Right Index Finger Pain

[AZNBassist]

Hey guys, I was just curious if any of you have faced this and if so, how you got passed it.

So I have an audition for Big Bands at my school (UNT) in about 2 weeks and recently whenever I start playing for a while (pizzacato) it feels like the muscle/joint in my right index finger starts hurting. I've laid off of it for weeks, went to a doctor (who couldn't find anything), and the pain is still there and persists. I've been playing for a while without this pain, so why its showing up is a mystery to me. The pain is bad, but I can play through it, though I'd rather not do it since I'm not too sure if it will injure me badly in the long run, help?

[Thunderthumbs73]

I have not experienced this problem, so I'm sorry that I cannot help you. However, I felt the very last sentence prompted a response:

Don't do it!

Don't play through the pain.

Get help with that, and touch base with your teacher, or spend a little time with one to focus on your technique so you don't do permanent damage.

Best to you.

[bolo]

Yes ask your teacher.

And get a second opinion from another doctor if the pain is as intense as you made it sound. If I told mine "It hurts when I do this..." and they couldn't recommend at least some type of next step in terms of analysis and/or treatment, then I'd go to another doctor and get another opinion. An x-ray, anti-inflammatory drugs, go see a specialist ... they should have at least come up with some type of next step.

[Kenneth Foong]

I used to have that problem a lot! I digged really deep into my fingerboard, its actually a very natural human tendency especially on the faster numbers. What my teacher had me do was to do a rough experiment; just depress the strings until you get a clean and clear tone from it ONLY, you'll probably notice that any harder isn't going to get you a better sound note. But its really difficult to separate the strength in your plucking hand from that of your fretting hand, its a little 'schizophrenic' for lack of a better word.

Its actually a very philosophical process, it starts with that and over time we start to bring in the natural weight of the bass and have it lean forward a little but more then usual (sometimes even to the side). Also keeping your elbow up can help you transfer some of your arm's weight into your fingers so technically you won't need to depress the strings that much.

Hope this helps!

[boylebass]

Lynn is real big on the biomechanical end end of bass playing. He's on the 'Ask the Expert' discussion board here on TB. Good luck... You'll soon be studying with one of the best bass teachers in the world, and one of the nicest guys as well.

[Adrian Cho]

I agree with not playing through the pain and what everyone has said about figuring out a way to modify things, take a rest or whatever is needed.

I don't know if this is possible for you but can you switch to using the middle finger or the middle with the index on top of it? I vary between using the index and middle side-by-side together for most things and change to alternating between the two for fast soloing where I also want a lighter sound, to the middle with the index on top for really fast walking (300+ BPM).

[anonymous02282011]

Try using your middle finger to pluck instead of your index.

In the meantime, find a doctor that can actually help you. They're not all the same.

[AZNBassist]

Yea, thanks for the responses guys. Fortunately the pain doesn't occur when I'm bowing (french), so I've been practicing a lot of classical and for all the stuff I need to pizzacato on I've been trying to use my middle finger to pluck instead. Unfortunately, what Adrian said doesn't work, since the pain occurs whenever I bend my middle finger, so I'm not able to use my index finger at all and I can only use my middle finger on its own. It's definitely hard, since I pull really hard and I miss being able to get a huge sound with the side of my index finger oh well...

To boylebass, I'm going to school at UNT right now and I've talked to Lynn about it, he had a couple of helpful things to say. Thanks for all the responses guys!

As a side note: I'm not too sure what caused it, but during the period when it happened, I had been binge drinking straight for a month, do you think that might be one of the causes? I'm just looking to make sure if I hopefully get over this soon, that I can avoid having this happen ever again. Thanks guys!

[salcott]

"during the period when it happened, I had been binge drinking straight for a month, do you think that might be one of the causes?'

I'm going to assume this is straight up and not a joke. You can injure yourself when you're drunk and not realize it til you sober up.If you stayed drunk for a month, you could have reinjured yourself every time you picked up the bass. Not a good way to live.

[moles]

Originally Posted by AZNBassist

As a side note: I'm not too sure what caused it, but during the period when it happened, I had been binge drinking straight for a month, do you think that might be one of the causes? I'm just looking to make sure if I hopefully get over this soon, that I can avoid having this happen ever again. Thanks guys!

Sorry man, that made me laugh... Hey, it happens though.
IME, any kind of long-term stress on the body like that, and the resulting constant dehydration makes my playing go downhill fast. I'm going to make a logical leap here and say that it would also set you up for injury as well. Playing tired and hungover makes it easy to get lazy and let technique falter.

Also - without getting too personal - what's goin on (or was...) in your life that you're drinking that much? When I get super-stressed about stuff, it gets real easy to always be payin' attention to the knot in my stomach than how hard I'm gripping the neck.

Taking a deep breath, and Relaxing might be in order -?

I had a bit of numbness in my left hand a little while ago that I managed to work through, with some help. It's scary s***. Hope things work out for you man.

[locolobo85]

When I hurt my thumb earlier this summer I found some info on the web that got me through the pain.

First was learning a little about the hands and arms.....
http://www.apta.org/AM/Template.cfm?...ONTENTID=24768

Next was a few low impact exercises.....
http://www.bostonhand.com/fingerjoint.html

http://www.bostonhand.com/tendongliding.html

http://www.bostonhand.com/edcglide.html

http://www.bostonhand.com/intrinsicexercises.html

And don't forget the thumb. It seem everything in the hand runs through the IP joint.
http://www.bostonhand.com/thumbexercises.html

All simple low impact stuff that you can do at your leasure that will most likely help get rid of the pain.

[AZNBassist]

Sorry man, that made me laugh... Hey, it happens though.
IME, any kind of long-term stress on the body like that, and the resulting constant dehydration makes my playing go downhill fast. I'm going to make a logical leap here and say that it would also set you up for injury as well. Playing tired and hungover makes it easy to get lazy and let technique falter.

Also - without getting too personal - what's goin on (or was...) in your life that you're drinking that much? When I get super-stressed about stuff, it gets real easy to always be payin' attention to the knot in my stomach than how hard I'm gripping the neck.

Hahah, yea. Well thanks for your concern but no, it wasn't stress, it was just some problems that have been hanging around me for a while and me trying to self-medicate myself out of them using the fast but not so smart way. What you said about the dehydration and everything else everyone else here has said makes sense. Thanks for the all the tips for everyone and hopefully my hand will get better. I've got an audition at the end of this week, so hopefully this'll be ok by then.

[bumbleBur2slow]

yeah ask someone about it i haven't actually experienced that but i messed up my thumb and it's still not completely better i think i broke it but never went to the doctor and that hurt to play. i just ignored it and it's mostly okay.