#1 technique for when you AREN'T playing: wear the proper protective gear!

[VW fan]

Good luck man! Inflammation and fluid retention is a bitch as well. I've been wrapping a heating pad around my hand to help with the fluid drainage.

I've got what I think is tendonitis and found that an ice pack provides some relief, atleast temporarily. Haven't tried heat, but will give it a go. So frustrating when doing what you love starts to be painful .

 

[moon-bass]

I've got what I think is tendonitis and found that an ice pack provides some relief, atleast temporarily. Haven't tried heat, but will give it a go. So frustrating when doing what you love starts to be painful .

I don't know about heat for tendonitis - I know that heat works to help drain the fluid retention from an object being embedded in there tho! If ice makes it feel better, it's most likely swelling and/or inflammation. I had tendonitis before and I used Ice and ibruprofin, and lots of rest in between playing. Tendonitis can get bad pretty quickly - I had to quit playing for about two months until it healed. If you don't let it heal it will get worse and worse and you'll eventually need surgery.

It's like tennis elbow - you either rest it until it heals or it will continue to get worse.

FWIW, I hear the surgery almost always works and works very well. I didn't want to get to that point tho.

And yeah, it does suck man. If I hurt my hands so much that I couldn't play I would learn to play with my feet

I hope your hand/wrist gets better!

 

[moon-bass]

In the greater scheme of things, this is 100% in the "mountain out of a mole hill" category.
But it was an unpleasant surprise to see how such a minor annoyance could make playing impossible, at a really inopportune time.

And if my dumb experience can help a fellow bassist avoid this kind of hassle, at least SOME good will come of this...

I don't think this is a molehill at all. Something like this can really mess you up, and even more so when you're a bass player. I feel for ya, and it sounds like you are doing the right things - keep it drained, don't let it close over, NSAIDs, and the epsom salts - at least until you get the MRI.

 

[moon-bass]

Same. I know more about treating hand wounds than some doctors.

In my case, if I would have followed the doctor's strict advice, I'd literally be dead right now.

I mean, not prescribing anti-biotics, telling me to not drain it, telling me to let it heal over, dismissing the fact that there was something in there because it didn't show on X-ray, blaming the other issues on mild sleep apnea ...

There are some really good doctors out there, and some really bad ones as well. I find that just getting one to listen to you and take you seriously is a challenge!

 

[tubedude]

If you haven't played injured before.try practicing with three fingers. You may have to simplify some parts. Pretend it's a country song. I put a glass slide on my.damaged index to protect it and keep me from trying to use it. You could also mod ýour gain/compression try slide bass.

 

[fastFINGRS]

I was working in my yard Sunday, cleaning up some tree limbs and got a splinter/thorn straight down into the first knuckle on my left index/pointer finger.
It was annoying, but seemed minor - I continued working.

But I wasn't able to dig the splinter out, and over the course of the night Sunday, the inflammation set in.

Yesterday I went to urgent care and the ER, and today I saw a hand surgeon.
We suspect that there's still a piece lodged in the joint, but it's less dense than the surrounding bone, so it's not showing up on X-ray.

So now I have to get on the schedule for a specialized scan before my surgeon can "get in there".
And that specialist is booked until late September.
Meanwhile my finger is swollen, incredibly pressure-sensitive, and immobile.

I have no idea if I can play, and this weekend is my town's local music festival.
I'm supposed to be playing 5 shows over 4 days with 3 bands, and I'm not sure I can fret a single note.

The moral of the story is:
Save yourself the headache (and pain, and money) and USE THE APPROPRIATE PROTECTIVE GEAR

Since I've been a Bass Player
I've broken 9 fingers - both thumbs

A torn tendon - middle finger left hand - 6 months in a splint Didn't work , then surgically reattached ,
But it's never been the same.

A case of Tennis elbow - right elbow ,
Never played tennis in my life !

8 stitches on Palm of left hand
I've been more than lucky and blessed my bass playing ability has only been at times suspended because of injuries.


accidental injuries will happen
but when your Bass playing ability is temporarily affected or God forbid over .
I've been more than lucky
As far as my playing ability not being affected or over
Personally I would be crushed.

But life goes on

Life goes on !!!
I know that's easy to say. .

 

[tubedude]

Since I've been a Bass Player
I've broken 9 fingers - both thumbs

A torn tendon - middle finger left hand - 6 months in a splint Didn't work , then surgically reattached ,
But it's never been the same.

A case of Tennis elbow - right elbow ,
Never played tennis in my life !

8 stitches on Palm of left hand
I've been more than lucky and blessed my bass playing ability has only been at times suspended because of injuries.


accidental injuries will happen
but when your Bass playing ability is temporarily affected or God forbid over .
I've been more than lucky
As far as my playing ability not being affected or over
Personally I would be crushed.

But life goes on

Life goes on !!!
I know that's easy to say. .

Wow, that's dedication, I would have switched to guitar.
And they think bass is easy.

 

[groovaholic]

An update:
The MRI didn't show any splinter/thorn remaining, but it showed more inflammation and fluid accumulation than my surgeon was OK with.
So I had surgery last week to debride the area.

I ended up with two incisions - there was a secondary inflammation site away from and actually worse than the actual puncture site.
Doc found a suspicious clump of tissue at that secondary site - fortunately the pathology didn't show any kind of tumor.

The nearest we can figure is that I had an AVM (arterial-venous malformation) in my finger and when the nearby puncture caused excess fluid accumulation, the AVM trapped a lot of it.

My own medical situation was (by far) the least serious medical issue affecting my family last week, and I missed being able to play bass!
Aside from just the musical aspect; playing has always been my preferred method of meditation...which is therapeutic for me.

Physical Therapy starts on Monday...BASS Therapy starts ASAP