Guitar Tendonitis, or It Hurts When I Play Guitar.

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Guitar Tendonitis, or It Hurts When I Play Guitar.

by Joel
(Santa Cruz county)

Hi, Joshua, I think I've developed tendonitis from repetitive picking of the guitar in my right hand.

I spent last summer playing 4 to 6 hours a day of pure up and down picking trying to get faster.

I felt pain in my thumb on the inside part of my wrist and up the arm. and it hurt to grip a pick.

I've rested and have not played for very long now months and months.

So according to your advice I should ice like crazy. I also plan on practicing on different guitars and in different positions and often as possible so i stay ahead of the "ergonomics" thing.

How long should I ice before I start playing again?

And: if the tendon has microscopic rips does the ice thing help your tendons heal faster? Unlike the usual wait months and months that they tell you?

Thanks, any help would be great appreciated.

P.S. I've also been taking Glucosamine.

--

Joshua answers:

Hi Joel. Thanks for asking your questions.

We all have hobbies that we love, and sometimes they can cause us some problems.

Answers to your questions in no particular order:

1. "They" say to rest for months and months.

Unfortunately, Rest just doesn't work.

It's predictable that -anyone-, and certainly any guitar player with your symptoms and story could take months off, get back to playing, and start hurting again, pretty much right where they left off.

Rest does not reverse the Pain Causing Dynamic.

2. Glucosamine: Great. It can't hurt and can only help. Results vary.

3. If you do have true Tendonitis, with little micro rips and tears, then yes, Ice Dipping will essentially help you heal faster.

4. How long should you ice before you start playing again?

It really depends on how 'crazy' you go with the Ice Dipping.

I say 10x for 10 seconds over a two hour period. That provides a lot of bang for the buck. If you want to get out of pain faster, double or triple the number of dips.

If you go crazy, then you can start playing guitar a little on the 4th day.

You will need to continue Ice Dipping as you help your hand into an Upward Spiral.

Playing guitar and your current physiology will try to make it a Downward Spiral.

Ice Dipping will combat all the negative variables.

So, the more you play/want to play, the more you will need to Ice Dip.

Does that make sense?

5. Switching up guitars and playing styles/positions is A GREAT IDEA!

You got it!

6. You may have some Tendonitis.

You certainly have a Tendonitis dynamic of tightness and pain all the downsides of that.

The muscles there in the thumb pad, and the forearm muscle that helps curl the wrist, are definitely WAY TOO TIGHT, stuck in a way too tight mode.

Ice Dipping will help that, and start reversing the Pain Causing Dynamic your hand is stuck in.

You can also help it by regularly, throughout the day, reaching to that thumb pad area and just massage it for 10-30 seconds.

Squeeze the dry crunchy sponge of the muscle, and help it become a wet, squishy sponge.

In other words, little bits of repeated squeezing will help you out more than you can imagine.

7. In the near and far future, after you get your hand healthy again, you can play guitar as much as you want.

You will want to keep in mind that the more you play, the more your hand and forearm want to go into a Downward Spiral.

Learn how to play guitar as much as you want without pain by learning how to counter the downsides of lots of play with Ice Dipping.

Feel free to ask any other questions, and keep me updated.

Let's get you out of pain and back to doing what you love.

Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert
www.TendonitisExpert.com

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Apr 20, 2010
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Thumb/wrist pain
by: John

Hi, I have been playing tennis for about 3-4 years now and I have been playing guitar for about the same time.

Recenty my left thumb(on the bottom, almost at my wrist) hurts when I grip the raquet and a guitar neck and now just moving my hand at all.

It hurts alot when I push down on the little bone under my thumb that sticks out under your palm(the one right above my wrist). It has been keeping me from guitar and tennis and has been really bothering me.

Any ideas what it is?

Thanks.

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Joshua Comments:

Sounds like Thumb Tendonitis.

IF you feel around in your thumb pad I get you'll feel tight, bandy, crunchy, painful muscle.

Following the structures, the tendon to the thumb may hurt, and the tendon at the base of the thumb/wrist where it all connects may hurt too. Along with the body of the muscles themselves.

Apr 26, 2009
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Part 2 - More questions more questions more questions - Guitar Tendonitis
by: The Tendonitis Expert

Joshua Answers:

Hi Anonymous. Sorry it took a while, I've been traveling.

Of course you can get the surgery if you really want to. Far be it from me to say no :)

However, let me address a couple of the above statements.

1. I didn't say tendons will never heal 100%. I said the body doesn't -naturally- heal them to 100%.

You can help your body heal better.

2. I don't think that it would add to your results to get surgery. I think it would take you weeks and weeks and/or months to heal from the injury the surgery caused.

I think that the structural integrity of your structure would be weakened. I know that when the body heals from surgery it uses scar tissue, which is what the surgery is supposed to get rid of.

3. You said surgery for carpal tunnel. That surgery opens up the ligament that covers the carpal tunnel that holds the median nerve (assuming the nerve doesn't accidentally get nicked, cut, or severed, and assuming that that new space will last for any length of time).

Nothing to do with tendons there. If you have tendonitis, I wouldn't get carpal tunnel surgery.

4. For a wrist tendonitis or tennis elbow surgery, surgeons theoretically go in and shave down the tendon and scar tissue on the tendon.

Great, except again, the body doesn't like getting cut on, and it heals by laying down more scar tissue. Which is only partly to blame for the benefit of surgery being less than 100%, and 'benefit' wearing off with time and activity.

5. Yes, theoretically the tendon could be fixed up (except for the new scar tissue formation), but that doesn't do anything about the variables that led to getting tendonitis in the first place, and predictably will again.

6. Thus, I like a method that reverses the physical dynamic that got you to where you're at.

I don't know what people in other countries think, but in the U.S. we tend to think that surgery is a clean, easy, painless fix for many a problem. We quickly learn otherwise when we actually get one. That's just my observation.

I like your questions. More!

Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert
www.TendonitisExpert.com

Apr 21, 2009
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More questions more questions more!
by: Anonymous

Hi Josh!! Thanks for the reply! Since you requested more questions.. I have more questions :)

Since we've established that tendon's will never heal 100% and assuming that I will keep playing the guitar, then wouldn't it be helpful, along with ice dipping, to get the surgery that allows the tendons in the area to move more freely by severing the tunnel that holds and compresses them? which is what the surgery for carpal tunnel does.
Also, if there is scar tissue buildup, the doctor could remove this as well and sort of fix up the tendons?
I am not scared of the surgery if it will help me keep doing what I love the most!!!!!

Thanks again Josh!

Apr 20, 2009
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PART 2 - Same Deal Here.
by: The Tendonitis Expert

Joshua comments: You, sir, are a wise man.

The body, for whatever reasons, doesn't naturally heal tendons back to a 100% state.

Yes and no, and maybe. Ice Dipping can absolutely make ALL the pain go away, if you do it diligently (and it doesn't have to take a long time).

But it won't heal how the body laid down scar tissue.

-And- you're going to continue to play guitar and use the computer when you feel bettter. Which will push you towards a tendonitis dynamic again.
At which point you Ice Dip again to manage it, and really, to keep the body in a happy state instead of an unhappy state.

Yes, 'happy' and 'unhappy' are official medical terminology. :)

So while it might not 'cure' your tendinitis, it can make the pain go away, and help your body reverse and maintain an Upward Spiral instead of the default Downward Spiral.
Which as far as I'm concerned, is a 'fix'.

It's possible there's nothing 'wrong' with your tendons. It's really more of a Pain Causing Dynamic that gets worse, not so much the case of more damage to a tendon. Thus, surgery can't fix it.

Surgery may be a temporary pain reliever (after you heal from the pain and trauma of surgery) but it doesn't alter or reverse the Dynamic that is causing all the pain.

Ice Dipping may be all you need. I will eventually film and release 'The Wrist Tendonitis Treatment That Works', but for the moment 'The Tennis Elbow Treatment That Works' is what I recommend to guitar players.

More questions, more questions, more questions!

Apr 18, 2009
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same deal here ,.
by: Anonymous

Hello Joshua!

I am going through the same exact situation as the anonymous poster here!!! I am a guitarist and started developing tendinitis of the picking hand after practicing alternate picking to get faster as well. I believe that being on the computer too much and the use of the mouse in particular, only makes the problem worse as I am in pain while on my computer as well. I developed pain on my left wrist because I started using the mouse with the left hand to alleviate the right. So I even if I did not play the guitar, i would still have tendinitis on both hands to a lesser degree of pain, but still there. Over the years, I have tried cortisone, splints, etc and even gave up on playing the guitar for a long time until the pain stopped. Every time I play for more than a couple of hours the pain returns and stays for a week. I have to stop playing. This makes me think that my tendons never really healed 100% and never will as it happens again and again. My question to you is, if I do the icing of the wrist diligently and for a long period of time, will that be enough to heal the tendons 100%? Or my tendons are never going to heal. Would surgery help with my condition? If that is the case,, I will do it in a heartbeat!! I just want to find the cure, if there is one.

I hope to hear from you soon!!

Anonymous if you come back to this thread, please email me so we can share how to cope with this condition as we try to keep our playing alive!!

THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!

Apr 02, 2009
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PART 2 Guitar Tendonitis, or It Hurts When I Play Guitar.
by: Anonymous

Hi Joshua, sorry it took so long to reply.

I got to say the ice has been working wonders on me better than anything else i have done. My pain is gone like 95 percent of the time. Only does it start to creep back a little bit after playing for a long time and no ice.

I have been doing the ice dips and also icing the area down with an ice pack more often cause I just have to grab it out of the freezer.

I have been playing a lot too. Maybe 1 to 3 hours a day and so far so good.

Its awesome, you've saved my life.

Should i just keep icing when it starts to hurt or what?

----

Joshua Answers

So glad I could help. It's amazing what you can do with the RIGHT information....and actually acting on it.

Treating Tendonitis is so much better when you do it in a way that actually works!

Anyway, I'm glad you took action. Taking action gets results.

As far as you question about how to keep the pain from playing guitar away, you have two options:

You can either wait till it hurts, and ice till the pain goes away, or you can maintain a pain free state with regular (it takes less and less) icing to keep the pain dynamic form setting in.

Human are pretty lazy, we usually go for the first option. And, it eventually takes very little effort to make a habit of the latter option.

Keep me updated! Ask any other questions.

Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert
www.TendonitisExpert.com

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Guitar Tendonitis, or It Hurts When I Play Guitar.

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Guitar Tendonitis, or It Hurts When I Play Guitar.