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Tendonitis - Please help, depression setting in...

honza992

honza992

Archdale Acoustic Bass
Supporting Member
Commercial Seller
Jan 25, 2006
438
779
Pietrasanta, Italy
#1
Your help is desperately needed.

I play completely fingerstyle with my first two fingers , and about 9 months ago I started getting tendonitis in those two tendons, between my wrist and 3rd joint. I stopped playing completely for 6 months :crying: and had a series of steroid injections.

I'm starting to play again, increasing by only a minute every other day (and believe me, after playing for only 3 minutes it takes some willpower to put my beloved down again). Already I can feel the tendonitis coming back, even though I'm playing incredibly lightly.

Are there any suggestions for how to overcome this? I just can't get used to a pick....
 
#4
I feel your pain, honza992.

I hurt my index flexor tendon on my fretting hand on June 30th of this year, and I'm still struggling with it.

..not the typical tendinitis, I actually was squeezing a pair of cheap wire crimpers, and caused some trauma to the tendon that flexes my index finger, right in the crease of my palm.

I don't have medical coverage, but the latest thing I have been doing is friction massage, and it seems to work a little, but it really feels like this thing will be with me for a while.

I've tried fish oil(omega 3), glucosamine, multivitamins, MSM, vitamin B6, and other things, such as braces, but the massage seems to be doing the best job.....along with some stretching everyday.....and even though it feels a little better, it seems like it always is on the verge of coming back full-force..

I know 4 months isn't the longest amount of time, and I try to stay hopeful and rest my hand as much as I can..

I have played very little bass in the past 3 months, that's for sure.:(
 
#6
Michael Henson said:
Not to whore the thread, but, how can tendonitis be avoided?
Click to expand...
good technique.

to the thread starter. Check out gary willis's technique. Much friendlier on your arms and muscles than normal two finger that way you dont have to go to a pick :crying: . Also a friend of mine who had tendonitis went to see a sports therapis who specialized in golfers etc because of the area in the arm affected and they helped a lot.
 
#7
Ever notice how piano players never seem to have this problem? That's because their arms don't rest on anything.

Most important is probably to watch your posture and arm-to-hand alignement. Saw this in a Gary Willis instructional on MyTube, and it's absolutely true: Don't bend your wrist while playing. Bending the wrist makes the tendons run over bones in the wrist, and the friction of that is the main culprit.

This goes for both hands, but isn't usually a problem with the left hand, since bending the wrist makes the fingers a lot weaker.

Try to play without resting the lower arm on the bass. That reduces the inclination to bend the wrist. Also, try to let the thumb move with the hand, rather than keeping it on the mic or the topmost string. If the thumb is fixed, you'll wind up pivoting the hand on the wrist joint.

And observe the same disciplin when working at the computer, both for keyboard and mouse.

Rune
 
#8
Just to add to the previous:

Whenever you feel strained, let your hand rest. Every once in a while, when you're not playing (at rehearsal, that's when the keyboard player and guitarist try to figure out what chords they're playing :) ), just let your hand hang straight down, and maybe shake it slightly. Sometimes the muscles in the hand will get very tense without you noticing, so you need to let them relax and have the blood return.

Learn to recognize when you're getting tense. Remember: playing bass is light work! Neither left nor right hand needs much strength, and excercising more force than neccessary just makes you slower.

Rune
 
#9
Hi honza992, sorry to hear that you have been through this. The best thing you can do is to consult a physiotherapist and make sure you let him/her know that you had some steroid injections. I think your muscle is weak and need some strengthening exercises and surely you will be back to normal soon. Best luck.
 
#10
i have made a few posts about tendonitis. if you had cortisone injections and you are still experiencing pain then inflammation is probably not the reason. if you have been experiencing pain for a long time leading up to this point then the tendons may be torn or frayed which technically is calledtendonosis. If your finger joints are hypermobile the joints themselves may be loose and the pain is from excessive joint movement and stress on the ligaments. I agree w/all the above advice: seek professional help from a hand specialist, one that will help you rehab this injury instead of just give you injections. You need a good teacher to review your playing posture and technique. Are you relaxed when you play? Is your shoulder, arm, forearm relaxed or do you have a death grip? Do you breathe smoothly, calmly. faithnoman posted this: "but the massage (friction) seems to be doing the best job.....along with some stretching everyday." This is very good advice!!! I am a therapist and this is the first thing I get my clients to do to self treat injujries
 
#11
I think the Gary Willis suggestion is very good. For three finger technique you can also try Steve Bailey's approach. That's what I've been working on. I've noticed that using three fingers rather than two really helps. But it takes a while for the technique to become natural.

Bass ergonomics is important. Especially the body of the bass. Having a large, super curvy bass side lower bout is not good because you have to crook your right arm over it to get your plucking fingers over the strings.

So those Ritters and other basses with exaggerated designs aren't doing anyone any favors from the standpoint of finger, wrist and arm health. Unless you play standing up all the time and have the bass slung low.

The good old P bass body is ergonomically pretty darn good. So is a typical Spector body. Plus the Spector has the curved top, which makes it even easier to get your plucking hand into a natural position without having a lot of wood in the way.

You can make up your own ergo bass by buying a P body and reshaping the bass side lower bout to increase the arm cut as much as possible before finishing it. Warmoth will rout it for whatever pickups you want to put in, and you can add either a P or a J neck to it.

Actually, some of the Squier P bodies may be smaller than the typical Fender P, which is even better.

Another option - a short scale bass, like a Birdsong or a Musicmaster. (Those are two very different options).
 
#13
Low Main said:
So those Ritters and other basses with exaggerated designs aren't doing anyone any favors from the standpoint of finger, wrist and arm health. Unless you play standing up all the time and have the bass slung low.
Click to expand...

My Ritter is very comfy and ergonomically designed, one of the best in the biz IMHO. Have you ever tried one? I believe all serious luthiers are concerned about making their basses as ergonomically sensible as possible.
 
#15
Hi,
Go to a good doctor and get yourself some ACCUPUNCTURE. This DOES work. I'm talking from experience. I had a similar problem on both my wrists, my doctor wanted to send me to the theatre for a surgical operation, I refused and looked for an alternative solution.
I went to a chinese doctor, got some accupuncture and after 2 and 1/2 weeks of sessions, guess what! problem solved. Accupuncture is painful when matched with electrical impulses, but IT DOES WORK!!

Give it a try, you won't regret it,:bassist:

Peace
 
#16
Clay_Bass said:
good technique.

to the thread starter. Check out gary willis's technique. Much friendlier on your arms and muscles than normal two finger that way you dont have to go to a pick :crying: . Also a friend of mine who had tendonitis went to see a sports therapis who specialized in golfers etc because of the area in the arm affected and they helped a lot.
Click to expand...

+1 on this post bro. Gary Willis and Toss Johnson have great info on technique that will specifically help with your problem. The floating thumb technique saved many a bass player. Hang in there. Heal first then play.
 
#17
I had terrible tendonitis in both hands when I first took up the bass. The things that worked for me were: stretching before playing, using classical guitar positioning so that both my wrists are as straight as possible, playing with my amp louder so that I never have to play super hard to be heard, and taking breaks.

Best of luck to you and hopefully you find some research out there that will help you.
Peace
 
#18
I can only think of 3 things:

1. a short scale bass with light strings. it's still a bass, and something like a mustang (or better yet a birdsong, or a warwick with a short scale neck - you'd have to order it that way) would work wonders for the stress on the fingers, and you really don't lose that much tone (if any!) if you spend some effort configuring it to your liking.

2. play with a pick. with a short scale bass it works much better than with a long scale (imho of course ;) and is way easier to get used to. also a pick is easier to use if you have flats on your bass.

3. yoga. I don't want to sound like a ****ing freak or anything, but I've recently started doing bikrams yoga, and it has really helped eliminate some of the symptoms of tendenitis in tons of people. that and carpal tunnel too. The theory is that you squeeze your joints to eliminate blood from them and then release the posture and get blood in again, supposedly cleansing the joints a bit. for tendenitis it is the stretching of the tendons in a safe and healthy way that can help. anyways, just a thought :) but be careful, bikrams yoga is quite difficult! I was amazed at how hard it actually is...

best of luck!
 
#20
yeah, computer screw us up worse than our bass


I have tendonitis and virtualy don't care, I do everything I shouldn't, lol, I think I'll take more care... I don't want to be unable to play forever or something Dx

oh yeah, I had treatment once though... but I'm pretty messed up, so didn't help thaaaaaaath much

go to doc.
 

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