Tennis elbow; a work in progress, a call for help

[Chowderboots]

Hey guys,

I've played bass for about four years. I've never had a bass teacher. Much of that time I was happily able to do pretty much anything I wanted. But last summer, I hit a wall when the outside of my elbows consistently began hurting too much for me to play. I had just started doing yoga, stopped doing drugs, and was becoming more and more conscious about my life. I realized that the neck-heavy, uncomfortable, low quality guitars I was using were putting a lot of strain especially on my left elbow. Poor posture, technique, practice patterns, and attention to my playing (playing through pain or discomfort rather than STOPPINGor playing while high) exacerbated the problems until I couldn't continue.

So I haven't really played since September, except for occasionally caving around a group of musicians or a particularly tantalizing guitar. I've practiced yoga daily, been to a doctor and a physical therapist who gave me stretches, exercises, warm up/cool down routines, tendon glides...the whole shebang. I don't think my tennis elbow is particularly bad--the doctors I've talked to said that from what they could tell I should be able to play guitar now, but I know I'm not ready yet. I've made great strides in the time I've taken off from bass guitar. It strained my elbows to type or open the fridge last summer, it doesn't any more. It feels much better, but it still flares up at seemingly random times and it really brings me down. So, I'm posting reaching out for support.

It's very difficult to keep from slumping and playing when the house is full of instruments and musicians and when I don't know how long until I'll be able to play again. I'd like to hear from TBers who have had tennis elbow. Do you have any advice? Can you share your insights or experiences? How long until you were able to get back into playing? What did you do when you started playing again? Any input would brighten my day. It gets really hard to keep my hopes up sometimes!!

My music is like my breath--I need to take it in, but I've also got to let it out! I'm very serious about growing from this experience. I'm taking this opportunity to embrace healing change in all areas of my life and to let go of the tightness that made it so that my arms are in the state they are. I just turned 19, I think I can get into playing bass again, but I can't do it alone this time.

Cheers!

[cableguy]

I had a similar issue and found that raising my bass height on my strap helped a lot. It now sits just a little lower when I'm standing as compared to sitting with it resting on my leg. When it was a lot lower the angle of my left wrist was pretty extreme and this I think in turn affected my left arm up through the elbow. Not sure if this is your problem or not but you may try it.

[Commreman]

My experience with this is here, in all it's glorious detail:

No options left - It's surgery for my tendinitis

[Chowderboots]

Thanks, guys! Cableguy, I had so many weird instruments, every one was a different set of problems--weird setup, imbalanced feel, bad electronics, or any combination of thise three. I'm fixing that by getting a Fender 57 RI Precision as my one and only guitar from now on. A guitar I can actually set up! I've always loved low action and a light touch, but wasn't able to get it on the instruments I had picked out.

Commreman--I read your thread in greater detail. That's quite a story. What is the cross friction ice massage that you mention? And can you describe the forearm exercises that you do/did in greater detail?

[Commreman]

Cross friction ice massage is this - wrap up ice in a face cloth or paper towels, and rub with a little pressure across the grain of the muscle, not with the grain. Counterclockwise circular motion works great, too.

As far as exercises go, here is one you can do anytime, anywhere. Hold the affected arm straight out in front of you. While taking a deep breath in, hold the hand on that arm back at a 45 degree angle. Splay (spread) your fingers out as wide as you can. You will feel this right up your arm. Then, while exhaling, make a fist as tight as you can and hold for at least ten seconds. Repeat about ten times each time you do this exercise. The breathing portion is critical to doing this right.

Next, try standard and reverse fingertip "preacher" stretches. First, standard - Put your hands in front of you in prayer position, with only your fingertips touching (thumbs included). Begin moving your hands down toward your belt while raising your elbows up and out. Push your hands toward each other without letting your palms touch, keeping all of the increasing pressure on your fingertips. Once your get the hang of this one, it's great. The reverse preacher stretch is similar, except that your fingertips will be facing the floor, and you will be pulling your arms up toward your chin while increasing the pressure on your fingertips and breathing out.

Also, google and try the Flexbar. This is a phenomenal device for tennis elbow.

Alex Nordach (who is here somewhere) has a program called Target Tendonitis. It is a series of negative exercises that work. Google the program or PM him here.

Change your technique. Make certain that you are not wearing your bass too high, and keep your wrists straight. The other thing is that you may be too tense when you are playing, which puts undue stress on that area. Do some deep breathing prior to playing, and get relaxed. Then, pay attention to your body. If you're experiencing pain, you are doing something wrong. Make a note of what you are doing to cause the pain, and then make changes until the pain stops and your comfort increases.

If you can afford it, go for deep tissue muscle massage on the affected area. It hurts, but boy does this work. Also, chiropractic for spinal alignment and ultrasound treatments are effective as well.

Tendinitis is a real beotch, and takes a long time to heal. There really isn't any oxygenated blood flow into that area, and consequently, healing times are longer. If you do what I described above, it will build new muscle and tendon strength over time, and, and a bonus, will increase your hand and wrist strength as well.

Good luck!

[EASonBass]

I had severe tennis elbow (from the game, not bass). The thing that worked for me as recommended by a pro was to gently twist one forearm with the other hand. eg grab your left hand, palm up with your right hand gently twist away from your torso. Hold for a few seconds. Repeat

This has helped me immensely.

[Chowderboots]

Thanks so much for the tips! Sounds like the best way to help it is to stimulate bloodflow to the elbow. That hand flex exercise feels wonderful!! Commreman, if you have any other forearm exercises--with or without weights, could you please PM them to me? I'd appreciate it a lot. I was tickled when I read in your tendinitis thread that a textbook example of bass playing posture is Steve Harris. Right now, he's the biggest inspiration to my getting back into playing. I'm going to see Maiden play two shows in Florida in April and I'm finally getting a blonde Fender P in a couple weeks!

I've started focusing on my posture, breathing, and relaxation a lot since last summer. I used to always sit when I played, on a bed mostly, very worried/tense, high action, when I was tired, etc. And I did that for four years straight. No wonder I hurt myself a little. I plan on treating myself to an excellent instrument with great setup and good balance and play it standing up, which is how I like to play anyway. I read that Arry never forced himself to play and never worried about his skill. He plays for the joy of it. That's something that I forgot at times.

I think I get what you mean, EASonBass. I'll give it a shot and see how it works!