my poor hands

[Fergie Fulton]

I have 3 different firmnesses of therapeutic putty, i've been using the softest one on my right hand, and i'm not supposed to use any on my left hand quite yet... actually if my therapist knew i was playing the bass, she would probably tell me not to...

Glad to hear the first part is over and no compications occured.
On the bass playing, i would ask you to consider telling you doctors about it, it is a factor that need to be worked into your treatments.
Remember your treatments are controlled so you make the best use of what you have, what you develop, and what you need to develop.
If you are trying to get back to an normal everyday hand use this will be reflected in the treatment, but you are not, you as a musician are developing a "higher" use for the hand, and this needs to be factored into your doctors treatment.

In my case it was always understood what i was working towards and some the ideas i came up with (including the board) were developed for specific purposes, after talking about my needs to develop my hands for playing again, not just everyday life.

 

[Mtheory]

Glad to hear the first part is over and no compications occured.
On the bass playing, i would ask you to consider telling you doctors about it, it is a factor that need to be worked into your treatments.
Remember your treatments are controlled so you make the best use of what you have, what you develop, and what you need to develop.
If you are trying to get back to an normal everyday hand use this will be reflected in the treatment, but you are not, you as a musician are developing a "higher" use for the hand, and this needs to be factored into your doctors treatment.

In my case it was always understood what i was working towards and some the ideas i came up with (including the board) were developed for specific purposes, after talking about my needs to develop my hands for playing again, not just everyday life.

yeah, when i said i played my bass, i didn't mean much. I've probably played for a grand total of 30 minutes or so in this last week. I'll tell my therapist though, you're right.

none of my complications so far have been because of the broken bones, they have all been because i haven't been using my hands, i think once i get the muscles and ligaments stretched back out again things will be going pretty smoothly. I'm going to have to rework my basslines so that i can physically play them, and slowly work back up to where i was before, and hopefully beyond that in my future

 

[Fergie Fulton]

Its been 18 months for me and i am not even close to where i used to be. In reality it will be the rest of my life (i'm 50 now) managing my injuries as we know a full recovery is not going to happen. For me that means adjusting my playing and attitude to what i now have, not what i did have, and that takes time.

The other thing is all my old injuries i collected in my younger years now come back to complicate things. Injuries i just shook off at the time, because i was young and fit my body healed fast, with no problems i know feel. broken foot, fractured skull, broken hand, back injuries, elbow injuries, even a lightning strike lol.

I have said it before patience

 

[Explogo]

I broke my left hand 5th metacarpal neck, whats know as a boxers fracture. It was a pretty bad break and I narrowly avoided a pin, Instead I got to enjoy 7 weeks with my hand in a cast.

My experience was a loss of pressure when fretting with my ring and pinkie fingers. All I can recommend is buy a few cheap stress balls of varying strengths, sizes and shapes and use them when you're watching TV, before you go to bed or even better when you're reading your favourite bass forum.

 

[MKoby]

How goes it?
Hope the holidays will be good to you.

 

[Mtheory]

SO my hands are doing better. Not perfect, but better.

i can't open a beer with my lighter anymore, yet.... but i'm learning victor wooten's you can't hold no groove, and it's coming much more easily than i would have expected.

band practice tonight, i love band practice nowadays, after that 3 month break from bass.

 

[Fergie Fulton]

SO my hands are doing better. Not perfect, but better.

i can't open a beer with my lighter anymore, yet.... but i'm learning victor wooten's you can't hold no groove, and it's coming much more easily than i would have expected.

band practice tonight, i love band practice nowadays, after that 3 month break from bass.

Happy to hear you're moving forward.

 

[Schlyder]

As was said before... study theory, and also do some ear training.
Let the physical stuff happen slowly on it's own. In the meantime, read, and listen.

Oh and a physiotherapist gave me this... take a strip of paper 1/2" x 8" and roll it into as tiny a ball as you can, between your thumb and fingers. Repeat, repeat....... just another exercise for you to try..

 

[Elrend]

Just leave it, then gradually train your arms back to the way they were.

Take the opportunity to work on some theory.

 

[Mtheory]

hey guys, i was just messing around with my micro br, and decided to record a little something to show my friends and family my hand's progress.

Link Removed

it's you can't hold no groove.
i have another song up, sugar, but that i recorded before the crash.

 

[Oleg BassPlayer]

I run across this thread while looking for injuries stories as I myself broke my fretting hand 4th metacarpal about 2 years ago and they had to put a titanium plate on it. The plate is still there and hinders movement somehow, thinking of removing it but I'm reluctant to have another surgery.

As many have said patience is the key. First it has to heal, and only when the bone is okay you can start playing. I was desperate as ring finger was really confined and tendons hurt, but I just kept doing it, played exercises, stretched tendons very carefully pushing limits each time. After two years after the injury, I still can feel some discomfort but I can tell you that it's not really the reason I don't play as well as I'd like to, and generally it's improved a lot.

Hope after 9 years nothing reminds OP about the story.

 

[Mtheory]

Hey guys!

I almost forgot about all of the help you guys gave me during my recovery. It's been 10 years now and I'm still playing every day and gigging with a lot of the same people and more. Around this time of year I get a lot of strange aches in my hands and face, but other than that things are really good.

I just wanted to say thanks if any of you still frequent these forums. I hope it's ok that I resurrected this thread.