Well, I have developed carpal tunnel, wear a brace at night, and that seems to help. Several have mentioned carpal tunnel, and I would appreciate your thoughts on: What relief you would recommend. And how quickly will this advance to where surgery becomes necessary. And any comments on the surgery are welcomed. As you may know I'm retired so there is no work related activity just my guitar and bass. Thanks, guys.
I have that condition and got better after I retired. I am 72 now and my fretting hand suffers most. At my age I won't do surgery, no guarantee it will work plus the healing time. When I wear the brace at night seems to help the best and loose fitting shirts This is just a hobby for me so I can do it this way, someone playing for a living might need surgery. Good luck.
Thanks, I feel a little better after your post. This all started about 6 months ago and has progressed into the weakness stage in what I would consider rather fast. But it sounds like you have been living with it for awhile. That, for some strange reason, makes me feel better. Six months from tingle to weakness got me thinking this was progressing a little faster than I thought it should. Again thanks for the reply, the brace at night does help.
I had to change a few other things, being cognizant of what else I did that used similar muscle groups. I also went to the chiropractor, which did help. I didn't play for awhile, use round instead of flats as well
Sorry to hear about this Malcolm. Have you checked out this thread by Fergie Fulton ? You might get some helpful information here. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome ( CTS ) Info
I have learned that you can't abuse your hands, when I stopped cranking handles ( machining trades) pounding hammers, lifting hay bales, all that does harm. When I avoid that abuse my conditions improve. In other words You might be able to control your carpol tunnel just by not beating your hands up. Playing bass guitar will affect it but nothing like hammering nails.
I've tried to be VERY aware of my technique and that seems to help. Some people like ice/heat as well. If my CTS is acting up I will ice my wrist after I play or between sets if need be. I have found one awesome idea that really helps. A Torzal necked bass. The twist takes a lot of bend out of my fretting wrist. I can play longer and stronger now because of the twist. {} Yeah it's a bit of an extreme I know, but I was fed up with the constant pain and was willing to pony up the cash to try one. I have no regrets. I'm in less pain, the numbness has all but disappeared, and I got to buy another bass. I'd call that total win!
I haven't had any problems for years but have had bouts of tingling, forearm pain, and weakness in the past. Ice/heat was good but minding the angle of the wrists helped the most.... keep both wrists as straight as possible, play for shorter periods of time, reduce the other stresses on the area. Mine got pretty bad at one time but I managed to overcome it. Surgery seems like an extreme option, I would do anything to avoid it due to the success rate not being great and the possibility of surgery actually making it worse. Good luck!
If you search here on TB for threads on the topic you'll find that many of us have had great success with release surgery, with relatively short recovery times (I only took 3 weeks off gigging per wrist). I was cautioned to have the surgery while still in the tingling stage - not to wait. A nerve response test can give a definitive answer about the advisability of the procedure. I wouldn't hesitate and I wouldn't delay. Good luck!
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