theclap
Well-Known Member
A few of my friends over the past year that play guitar have gotten tendonitis. This to the guitar player is basically a death sentence. My guitar teacher my freshman year at college had tendonitis in his picking hand so bad that he can never hold a pick again after getting 2 masters and a dr in philosophy of music. granted, he was able to develope an alright way of playing with his hands, but we all know the the thought "I wish I could use a pick right now" is probably in his head every second. This also seems to be one of those conditions where it really differs person by person. My friend had tendonitis for a month after jamming too much at a hippy music festival. My one friend who practices religously every day for about 9 years just got it at the end of august and still can't play! so as you can see the mildness to severity is very extreme in range varying from one month to forever. Also both of my friends had/have it in their left hand while my old guitar teacher has it in his right. I have been worrying about this recently as I've been having numbing problems in my left pinky and ring finger but i found out it was due to the nerve running through your arm across the funny bone to your two fingers, ulnar nerve i believe it's called. basically it happened because i bend my arms when i sleep and sleep in odd positions, you gotta mix it up sometimes even when you're alone . the chiropractor was able to fix that after he was done contorting my whole body. I've also had a few pains in my left forearm but i believe they are related. I've also been taking extra precaution to practicing. I've been playing a lot of AAL and ERG lately so my right hand ystability and accuracy and left hand agility have been pushed very hard the past 3-4 months. I've been warming up for20-30 minutes every day before even thinking about playing. Especially with the winter season in effect in my area, my hands tend to be freezing for the first 5-10 minutes of playing. Does any one have any practices or techniques or stretches for tendonitis that are targeted towards guitar players? This is something i wouldnt even wish on the jonas brothers, if they actually play guitar I've never payed that much attention to them to know if they do or if they're just faking. And any stories or comments on the topic would be nice!