HELP joint pain

[TreeChild]

so the other day i was practicing a song for a audition, and i was playing pretty hard and seemingly out of nowhere the last joint on my right middle finger (plucking hand) was experiencing this dull pain.

it stoped when im not playing, usually, but as soon as i start playing that pain starts again. the strange thing it that i have played much harder for longer periods of time before and nothing has happened.

has anyone else experienced this before? should i change my technique or just wait for it to heal?

[FaithNoMan]

I just hurt my hand a couple of weeks ago:

Tips for getting older and taking care of your hands?

[TreeChild]

thanks for the link.

[pretaanluxis]

I had wrist pain a little while ago, so much that is took the fun out of playing. I mostly fixed it by doing these:

-stop playing for a week!
-eat a banana a day(I'm not sure they helped)
-drinking lots of water
-zero caffinee and alchol
-changed my keyboard to a different angle
-typing as little as possible
-changed and cut-back my weight-lifting routing

I'm not saying you should do these but hopefully they give you some ideas...Good luck!

[Mrdak]

I can certainly relate to the No Alcahol, and drinking plenty of fluids. Some time ago, I was drinking much too much, and every time I played, especially after a long night of partying down, I would get these cramps that would leave my hand\finger muscles sore for a couple days. They felt bruised...... That alone was enough or me to slow down on the drinking... No booze = no cramps. I replaced the beer with tons of good ole water. The Gripmaster finger excerciser works great too, in at least the medium tension...... I carry that sucka with me all of the time.

[cosmicevan]

if you are really concerned, go see a rhumatologist. if there really is a problem (and there could be...) catching it early can mean the difference of still playing 20 years from now.

if you are concerned enough to write a post here, then you should probably see a doctor. or take a bit of aleive when you feel the pain coming on...see if that helps

[PrimusNut]

Originally Posted by pretaanluxis

I had wrist pain a little while ago, so much that is took the fun out of playing. I mostly fixed it by doing these:

-stop playing for a week!
-eat a banana a day(I'm not sure they helped)
-drinking lots of water
-zero caffinee and alchol
-changed my keyboard to a different angle
-typing as little as possible
-changed and cut-back my weight-lifting routing

I'm not saying you should do these but hopefully they give you some ideas...Good luck!

The no caffein and alcohol would kill me (caffein mostly, i dont drink much).

Don't worry about it. I had these pains in my fretting hand joins. How is your technique? Do you play hard? Fast? Maybe your fingers are positioned in a way that is bad for the joints?

If it doesn't go away in a week or 2, see a doctor.