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Aging hands.

#41
Yeah. I am 68. Started having thumb joint issues back around turning 60. I still play 3-6 hours a day because playing music is one of the few things (other than sailing) that I really love to do. I just play through it. Actually I don't really have or notice pain as long as I am using my hands to play an instrument.
And luckily being that I live in California I can buy pot any time I want to. And as we all know, or at least some of us do, the good herb works wonders for arthritic pain. Not to mention how it enhances creativity and artistic joy.
Thumbs up (ouch) for self medication and not letting a bit of senior pain get in the way.
 
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#43
Newby6string said:
Okay, I am 62 and I just recently starting experiencing pain in both of my thumb joints which I suspect is arthritis. What do some of you well seasoned bassists do to alleviate the pain in your hands due to age?
Click to expand...
Don't just assume it is age-related arthritis. It might be, but it might be something else. Best to get a medical opinion in case it turns out there's an underlying cause that can be treated rather than just treating or alleviating the symptoms.
 
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#44
Blueinred said:
I wear one of these on my left wrist at work and it seems to help.

https://www.amazon.com/Copper-Compression-Arthritis-Gloves-GUARANTEED/dp/B00ZO4WW7Q/ref=sr_1_5?crid=12PIBX2439Y4U&keywords=copper+wrist+compression&qid=1582130979&sprefix=copper+wr,aps,153&sr=8-5

I haven't tried them yet but many swear by the over-the-counter CBD creams, too.
Click to expand...

Might want to check with your physician or pharmacist for potential drug interactions with CBD first if you’re taking Rx meds like most of us our age are.
 
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#45
Alpha Mineral Support liquid mineral concentrate. Long story behind this stuff. Made from what's called humic shale. No, this stuff is not T.J. Clark minerals, but must be a concentrate or mother tincture of them. Alpha Mineral Support is the only source I am aware of. Used to be Active Liquid Minerals. You have to take it with water. Not fruit juice! It did what "they" said couldn't be done, and what nothing else would do. I have no interest in the company whatsoever. I don't care if anybody believes what I'm going to say, or not. I'm just reporting what happened to me personally.

I had osteo-arthritis especially in the right little finger and the finger next to it. It felt like there was sulpheric acid in my fingers! Very painful. Couldn't sleep at night. The fingers were all bent and twisted with large, hard nodules that were painful to the touch. White coats said it was incurable. They said they could slow down the progression of the disease some and reduce the extreme pain, but that it would never get better. I passed.

I took 1.5 teaspoons (7.5 ml) of the minerals with 8 oz. of distilled water every day. The pain would often stop within 45 minutes. I know. I didn't believe it either when I read that on the forum they used to have. Pain tends to make you try things you wouldn't ordinarily try. Yup, pain greatly reduced, and often gone. It must alter the pH in the tissue around the arthritis, is all I can think of. The nodules slowly went away and the fingers straightened quite a bit. It was not like a miracle. It was a miracle!

Then Tony the owner sold out to a South Korean company who replaced the minerals with some #$%$# they came up with that did nothing. The arthritis slowly returned, although not to the severity it was before I started using the minerals. The arthritis was slowly getting worse, though, and once again I figured I was done as far as music was concerned. Finally, after several years, they're back. Probably the non-competition agreement expired.

Been taking the minerals again for three months now. My finger joints are much less sensitive, and the arthritis hasn't gotten any worse. The effect is not as radical as it was originally. Does seem to be working, though. I am back to practicing again. Back to typing 100WPM plus, again. That's my story.
 
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#46
I'm 68 and started having pain in my left thumb joint. My doctor said arthritis, though I thought it was some big coincidence that it hurt most when playing barre chords on guitar, as I'd done for the last 50 years. I started a thread here titled "did 50 years of guitar ruin my thumb?", or something like that. Got a lot of good advice.

Recently I developed a pain in my left big toe and went to a specialist; more arthritis. So the most repetitive things I've done in my life, probably, playing guitar and walking, I now associate with long term pain. Not very scientific, I admit.

The good news is, a shot of cortisone in my toe joint has kept me pain free for 3 months so far, and since I'm walking normally, the increased flexing of the joint seems beneficial, as has been mentioned above. Taking the shot itself was not pain free. As for my thumb, I'm limited to what I can play without hurting myself, which isn't so bad.

I don't know if the same treatment would be appropriate for a thumb, but I wouldn't hesitate to ask my doctor.

I always advise the young people not to get old, but they never listen.

Good luck to us all.

Tom
 
#47
I will be 70 this year and have more medical people in the family that you can shake a stick at. I go through all of this on a daily basis, so here are my suggestions. First get things check out by competent MD, or PA. I already know what you are thinking, and thought pretty much the same thing for like 30 years, “I’m ok I don’t need to go see anyone”. WRONG. You need to find someone that you feel comfortable with, that does not try to “re invent the wheel”. You do NOT have to do what they say, but you DO need to LISTEN to WHAT they are saying. A tough thing to do do for sure for us “old schoolers”, that never give up, never quit, no matter what. I always though that no matter what I could beat things back with ‘Vitamin A” (not the pill kind, the one that comes in a bottle), and over the counter stuff. Then one day things got really bad, never had felt that way EVER. In I went, and was a darn good thing I did. Not only did I have Arthritis fairly bad, but they pick up a version of the “Big C” disease. Yep, I rolled the dice, and I lost. So I did what was told to do, and actually beat the thing, for now anyway. I don’t mean to alarm anyone out there, but as your body gets older sometimes it just needs a little help. As for my hand thing, I went to a different neck shape, do hand exercises with those squishy ball things, and sometimes just take a break for awhile. So in my old age I discovered that while it’s hard to “Rock and Roll all night, and Party Everyday “, an old Dog like myself can certainly learn some new tricks. Best of luck.
 
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#48
tr4252 said:
I'm 68 and started having pain in my left thumb joint. My doctor said arthritis, though I thought it was some big coincidence that it hurt most when playing barre chords on guitar, as I'd done for the last 50 years. I started a thread here titled "did 50 years of guitar ruin my thumb?", or something like that. Got a lot of good advice.

Recently I developed a pain in my left big toe and went to a specialist; more arthritis. So the most repetitive things I've done in my life, probably, playing guitar and walking, I now associate with long term pain. Not very scientific, I admit.

The good news is, a shot of cortisone in my toe joint has kept me pain free for 3 months so far, and since I'm walking normally, the increased flexing of the joint seems beneficial, as has been mentioned above. Taking the shot itself was not pain free. As for my thumb, I'm limited to what I can play without hurting myself, which isn't so bad.

I don't know if the same treatment would be appropriate for a thumb, but I wouldn't hesitate to ask my doctor.

I always advise the young people not to get old, but they never listen.

Good luck to us all.

Tom
Click to expand...

My cortisone injection story: By 35 - 40 years of age I had problems with pain in my shoulder joints that felt like hat pins were being inserted into the joints. It often kept me awake at night. A physician broke out this giant syringe with leftovers from the Alaska Pipeline for a hypodermic needle attached to it and proceeded to inject cortisone into each shoulder. Amazingly, the injections were not excessively painful (there may have been some anesthetic in the preparation he used). Then I did two weeks I think it was of physical therapy. That fixed the pain for several decades. I think the cortisone works well in conjunction with physical therapy.

As far as an injection in the toe? Well, no guts, no glory I guess. Holy Cow!
 
#49
i'm 62, and i've worn a brace when i sleep on one wrist for over 10 years and on both wrists for a while.

it's worth finding out whether you have arthritis - and if so, what kind, as some require treatment not to get worse and some take a while to get worse. my son has a kind of arthritis that gets worse quickly without his medication. my arthritis responds to OTC glucosamine and MSM. and if you have tendonitis or something else, it make require totally different treatment.

Nevada Pete said:
...As far as an injection in the toe? Well, no guts, no glory I guess. Holy Cow!
Click to expand...

i had an injection in my big toe after an injury. i knew i was in for a bad time when the doctor told me "this is going to REALLY hurt". it did! holy cow, indeed!
 
#51
Newby6string said:
Okay, I am 62 and I just recently starting experiencing pain in both of my thumb joints which I suspect is arthritis. What do some of you well seasoned bassists do to alleviate the pain in your hands due to age?
Click to expand...
I had a really bad case of psoriasis and ended up with psoriatic arthritis in my hands. Got to the point that I couldn't straighten any of the fingers out in either hand (almost claw-hand) and lost most of my fingernails on both hands. I had to hold my bass at a little higher angle to be able to move my fingers freely enough without them hurting, but it was absolutely impossible to play guitar with them like that. Just couldn't get my fingers close enough together to play chords.

Finally got on an oral medication that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and go it under control. They will hurt if I hold them out as straight as absolutely possible, but how often do you do that anyhow. The one thing that didn't come around entirely is the middle finger of my right hand. I basically have a bit of "trigger finger" on it - can't straighten out the last section of that finger without pushing it against something. you know how hard it is to bend just the end of your finger? Well, I can't unbend the end of that finger. I finally got an appointment with a rheumatologist in March to take a look at it.

I primarily play finger-style and that's one of my plucking fingers, but so far it hasn't really slowed me down any. By the way, an old trick I've done for years now is to wash my hands with warm/hot water running over them for about 30-seconds or so before going on stage. That heat helps loosen the muscles in your hand and when things hurt, some ibuprofen helps.
 
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#52
I'm 58 and I have arthritis in both hands. I stopped gigging 10 or so years ago (unrelated to the arthritis) and only do online collaborations. Since I can do that at more or less my own pace, I can knock off for few days if I need to. I'll take a couple of tylenol if things flare up.
 
#54
I mentioned using ibuprofen instead of Tylenol because ibuprofen is also an anti-inflammatory besides being an analgesic that helps with the pain. That anti-inflammatory part is important if you have arthritis. If you have arthritis, you have some swelling that ibuprofen can help alleviate.
 
#55
wildman2 said:
First thing to do is get a doc to look at it.Xray etc to see what exactly the problem is first.
A lot of the suggestions are good except taking ibuprofen. Ibuprofen actually blocks the joints ability to absorb chondroitin and can further destroy the connective tissue in the joint. The pain will go away while taking it but will hasten the destruction of the joint.Hense more pain and more ibuprofin further destroying the joint,liver etc.Creating more inflammation and more pain.
Turmeric and other herbs as mentioned before can help with the inflammation. A product called Zyflamend can help a lot.Its an herbal concoction that can help with inflammation.It has 10-15 different herbs in it.If you can take it.It bothers some peoples stomach/digestive tract.Amazon sells it or visit your local herbal health food store.
Click to expand...

Incorrect.
 
#57
i'm 62 also ... and feel your pain ... having started on piano at age 6 , my hands / thumbs started hurting in high school ... i have to agree with keeping things moving .. but , stop if/when it hurts abnormally ..!

those softer rubber balls keep things moving ... i also practice piano, guitar ( electric or acoustic ) and bass daily ...

maybe a little meditation , some herbs ,... some liquid lubrication = good enough to go
 
#58
Rip Van Dan said:
I had a really bad case of psoriasis and ended up with psoriatic arthritis in my hands. Got to the point that I couldn't straighten any of the fingers out in either hand (almost claw-hand) and lost most of my fingernails on both hands. I had to hold my bass at a little higher angle to be able to move my fingers freely enough without them hurting, but it was absolutely impossible to play guitar with them like that. Just couldn't get my fingers close enough together to play chords.

Finally got on an oral medication that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and go it under control. They will hurt if I hold them out as straight as absolutely possible, but how often do you do that anyhow. The one thing that didn't come around entirely is the middle finger of my right hand. I basically have a bit of "trigger finger" on it - can't straighten out the last section of that finger without pushing it against something. you know how hard it is to bend just the end of your finger? Well, I can't unbend the end of that finger. I finally got an appointment with a rheumatologist in March to take a look at it.

I primarily play finger-style and that's one of my plucking fingers, but so far it hasn't really slowed me down any. By the way, an old trick I've done for years now is to wash my hands with warm/hot water running over them for about 30-seconds or so before going on stage. That heat helps loosen the muscles in your hand and when things hurt, some ibuprofen helps.
Click to expand...

my son has psoriatic arthritis in his hips, knees, etc. they have him on an injectable medication that not only helps with the pain a lot but has stopped the progression entirely. i believe he's using humira, but they had him on another one first.

btw, i squeeze a sponge full of warm water gently, and i've found that helps the parts of my hands that are stiff and helps with the pain, as well.
 
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#60
I noticed that playing fretless basses is much easier on my left hand than fretted basses. It's slinkier and more fluid. FYI, I don't play a lot of "mwah" stuff. In fact, there's not a significant difference in my sound from fretted to fretless, but the fretless just feels so much more efficient to me- I feel like i'll get more mileage out of my hands if keep playing fretless. ymmv. good luck.
 

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