hand care

[Rafterman]

Have you guys heard that if you wash your hands or get your hands wet after practicing, that it will do harm to your hands in the long run?

some people are telling me this. Is this true?

[AllodoX]

Yep.. i wash them pre-rehearsal ( don't want icky stuff on my bass ) and post-rehearsal.. when you play your muscles get warm.. washing your hands, and particularly keeping your wrists cool helps to prevent RSI

[JMX]

Hm, I'd like to hear a professional opinion on this.

IMO, opinion you want to warm up properly before practising/playing, like any sportsman/woman.

Cooling helps to ease discomfort AFTER playing, when you already have problems with arm or wrist, but cool muscles get hurt easily.

So do some careful stretching and some warm-up exercises on your bass.
Don't play too hard, and watch your posture and technique, that's the best advice to prevent any problems IMO.

[luisnovelo]

Washing your hands with cold water after, or even before practicing is bad for your wrists and hand articulations

[Rafterman]

Originally posted by luisnovelo
Washing your hands with cold water after, or even before practicing is bad for your wrists and hand articulations

yeah that's what people tell me. Common sense should tell you that you should relax your muscles after practicing...so, you should, if anything, go for the warm/hot water over the cold water.

anyone else have any comments or suggestions?

[GrEeNdEn]

Hi is anybody in here?
Has anybody heard of JBP Basses,if you have what kind are they?
And any suggestions on what bass I should get?
I'm a begginer so I have no clue whatsoever on basses.

[bassplayerjojo]

I think you want to post your question in a new thread, you'll get more responses.

[anora]

Hey..

All of you have good discussion in this topic...
yes we should take proper care of our hands, specially after practicing...

Christmas Treasure Hunt

[fearceol]

Originally Posted by JMX

Hm, I'd like to hear a professional opinion on this.

IMO, opinion you want to warm up properly before practising/playing, like any sportsman/woman.

Cooling helps to ease discomfort AFTER playing, when you already have problems with arm or wrist, but cool muscles get hurt easily.

So do some careful stretching and some warm-up exercises on your bass.
Don't play too hard, and watch your posture and technique, that's the best advice to prevent any problems IMO.

+1 to this.

I too, would like to hear a professional opinion on this. I would presume that it is best to wash your hands in luke warm or warm water in preference to cold or hot water. I would however put a higher priority on gentle stretching and a warm up, both before and after a playing session. Good technique would also be a higher priority with regards to over all hand care and bass playing.

[Fergie Fulton]

Originally Posted by JMX

Hm, I'd like to hear a professional opinion on this.

First off washing your hands plays no consequence in your playing.

Second point yes warm water soaking will loosen and ease of muscles because it opens the vessels and stimilates inceased blood flow, and as blood is "food" for the muscles, then more the better before an activity.

Now we come to the point of cold water, this will cool the hands and reduce swelling and in a controlled use will help the hands recover from any swelling or tiredness, pain they have.
Ice is used to reduce swelling, when swelling is reduced then the recovery/repair of tissue can commence.

Now for the contentious part... Cryotherapy. You will find many great articles about Cryotherapy and its soft tissue benefits, which muscles fall into. Runners use ice baths after rigourous training to help them recover faster and better, so train again sooner. Again it is the use of ice. Ice is a cryovascular tool as it reduces blood vessels so restricts the flow of blood that is feeding and causing the swelling, as in a muscle tear with slight internal bleeding showing as swelling.
As the hands use muscles and ligiments then the results should be in line with its other uses, but i have heard or read nothing to suggest it would be usefull in the situation we are talking about. Ice has been used with success to treat certain hand problems that have presented themselves through degeneration or disease.
Unless a player is presenting problems or an injury that cold water immersion would help reduce swelling or pain at that present time, would be a good replacement therapy in place of ice not being available as it would have the same effect in constricting vessels, but it would have to be very cold.

The use of hot and cold treatments depend on the condition of the injury or problem, both will be used at some point in a treatment, usually ice or cold at the start to reduce the swelling and numb pain, and then when the swelling is down and the injury stable, heat is used to increase the blood flow and so speed up the healing process.

[fearceol]

Originally Posted by Fergie Fulton

First off washing your hands plays no consequence in your playing.

Second point yes warm water soaking will loosen and ease of muscles because it opens the vessels and stimilates inceased blood flow, and as blood is "food" for the muscles, then more the better before an activity.

Now we come to the point of cold water, this will cool the hands and reduce swelling and in a controlled use will help the hands recover from any swelling or tiredness, pain they have.
Ice is used to reduce swelling, when swelling is reduced then the recovery/repair of tissue can commence.

Now for the contentious part... Cryotherapy. You will find many great articles about Cryotherapy and its soft tissue benefits, which muscles fall into. Runners use ice baths after rigourous training to help them recover faster and better, so train again sooner. Again it is the use of ice. Ice is a cryovascular tool as it reduces blood vessels so restricts the flow of blood that is feeding and causing the swelling, as in a muscle tear with slight internal bleeding showing as swelling.
As the hands use muscles and ligiments then the results should be in line with its other uses, but i have heard or read nothing to suggest it would be usefull in the situation we are talking about. Ice has been used with success to treat certain hand problems that have presented themselves through degeneration or disease.
Unless a player is presenting problems or an injury that cold water immersion would help reduce swelling or pain at that present time, would be a good replacement therapy in place of ice not being available as it would have the same effect in constricting vessels, but it would have to be very cold.

The use of hot and cold treatments depend on the condition of the injury or problem, both will be used at some point in a treatment, usually ice or cold at the start to reduce the swelling and numb pain, and then when the swelling is down and the injury stable, heat is used to increase the blood flow and so speed up the healing process.

Interesting and informative... as usual. Thanks Fergie.

[makkE]

I stretch before and after play, and I wash my hands before and after too.
Sometimes there's no hot water around, but it's usually not a problem when I'm warmed up.

[Fergie Fulton]

I had a search for some relevent info that is not scientfic loaded with data and anatomical speak and found this.

Ice Water Bath After Exercise - Does an Ice Water Bath After Exercise Speed Recovery

This is the basics of what it does for athletes, remember they are using bigger muscles and larger groups of them than we would as bass players.

What i would ideally like to read is new info concerning muscle damage to the hands in the form of a golfer, tennis player, baseball player etc. that uses a grip to hold, has it injured and this therapy is used to help them recover. Ideally a musician would be better, but this would be a direct transfer from sport injury medicine become part of GP medicine once (if any) worth has a proven record.

[Muttleybass]

Ice baths? I guess if you have pain or swelling you could alternate hot & cold after the gig...

First, in the beginning, I used to have a rubber squeeze ball I'd keep in my pocket. It became a habit, just to keep it in my left hand and keep digging my fingers into it (extra attention to the pinky). Helps build the muscles.

As a semi-pro (ex full time pro) I wash my hands before warm up, just because I don't do sticky and to keep my strings clean, not anything to do with muscle care. Warm, because why would you use cold?

Then, warm up by playing scales and doing your finger excersizes. I wiggle my fingers and roll my wrist to loosen up. This IS important. And if you're sick or have allergies and have to play, do NOT take antihistamines because your joints will ache.

Between sets, I have to wash my hands because I always pee before going on stage... and they're sweaty. Again, nothing to do with muscles.

After the gig I don't worry about it. I might subconciously squeeze my fist to cool down and stretch out, I guess. I never thought about it. Then there's the inevitable wrapping of cables...

[Infrasonik B.]

Originally Posted by Rafterman

...get your hands wet after practicing

I personally like to get something else wet after practice

[Waffles and Scotch]

Nice resuscitation anora! This thread is from 2002!! Way to use the search function...

[Pillgrimm13]

i used to soak my hands in hot/warm salt water after playing to toughen the finger tips up. it worked and didnt hurt my playing.