There have been several threads that have dealt with complaints that all fall under this header. The truth is for RSI, which has become increasingly common due to the widespread use of PCs, the preventative advice sounds just like the technique discussions folks have over in General Instruction, in the Floating Thumb sticky, in a couple of the Proffessional forums (Todd's in particular spends time on hand, arm and wrist positioning), and is mentioned everytime someone discusses where to hold a bass and how to position your hands and wrists to play with the most efficiency.
Strangly enough if you follow the basic recommendations of keeping things straight (wrists in particular but even the angle of your forearm is important), warming up slowly so as to give joints and muscles time to adjust to these tasks, be mindful of how important your upper arm is in your playing and work to keep those muscles fit and most importantly if pain or stiffness begin to bother you over an extended period of time see your doctor and follow common sense arthritic treatment protocols to keep inflamation in the joints down to a minimum (you'll just have to take my word for this one as the longer you play and no matter how careful you are some damage over time is going to happen and care of your hands and joints will just extend your playing career a little longer).
Also important is being aware of how you use your hands, fingers, wrists and arms during other activities not playing related. I had a heck of a time with my thumb on my left hand awhile back. It seemed like I couldn't play more than a few minutes before the pain set in and affected my use of it. I had to start not putting it behind the neck off and on as I played just to give it a break. I started to wonder if it was caused by something other than playing as I have been very careful to develop my fretting so that it doesn't require a lot of pressure to execute. Then I was driving down the highway one day and I notice that I was gripping the wheel of my car just like I hold the neck of my bass when fretting and my thumb was cocked back in an angle I would never use while playing.
As soon as I stopped holding the wheel like that my thumb felt better when I played. Three or four weeks later it was like I never had the problem. So the moral is you can trash your joints doing all sorts of stuff and sometimes its bad habits in your non-playing activities that are affecting your play. Be observant and value this equipment because if you love playing like I do you'll want to be able to do it until you drop. The only way that will happen is if you take care of your hands, wrists and arms.
You should wear a helmut too but that's a subject for another thread!
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