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Tendonitis and the bass player


Roswellian

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Last week I took a week off of my sedentary office job to paint my house. The repetitive motion of painting caused severe tendonitis in my right arm resulting in numbness on my thumb and pointer finger. I have two gigs this weekend and wonder how I will be able to get through them without all my fingers working. Aside from Ice and Ibuprofen, does anyone have any remedies that will help me get the feeling back in my fingers??? Thanks K.P.

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Sorry to tell you this, but some kinds of damage aren't fixable at all. Some just take time and rest. (Hope yours is that type.) Good luck at this point. In the future, keep a sharp watch for early signs and be very willing to take the breaks you actually need. (Ice can do wonders, but injure it enough and you're looking at surgery.)

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As for the weekend gigs, all I can suggest is take it easy and don't make it any worse. If you can, wear a brace on your wrist while you sleep.

 

For the long term, I suggest getting into a regular Yoga practice. The Yoga keeps everything open and a well planned practice works every part of the body.

 

Several years ago I thought I was finished because my hands stopped working. The problem turned out to be in my shoulders and it was caused by poor playing posture (sitting with a very small guitar for hours at a time). Yoga has turned out to be more than just a cure for tendonitis and has helped in other aspects of my life as well.

 

 

 

 

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You should take plain old aspirin instead of Ibuprofen. Aspirin is anti inflammatory medication and you'll have faster results keeping the inflammation down. I too get these kinds of pinched nerves when I overdo things. It seems the older I get the more that kind of rigamortis wants to creeping up on you. Inflammation is the major cause of most of these aches and pains and Aspirin works as well or better then any kind of anti inflammatory medication you'd get from a doctor. Getting good doses of fruit juices will help detoxify your system too. Multi vitamins can also help to speed the healing process. Other then that, there's no good solution. If the symptoms don't go away, you only have micro surgery as an option.

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Ibuprofen is also an anti-inflammatory, as is naproxen sodium, the active ingredient in Aleve. Be careful with aspirin since it thins the blood. The real med to avoid in this instance is acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, since it has no anti-inflammatory properties.

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It has been almost two weeks now since my symptoms appeared and my pointer finger is still numb and thumb is also but to a lesser extent. The research I have done points to Carpal Tunnel where the medial nerve to the hand is pinched. I go to see my doctor tomorrow and will lobby hard to get a referral for surgery. My wife had this surgery on both wrists and has 100% relief.

 

Are there any bass players out there who have had this procedure who can tell me how long to plan on being unable to play?

 

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It takes six weeks to recover from surgery.

 

In some cases, the numbness is caused by damage to the sheath around the nerve where it passes through the carpal tunnel. If you wear the wrist brace and take vitamins you may be able to heal without the surgery.

 

As I said earlier, a Yoga practice (or Tai Chi) can help create the space needed in the body to maintain mobility and give us the ability to do things without hurting ourselves. To me, it's a much better alternative than having someone cut into my wrist.

 

 

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And if you've ever talked with people who have had back surgery, it rarely reduces the pain that was the cause for its consideration. (I know one person who benefitted.) When my Father started suffering from Sciatica nerve pain, he was walking with a cane and deteriorating with doctors all suggesting surgery. Dad didn't believe in chiropractic, but he went that direction and within a month the cane was gone, and after a year the limp was gone too. When I reached the same age and started experiencing Sciatica, I went straight to the chiropractor. It works, but there is a large range of treatment techniques. (And in the shop I go to, they all seem to work.) Don't know about yoga, but I can see where it should help.

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Onelife is right about Yoga. I've been doing it for about a month and I feel 20 years younger. Awesome stuff. Improves posture, circulation, balance, and builds muscles too. Not much you can do short term with your injury tho besides anti inflamitories, ice and rest. I used to get it regularly in my index finger from the mouse at work. I learned to use both hands and swap often.

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I had a pinched Sciatic nerve and the pain form it was devastating. I was on codeine for a good 6 months till they finally got the MRI done. I opted for some new surgery where they go in with a small tube and camera up the spine, then push the disk out with a balloon. It can take up to 3 treatments to work, I had two and it was good enough. Takes about 30 minutes after they knock you out and you're on your way home afterwards.

 

My wife had something similar and she opted for surgery. In her case she lost feeling in some of her toes and never got it back. My work was less invasive and the chance of nerve damage did occur. She had a disk shaved down and had nerve damage in the process.

 

Don't, screw with surgery until you've exhausted all other options. If that means putting down the bass for a months so you can heal properly so be it.

 

I did Yoga back in the 60's as a kid. It can help keep you in tune, but it does need training to do it right. Much of it has to do with thought patterns and being in tune with your automatic processes like heart and breathing to obtain alpha and beta wave relaxation. Honestly any good aerobic exercise to keep your heart in good shape. For obtaining calmness, I'll take bio feedback over Yoga any day of the week. You can do in minutes what takes Yoga weeks to accomplish. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofeedback

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I did Yoga back in the 60's as a kid. It can help keep you in tune' date=' [b']but it does need training to do it right.[/b] Much of it has to do with thought patterns and being in tune with your automatic processes like heart and breathing to obtain alpha and beta wave relaxation. Honestly any good aerobic exercise to keep your heart in good shape. For obtaining calmness, I'll take bio feedback over Yoga any day of the week. You can do in minutes what takes Yoga weeks to accomplish.

 

Yoga definitely requires proper instruction and supervision from a qualified teacher and then a regular daily practice. The change is both profound and incremental as it is with learning a musical instrument.

 

Aerobics use brute force to promote circulation. Yoga improves the overall circular system and the heart does not have to work as hard to be as effective. Yoga is also about the breath and improves all aspects of the cardiovascular system.

 

I find it interesting that in some of your other posts you recommend putting in the time with your musical instrument but here you are willing to take a shortcut and "do in minutes what takes Yoga weeks to accomplish". (It actually takes years to accomplish it with Yoga).

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from the linked article...

Biofeedback may be used to improve health, performance, and the physiological changes that often occur in conjunction with changes to thoughts, emotions, and behaviour. Eventually, these changes may be maintained without the use of extra equipment, even though no equipment is necessarily required to practice biofeedback.

All of this can be accomplished through Yoga without any extra equipment. One of my teachers said that Yoga gets you into the darkest recesses of your being and then shines light on them.

 

and...

Biofeedback has been found to be effective for the treatment of headaches and migraines.

Since my first year of Yoga practice I have not required any form of medication for the treatment of pain, headaches or otherwise.

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fetch?id=31260366

A friend of my wife's gave me this.

I havn't been able to find a Yoga instructor in this podunk little town.

I discovered your body will tell you if you are doing it right or wrong if you pay attention to it's signals.

I must be doing something right. We went to visit my bro-in-law 4-5 hrs away. He's been taking regular classes for 3-4 months. I attended a 1 hr class with him. It was tough, but I made it thru pretty good.

I impressed him & the instructor that I did so well to never have taken a class.

Hopefully I can find a regular class that's affordable soon.

My fitness & overall well being has improved dramatically without all that much effort really. Sure beats running your butt off and lifting weights and aerobics and such.

Best thing in the world, esp for an old guy like me.

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My Doctor and I decided that carpal tunnel surgery was my best choice. I had my right hand done Oct 6th and my left Oct 27th. After almost 6 weeks the feeling has come back to my right hand completely except for the tip of my index finger which may or may not ever regain feeling based on the regenerative ability of the damaged nerves. My Left hand already feels so much better even before the stitches come out this Monday! No numbness, no tingly fall asleep feeling... I have been playing in short bursts letting my hands regain strength and flexibility. My first short gig is Nov 26th and I go back to rehersals and playing full time in mid December. I appreciate all the advice and even the Yoga ideas.... But for me, this surgery has made a HUGE difference and I'm glad I had it.

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That's good news. Its good to know there is things that can be done to correct that. I hadn't played bass with a band in a long time and played a couple of hours with my friends band as a fill in last night. The muscles in my hands are pretty sore this morning. I was smart enough to bring my short scale bass with me so I want over stretching like I do playing his.

 

You may want to come down in string gauge for awhile. I realize you may not get as strong a tone from them but it might be a good move for awhile until you're back in shape. Give the muscles some time to build up and focus more on aerobic movement instead of weight lifting.

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another common problem for bassists is tennis elbow so loom out for that. Be sure to stretch your muscles at the beginning and end of everyday. Also, try not to remain still for long hours at a time always be moving. This can help ease the pain or muscles aches.

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In the future, take Alieve instead of ibuprofen for the discomfort. I'm a disabled vet with a lot of aches and pains. Right before I do a gig, I always take a couple of Alieve and that seems to do the trick.

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In a previous life after I left the military I was a Journeyman Pipe Fitter. I wound up with bad tendonitis in both elbows. You don't get irreversible tendonitis after a week of repetitive motion, it takes years to develop severe tendonitis. The surgery on the elbows was pretty major. I had them done at different times and was in a cast for six or seven weeks on each surgery. Then I had to have physical rehab. It was a pain, but I'm glad I had the surgeries done. I have been pain free since the late 1980's.

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