Hello,
Thanks for the post on hand conditions. It's both informative as well as exhaustive for the needs of musicians. If you would require any information in particular, I could be of some help.
Have a good day.

Hello mchakravarty, I see that you are a medical teacher. Welcome to the R.O. forums!

I am astonished at this focal dystonia a brain misfunction/disease that can occur because of extensive practising. Very scary too. It seems it has also afflicted proficient braille readers who read with multiple fingers.

Thanks to what I read at David Lesiner's website, I am thinking of working out some simple coordination exercises on guitar that would help to keep the neuron channels as separate as possible, even maybe try re-learning the guitar in advance of any brain confusion.

He also explains how he now uses muscles in the middle of his armpit, shoulder and biceps to move his hand- rather than using the tiny muscles in the fingers. Its sounds like the right thing to do.

Presently, I am having pain in the small ray and ring ray of both hands. Besides playing a lot of guitar , I must also frequently use a power grip because of my career as an electrician.

A tip or two from Carol Kaye!

Hey Tommy, here's a couple of tips Carol Kaye gave me awhile back!

I find that it's good to teach bass players too and is sort of a good warm-up exercise also. On your left hand, with the thumb pointing away from your hand, curl all your fingers into your palm and try to raise fingers 1 and 3 together while keeping 2 and 4 down (don't assist with your thumb now). You'll barely be able to raise that 3rd finger up much but if you get it up fairly high, good. Now do the same with 2 and 4 while keeping 1 and 3 down (again, do not assist with your thumb and try not to dig your fingers into your palm for extra help, don't cheat!). Do this back and forth as fast as you can for about 7-8x maybe twice a day, will help with the finger coordination and dexterity. There's a reason why that 3rd finger won't come up high -- it shares a ligament with the 4th finger and is the reason why I say not to use it in place of the 4th finger while fingering on rock-soul-hard playing stuff. You can use it in jazz, but still bear in mind that it should never be used in place of the 4th finger, this is what causes CTS (as welll as the claw-stretched fingers of a stretched hand, keep fingers relaxed!) -- you have to turn your wrist slightly to accomodate fingering with the 3rd finger all the time -- that's what causes CTS, so don't do it, get a better system of fingering, namely 1-2-4-4. You can use the 3rd finger in some situtations and of course while playing arpeggios, exercises (you're playing lightly) and jazz soloing etc., the light ways of playing, but never in rock, blues, funk, those kinds of hard-playing situations where you're pressing your fingers down hard. Another good warm-up exercise I used (while driving 80 mph to get over the hill from No. Hollywood to all the studios) is the press each individual finger with your thumb about 5 seconds each, keep doing this and voila, your hands and fingers are warmed up ready to play. Cold weather tho' calls for other things -- maybe warming your hands in hot water, clutching something warm before playing etc.

Hope you find this useful, I have!

Treena

Excellent, Treena, thanks. Great advise from Carol, which I will put to use asap.

Yeah, these kinds of injuries we all run the risk of getting. The slightest bit of excess tension over time can result in a chronic pain. This is why "proper technic" is not something to blow off.

My own journey through tendinitis and arthritis have both humbled me and given me like "insight" and a source of "strength". After working with many physical therapists and doing my own homework I have an exercise routine that I must follow when I'm playing a lot of gigs or working on multple projects-- otherwise the pain re-occurs. I should follow the routine regardless but we all know how easily side-tracked we can get :^(

Proper nutrition, sufficient water to drink daily, plenty of berries and anti-inflamatories, anything "detoxifying", plus a resonable exercise routine especially for our hands and arms with at least a partial emphasis on high reps: these kinds of things when I follow it well make an astonishing difference.

When I have students I stress warm-ups and injury prevention, and I'm very upfront about what the injuries can be. I just think it is stupid to do otherwise.

Another Tip From Carol Kaye

Tommy, Carol recently sent this to me and I think she reposted this on her forum as well! I use this rubber ball therapy at times it helps!

carolk wrote: In cleaning out some old attachments, I ran across this old one which I've posted on the Forum a few times in the past but not for a long time now. It's a great trick to stretch out that area that really gets hit hard when you play Elec. Bass and is easy to do to avoid any kind of further problems, and to quickly and safely stretch out those areas you are probably not aware of at all until your neck and head start to hurt...all pains and problems can be quickly eliminated by doing this, which has been endorsed by at least 3 chiropractors I've shown it too...they were surprised how great this works:

>>>>>Get a medium rubber ball a tiny bit smaller than a tennis ball and lay on
it (with it under your upper left quadrant between the top of the shoulder
blade and where you neck attaches on your body on the back of your left
side) lay on it at night-time after playing until your stomach
gurgles...could be 10 minuites, might be 1/2 hour, you'll hear the sound
and really feel the relief....that's when your muscle spasm that is there
(and you probably don't even know about it) starts pulling out good. Do
this at night in bed after every night you play.

Even chiropractors I tell this too just LOVE it, and say it's a sort of
traction, getting rid of the dangerous lactic acid build-up too, but more
importantly, you're stopping the pulling on the trigeminal vital nerves in
your head that also influence the most-critical autonomic vagus nerve in
your body that controls automatic functions in your lungs, heart, liver
etc...yes, playing the bass and putting over 6 lbs. on that left shoulder
eventually can hurt your body, you can get away with it for awhile, so
that's why you need to do this...and stretch after playing.

Go to a corner of a room, put your hands out on each corner about eye level
and LEAN IN..hold it for 4-5 seconds and do this several times, stretching
those muscles in the shoulders....and sideways stretching too, very
slowly....left hand over your head pulling your head towards the left very
slowly, then up slowly and do this on the right side too....the best one is
with the right hand directing the head into your armpit (ALL SLOWLY) and
hold it there for a few seconds then back up...you're stretching out those
muscles under the gun.
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PS. Another quick method to quickly build up the individual finger strength you need to play elec. bass is to hold the index finger for about 10 seconds HARD against your thumb, repeat with each finger individually like this. You normally don't need hand brute strength, it's the finger strength you need to build up. But...if you feel your hand is overall very weak, then squeeze a medium rubber ball the same way for a few times.

Don't ever practice "note-scales" ever as warm-ups.....run a diminished pattern, or chordal note patterns of any kind as warm-ups...you will play what you practice, so stay away from the ear-killing note-scale patterns for warm-ups....for extreme cold weather, running your hands under hot water before playing is a good idea also.

(Dead Link Removed)
Treena

Thank you Treena, and as always, Carol is a treasure. I especially heed this advice of hers on a regular basis:

Don't ever practice "note-scales" ever as warm-ups.....run a diminished pattern, or chordal note patterns of any kind as warm-ups...you will play what you practice, so stay away from the ear-killing note-scale patterns for warm-ups....for extreme cold weather, running your hands under hot water before playing is a good idea also.

So very true. Note scales kill "the ear" and creativity. Chord tones inspire personal phrasing and signature style building. We will play what we practice. How simple can it get? :D

Lol, during winter shows people find me in the bathroom with my hands under hot water all the time. I have a heating pad, an ice pack and a microwavable Therabead pack. I avoid pain killers, they don't work a fraction as well as stretching and warm ups.

BTW, I have also kept to playing my shorter Gibson scale (24 3/4") fat necked axe as opposed to my Fender scaled 25 1/2" ones with the "thin" necks. Big difference in comfort. Not to mention keeping my palm pressed up against the neck whenever possible, using a thumb rotation for reach... avoiding "the clamp" wherever and whenever possible.

Now to try the small rubber ball in my back... :)