Pain in left wrist and elbow..

[Alex Spradling]

Hey,

I've been out of college on winter break for almost a month now, and I've been practicing hard every day. Last night I started getting some pain in my left wrist and upper arm (above my elbow). I thought it would go away today but it hasn't. Obviously something is up, except I thought my technique was pretty clean and I play without tension in my left hand.

I go back to school in a week and I'll begin meeting with him (My teacher, whooops haha) on a regular basis again, but until then i'm kinda stuck with what is causing the pain. I called him and asked for an emergency bass lesson. (but I live a long distance from my school)

Help?

Thanks,

Alex

[bassedsouth]

check this site out / could be tendonitis is what you're experiencing .

http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/hand...equervains.htm

[hdiddy]

If you've ramped up your practicing over the past month, have you given your body a chance to rest and catch up? Maybe you're just simply overworked and need to back off and do something else, like work on transcriptions or something. Just some ideas.

[Scottgun]

Originally Posted by hdiddy

If you've ramped up your practicing over the past month, have you given your body a chance to rest and catch up? Maybe you're just simply overworked and need to back off and do something else, like work on transcriptions or something. Just some ideas.

+1 Take a break, eat right and plenty of liquids and see how you feel in a few days.



Scott

[Maaaven]

Here are some generally accepted recommendations
that are broadly applicable.

You have to work to get that inflammation down then
repair the micro-tearing in your soft tissue. Ice is
powerful medicine. They say to switch to heat and
massage after 48 hours. I like a sauna (whirlpool)
with strong jets to do the massage for me. If you don't
have that you can do hot baths then self massage with
a tennis ball. Be careful how you sleep, keep joints open,
not tightly bent under the pillow. A bit of easy stretching
and you easing your way back into playing and hopefully
you have no lingering effects.

WRT diet, meat in pro-inflamatory, fish is anti-inflamatory.
If you can't play physically, so some of the mental work.

Most of all, take it easy on that arm.

[drurb]

Here's a novel solution:

See your physician.

I suspect you will achieve relief faster than asking a bunch of bass players on the internet. While we can offer broad, general, anecdotal information, we cannot examine you and most here do not have an M.D.

Just my $0.02

[Alex Spradling]

Originally Posted by drurb

Here's a novel solution:

See your physician.

I suspect you will achieve relief faster than asking a bunch of bass players on the internet. While we can offer broad, general, anecdotal information, we cannot examine you and most here do not have an M.D.

Just my $0.02

Well, like all matters physical, if you repeat a motion a lot there's bound to be something aching. I wanted to see if other players have had this problem.

Like I said, I work hard to avoid bad habits and generally play relaxed and without tension. I always play in front a mirror to make sure I'm not stressing anything. I've never bought into that "If you play with the correct technique, you'll never feel any pain...ever" crap. You're using your muscles like crazy, something will ache eventually. I've been playing like mad 7 to 8 hours a day, so I understand that my muscles are under a lot of stress.

At the risk of being controversial or whatever, I don't think a trip to the physician is warranted at this point. My hands have been under a lot of stress if I rest and the pain persists then obviously I should go, but I suspect if i just rest up i'll feel much better.

alex

[drurb]

You haven't tried resting yet? Do, indeed. Let us know how it goes. I wish you well.

[musicman5string]

Originally Posted by Maaaven

Here are some generally accepted recommendations
that are broadly applicable.

You have to work to get that inflammation down then
repair the micro-tearing in your soft tissue. Ice is
powerful medicine. They say to switch to heat and
massage after 48 hours. I like a sauna (whirlpool)
with strong jets to do the massage for me. If you don't
have that you can do hot baths then self massage with
a tennis ball. Be careful how you sleep, keep joints open,
not tightly bent under the pillow. A bit of easy stretching
and you easing your way back into playing and hopefully
you have no lingering effects.

WRT diet, meat in pro-inflamatory, fish is anti-inflamatory.
If you can't play physically, so some of the mental work.

Most of all, take it easy on that arm.

I've been told that heat is the worst thing you can do for a sore or stressed muscle. Ice is the way to go: 30 min. on, 30 off, etc.
Advil may be good also.
I also try to keep my left hand "open" as much as possible when not playing, so as to counter act the normal fingering positions.

[Alex Spradling]

Originally Posted by musicman5string

I've been told that heat is the worst thing you can do for a sore or stressed muscle. Ice is the way to go: 30 min. on, 30 off, etc.
Advil may be good also.
I also try to keep my left hand "open" as much as possible when not playing, so as to counter act the normal fingering positions.

If you use ice first you can usually stop the tearing of the muscle, after a lot of icing heat is used to help rehabilitate the torn muscle.

I didn't play at all today, which was tough as hell becuase my college goes back pretty late (we're on our massive winter break) so I've been pretty bored without anyone to hang with. Wrist is still a little sore, I'll see how it is in the morning.

alex

[Maaaven]

Why not do some related music study that does not stress
the wrist. That one book you could never get through perhaps...

[Alex Spradling]

My wrist is much better after a little R and R. Plus I'm black in college now and I can relish in the relative safety of having my teacher constantly making sure my technique is refined and not going to cause damage.

Thanks for all your suggestions!

Alex