Hand Exercises to Prevent Injury and Tendonitis

vzg14
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Mon Aug 03, 2015 8:42 pm

Hi all,

Earlier this year, I had tendonitis in the thumb of my fretting hand. It was diagnosed as De Quervain's Tenosynovitis (ouch, it hurts just saying it :ohmy: ). Basically, it hurt like heck at the side of my wrist and I couldn't play guitar effectively for a few months. I ended up getting a Cortizone shot and that helped to get me back on track.

I'm in my 50s now and I know that my body doesn't recover as well as it used to, but all of this pain could probably have been prevented with proper stretching before playing. How many times have you just picked up the guitar for the first time of the day and you went right into playing that song that you've been working on, or doing those speed exercises? Well that was what I was doing before I got injured.

Please learn from my mistake and take a couple of minutes before picking up your guitar and do some effective stretching. You may even consider doing some stretching during and after playing too. I found some good exercises on YouTube and there are probably many more. I don't necessarily suggest that you do all of these, but find some stretches and exercises that work for you. As they say, an ounce of prevention goes a long way.

Happy Picking and Strumming everyone and for some of you, I'll see you at IGC.

Take care,
-Victor











TGNesh
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Tue Aug 04, 2015 2:37 am

Many thanks for the info Victor, very useful stuff!

I'm glad you're back on track....must have been a pain... :S

So you're ready to rock in 4 weeks? ;)

See you there!

Ness


thereshopeyet
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Tue Aug 04, 2015 3:50 pm

Victor
Thanks for the reminder about hand exercises and links.

There was a similar topic four years ago, here's a link to the topic and Katherine Butlers London Hand Therapy.
I hope these are of interest to you.

Dermot

:)

Link - Forum Four Uears Ago....

Katherine Butler - London Hand Therapy


vzg14
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Tue Aug 04, 2015 11:53 pm

Thanks Dermot, It's good to know that it was brought up before. Cheers everyone. Happy Stretching.

-Victor


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auntlynnie
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Wed Aug 05, 2015 6:40 am

Thanks for posting this, Victor.
I, too, am in my fifties and it seems that every day I have some reminder that my body doesn't work as well as it once did.

Just hoping that nothing breaks down before camp.

Lynn


vzg14
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Thu Aug 06, 2015 7:41 am

Hi Ness,

Literally a major pain. Yup, ready to rock, and roll in 4 weeks. C U there.

Hi Lynn,

I actually thought my body was breaking down, and was starting to get really bummed that I wouldn't be well enough for camp. But alas, I'm raring to go.

-Victor


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