Help with tendonitis in my hands, please?!
Question: I'm a musician, and I spend tons of time practicing on guitar, violin and some flute. Lately, I've been having some tendonitis-like issues in the backs of my hands. Lots of pain, and twingeing muscles. Is there anything I can do to help alleviate this? (Besides going easy on the music. No can do.)
Thanks!
Answers: I'm a musician, and I spend tons of time practicing on guitar, violin and some flute. Lately, I've been having some tendonitis-like issues in the backs of my hands. Lots of pain, and twingeing muscles. Is there anything I can do to help alleviate this? (Besides going easy on the music. No can do.)
Thanks!
Rest would be the very best for your hands. Each time you play you continue to injure the tissues. A physical therapist cannot help because the source of the injury continues. I suggest that after each time you play or practice you ice down the backs of your hands. Both hands for about 12 minutes each. Maybe take some icepacks along in a cooler. What this will do is to limit the amount of inflammation. You can even ice them when you get home and before bed. I suggest this because I know you are not going to stop playing.
Go for acupuncture. I have seen someone with mild-moderate tendonitis (from using a computer mouse) cured with 2 treatments.
Your pain is due to so-called "overuse injury". the most common overuse injury for musicians is carpal tunnel syndrom. You probably aware of this. The cause for your pain is pretty the same.
There isn't much you can do on your own. The easiest and best way - is stop playing... Relaxation exercises and postures adjustments will not help during acute phase with severe pain.
I would recommend to see a physical therapist, who can provide you with complex treatment, including manual therapy, therapeutic exercises and special therapeutical modalities like Cold Laser (widely used in carpal tunnel syndrom), TENS, etc.
I had a friend who's a rabid violin player, and she was starting to get major carpal tunnel in her hands, and she came to me with her problem.
I told her there were some remedies she could try which would somewhat help, but honestly that she had to cut down on the violin playing if she wanted to not have problems in the future.
She gave me a long emotional argument about how and why she could never do that. About 4 years later her carpal tunnel became extremely severe (i think what I did lengthened the time it took to manifest and be a full born problem), and she completely lost the ability to play (along with lots of other problems that come with getting carpal tunnel). She was fairly upset about it, but at least admitted it was her fault for not reducing her violin usage (which she should have done).
Anyhow, that's my bias, but from all my work these are the things I have found which work, and can reduce the damage you take, or temporarily delay getting crippled;
1) Put dmso on the sore areas (primarily the carpals). It's a muscle relaxant/anti inflammatory agent and it works really well to reduce many of the problems which come up (far better than any other substance I've found). If you use DMSO, you need to make sure it has no contaminants (which can include being stored in a plastic bottle) in it, and is being applied to clean skin. If that rule is not adhered to, it can make you quite sick.
2) Warm soak in epsom salts. This is less effective than DMSO, but sometimes it feels more appropriate to do.
3) A good tai chi or chi gung exercise (I think the best available exercise for that is in this book http://www.amazon.com/Tai-Chi-Health-Bru...
4) Learn a different position to play in which puts less strain on your body (along with checking for and reducing things such as dysponesis). Since I will never meet you, I can't tell you what that would be, but odds are a good body work person could tell you what you need to change in your posture.
Hope that helps!
Hi there!
I had the same problem. My pain got worse and it became unbearable.
I bought a preprogrammed TENS machine. After about four weeks of daily use, two or three times a day, the pains had gone (but I had pain relief from day one).
However, if you buy a TENS machine make sure you buy a preprogrammed one. They work far, far better and require less adjustment.
Be sure to buy a new machine (not a used one). They are about the size of a mobile phone, battery operated, and you can use them anywhere.
I have also used mine for hip pain, with the same excellent results.
I hope this helps.
Best wishes.
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