moment
is extremely precious.Fingerstyle acoustic gives me a constant trickle of pleasure.I have a wonderful
5 string banjo and a wonderful fiddle too,but not enough time to practice on them.I try to learn something
new on guitar every day,and be able to do today what i couldn't do yesterday.It's a big buzz that keeps me
going.
Dunno about loving me though,Iris.I'm a dreadful man.I hate everybody,the whole 6 billion out there
because they're trashing this beautiful planet like there's no tomorrow with their stupid behaviour.But
anybody who loves acoustic fingerpicking and this kind of music can't be entirely bad,so maybe my heart
will soften...))
yes,guitar building is extremely tempting.The trouble is,I'm old and slow and don't get a lot done as it is,
so it would divert me away from the playing,because if I built one I'd find some faults and want to build
another that was better,and there'd be no end to it,so I decided to leave it to the guys who are already
really excellent at the job.
Hey,I've had your CD for quite a while now.I'll give it a really good listen one of these days and let you know
my opinions.There you go,it's the time thing again.I've got so many CDs and so much music on computer and
there's always more on the internet,there just isn't time enough in the day...
OK...I don't love you I love what you wrote!! LOL! I see you are an eccentric curmudgeon and that's fine!
Thanks for getting my CD, I had no idea! Hope you will like it.
As for being old... I feel like a kid still, but I am a grandma and the other "guys" at luthier class just couldn't get over the fact that there was not only a woman there but a grandma! They thought it was hysterical. As far as I know those wimpy guys just built the one, I have just finished #4 and will start on #5 soon. I find it very satisfying. There are still steps like the neck set that I am afraid of, so get help on that. The rest is very basic woodworking, not hard at all. A little geometry, but fairly simple. Time and patience and the love of it are all you need. actually getting a nice finish on it is harder than most of the other steps. I only French Polish, as it allows the wood to resonate like nothing else.
It's easy to hate humans for many things, but it makes it hard to navigate through life for me. You do what you can to make the world a bit better and try not to fill your own life with anguish. Playing makes one forget the anger and hatred though...the best anti-depressant! Sorry about the surgeries... terrible... hope you will fully recover and feel like a kid again.
Jems.... my hand Dr. said, now I recall.... to do a warm water soak and then wiggle the fingers around, before bed and sleep in braces and take an anti inflamatory for two weeks. Over the counter is fine. The braces come off in the day to allow wrist movement... though sometimes if the pain was real bad it did lessen it, so I would wear them a bit. This regimen is supposed to allow any inflamation to leave, and in many people it is a cure. You have to however stop whatever the cause was, whether a tight grip on guitar or typing too much without a break or in my case chain sawing and using lawn mowers or weed whackers. Unfortunately I can still run the vacuum, LOL!!
Thumb pain
Thumb pain
Any suggestions for thumb pain? I play guitar. It doesn't hurt when I play, but later if I'm trying to write, the middle joint is in pain. I can't decide if it's just from getting old or if it has to do with playing (ok, everyone - tell me cause I'm getting old).
# Posted on October 3rd 2007 by grumblingoldwoman
Re: Thumb pain
This sounds strange. I've been playing guitar and plucked string instruments for nearly twenty years and I've never encountered tumb pain. You must be getting old.
# Posted on October 3rd 2007 by Sinocal
Re: Thumb pain
thumb.
# Posted on October 3rd 2007 by Sinocal
Re: Thumb pain
Which hand? The cause can be different for right and left.
Just like any other parts of anatomy,if you subject to new or unusual strain it can take some time to adjust to cope with the demands you're placing on it.If it's that type of problem,it'll disappear over time as the muscles and tendons get stronger.
Then there's another type of problem,more like repetitive strain injury,which can be really serious and frightening and much more debilitating than relatively trivial sweat problems.If you get tendonitis,somewhat similar to tennis elbow,the hand can get so painful that it's useless for anything and can take a year or two to recover.
I play maybe ten hours a day,and pay very close attention to my hands and how they feel.A really small adjustment,I mean a millimetre or two,can make a big difference.For the left hand it can be width or thickness of the neck.For the right hand it can be the space between strings or the height above the soundboard.Or,if you use a pick,the way you hold it.
# Posted on October 3rd 2007 by wolfbird
Re: Thumb pain
Ten hours a day! Wow, that doesn't leave much time for things like errrrrm ... eating! Or talking
# Posted on October 3rd 2007 by pavlf
Re: Thumb pain
quite possible DeQuervain's syndrome....third most common type of RSI i think...carpal tunnel syndrom and tennis elbow topping the pile...seems to be a problem amongst musicians, try warming up, stretching, ice etc ...might do the trick...hopefully
# Posted on October 3rd 2007 by ljw
Re: Thumb pain
Hey,I don't waste ANY time on ANYTHING that stops me doing this playing! I'd do 28 hour days doing it if I only could.It's better than sex,better than fighting,(and i'm getting too old to be very proficient at those pursuits in any case).But I have to take breaks because I push my hands to their limit,and I don't want any permanent damage.So five minutes every hour I stop,have a coffee read emails and this site.Obsessed? Sure,like those lunatics that jump out of aeroplanes at 30000ft wearing wings,the world needs some harmless crazy people.It's the so-called sane ones who lust for power and control that I don't like.Stuff 'being normal'.It's boring.
)
# Posted on October 3rd 2007 by wolfbird
Re: Thumb pain
its probably repetative strain syndrome it happens to people who playx box to much too!!! try placing your thumb in a slightly diferent position if possible to give the injured muscle a break. or just else just become friends with d pain eh!
# Posted on October 3rd 2007 by Lollypoll
Re: Thumb pain
I’ve harped on this before and I’ll do it again. Don’t ignore the pain! Get it checked out by an orthopedist or hand specialist. It probably won’t be serious, but you might have to rest the thumb for several weeks or longer. If you ignore it, it could very well become serious.
Twenty years ago, I had a sore thumb and eventually lost most of the use of my right hand for two years. Then it was several more years before I could use a plectrum again. Don’t take the chance.
# Posted on October 3rd 2007 by Bob himself
Re: Thumb pain
Yes, De Quervain's is apparently fairly common. It's an inflammation of the thumb extensor tendon where it goes through the tendon sheath in the wrist. That's where my troubles began.
Hold your thumb in the hitchhiker position. If it hurts near the wrist, that's probably De Quervain's. Then go see a doctor.
# Posted on October 3rd 2007 by Bob himself
Re: Thumb pain
Thanks. I'm trying to give it a rest. The session I play in isn't meeting this week. I'm not practicing as much.
Plus, one of the people I play with doesn't like me too much (I think). That, or my thumb is also the root of my paranoia.
# Posted on October 3rd 2007 by grumblingoldwoman
Re: Thumb pain
Wolfbird... I love you! we think much alike.... Obsessed. We even at a session once had the question...if you had to give up the music or sex...which??? Well, most said they'd keep the music. All guys too!
Very true... what wolfbird says, and ......which hand???
If the left (assuming you're a righty) do you have a death grip on that neck? I play from the fingers and wrist on the left, that is where my strength has built up, I can literally note and chord with the left and leave the thumb go free... so no thumb pain there. No finger pain either. You can do an exercise, scales, note by note using the fingers and leave the thumb loose. Arc your wrist so your hand is not touching the fingerboard and go for the notes with just the fingers. It will build up the wrist and finger muscles and loosen the thumb.
If on the right... now I am a heavy on the thumb fingerstyle tune player and backer... loose as can be, no pain from playing. Like Wolfbird, I could easily play 28 hours a day if I didn't have to work. I do work at home and take many playing breaks though.
You need to, A) get thee to a luthier and get the guitar set up for easy playability, and maybe go to lighter strings. You will never get anywhere if you fight the thing to get the notes out. B) loosen up. I know... the question is HOW. It is very unspecific how to loosen up, but the answer is to practice a lot so you gain control of the instrument. In time and getting more comfy on it, you will loosen up. Do the above exercises with scales. C) you can't practice to loosen up, because it hurts... get yourself to a hand specialist now. Before you do any permenant damage to any nerves.
You might run your hands under hot water before and after playing. You might want to sleep in hand/wrist braces for carpal tunnel. Are your hands or thumb going numb at all too? Especially over night?
I got wicked carpal tunnel last winter, not from playing, but from using a chainsaw. Vibrating heavy machinery is a hand killer. I was cleaning up dead trees and getting free heat, and was really liking it. it demolished my hands though, I had thumb, wrist pain, numbness, it was awful. The wrist braces are a Godsend, they really helped things, try them at night. you'll get used to them. It pretty well went away, though will sometimes flare up for a few days and I go back to the braces, but guitar playing helps it somehow, like a physical therapy. I am trying to avoid surgery and it is gone now, but who knows, it seems to appear with no rhyme or reason sometimes.
The thumb is near the carpal tunnel so you may be getting that. Sometimes a cortisone shot will get rid of the inflamation and allow the area to heal. Get it from a good hand surgeon though. Don't take chances, you don't want to be unable to play.
Obsessed Wolfbird...??? I can top you... I got so obsessed I started to build the darn things, Now that is really fun! You ought to try it sometime, bet you won't build just one! it's the best way to get the perfect guitar! I also get right shoulder pain from playing (guitar shoulder, a form of bursitis) so started building egronomic OMs... no bindings and a slope on the body for the right underarm, so no pinch there, and none on your leg. No hard edges at all, just rounded ones, it's a nice look too.
# Posted on October 4th 2007 by irisnevins
Re: Thumb pain
Hi Iris,
Thanks for the compliments.Like I wrote somewhere a few days back,I spent time in hospital expecting
to be dead,which meant giving up everything.I had major abdominal surgery twice and several months
of hell.When that was over I began my life all over again with a new set of values where every moment
is extremely precious.Fingerstyle acoustic gives me a constant trickle of pleasure.I have a wonderful
5 string banjo and a wonderful fiddle too,but not enough time to practice on them.I try to learn something
new on guitar every day,and be able to do today what i couldn't do yesterday.It's a big buzz that keeps me
going.
Dunno about loving me though,Iris.I'm a dreadful man.I hate everybody,the whole 6 billion out there
))
because they're trashing this beautiful planet like there's no tomorrow with their stupid behaviour.But
anybody who loves acoustic fingerpicking and this kind of music can't be entirely bad,so maybe my heart
will soften...
yes,guitar building is extremely tempting.The trouble is,I'm old and slow and don't get a lot done as it is,
so it would divert me away from the playing,because if I built one I'd find some faults and want to build
another that was better,and there'd be no end to it,so I decided to leave it to the guys who are already
really excellent at the job.
Hey,I've had your CD for quite a while now.I'll give it a really good listen one of these days and let you know
my opinions.There you go,it's the time thing again.I've got so many CDs and so much music on computer and
there's always more on the internet,there just isn't time enough in the day...
# Posted on October 4th 2007 by wolfbird
Re: Thumb pain
OK...I don't love you I love what you wrote!! LOL! I see you are an eccentric curmudgeon and that's fine!
Thanks for getting my CD, I had no idea! Hope you will like it.
As for being old... I feel like a kid still, but I am a grandma and the other "guys" at luthier class just couldn't get over the fact that there was not only a woman there but a grandma! They thought it was hysterical. As far as I know those wimpy guys just built the one, I have just finished #4 and will start on #5 soon. I find it very satisfying. There are still steps like the neck set that I am afraid of, so get help on that. The rest is very basic woodworking, not hard at all. A little geometry, but fairly simple. Time and patience and the love of it are all you need. actually getting a nice finish on it is harder than most of the other steps. I only French Polish, as it allows the wood to resonate like nothing else.
It's easy to hate humans for many things, but it makes it hard to navigate through life for me. You do what you can to make the world a bit better and try not to fill your own life with anguish. Playing makes one forget the anger and hatred though...the best anti-depressant! Sorry about the surgeries... terrible... hope you will fully recover and feel like a kid again.
hang in there!
# Posted on October 4th 2007 by irisnevins
Re: Thumb pain
Jems.... my hand Dr. said, now I recall.... to do a warm water soak and then wiggle the fingers around, before bed and sleep in braces and take an anti inflamatory for two weeks. Over the counter is fine. The braces come off in the day to allow wrist movement... though sometimes if the pain was real bad it did lessen it, so I would wear them a bit. This regimen is supposed to allow any inflamation to leave, and in many people it is a cure. You have to however stop whatever the cause was, whether a tight grip on guitar or typing too much without a break or in my case chain sawing and using lawn mowers or weed whackers. Unfortunately I can still run the vacuum, LOL!!
try this for a few weeks and see what happens.
# Posted on October 4th 2007 by irisnevins