Hand Exercises to Prevent Injury and Tendonitis
Posted: 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
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
