Tendonitis from playing guitar improperly

[mmasters]

Been playing on the couch in probably not the best position for a week or so. My left middle arm hurts when I try to play now. Looks like I'll have to take a break. From reading on the web, vitamin C is supposed to help as well as lots of protein. Anybody else have experience with tendonitis from playing guitar in a bad position, using improper technique or what have you?

[blue]

Good, bad, neutral... You can develop it regardless. Stretch/Warm first. I always do static Forearm/Wrist stretches first. I hold my arms out zombie style and bend my wrists up and down, gradually going farther and farther. You'll be surprised just how far up your arms you can feel it if you have tightness.

I'm certainly not saying you are wrong about the couch thing. It may just be your body is adjusting to it, and in a week you would be fine. Or in a week you could develop a pinched nerve in your neck! Everything is connected!

I wear an elbow brace/sleeve on my left arm when I sleep. I do damage otherwise that makes it feel like tendonitis on the inside (you know in the bendy crease!) of my elbow. I would blame it on the guitar if I didn't know better.

So yes, definitely don't play there if you are concerned. Do stretch and warm up. Good luck!

[Mark Bolding]

I have developed pain in my left wrist which is my fretting hand for the last week or three. Not sure this would be tendonitis but it is unpleasant.I will try the stretching and I have been icing it for the last couple of days

[Roccorobb]

Years ago I tore cartridge in my picking hand (wrist actually) while prepping for a recital. Lots of repetitive play with lazy posture. I learned by lesson. Now if I'm working something up, with lots of repetition, I'm careful about my posture and the position of my hands on the instrument.

[Retired1]

I typically play 2 to 3 hours a day and awhile back I started developing pains here there and everywhere and eventually it dawned on me that I wasn't taking any breaks - just playing tune after tune till I was shot. So now I play one tune a few times and then take a couple of minutes break before I go on to the next one - has worked wonders for me - I'm virtually pain free again - hope this helps.

[Al Acuff]

It might help if you rotate between two or three different guitars. It seems like if you play the same guitar all the time your odds of suffering repetitive stress injury increase.

[Brent Hahn]

OP has a fretting-arm issue, mine was with the other arm -- wrist and hand specifically. Pretty much solved it by switching to the "classical" leg, which made my hand fall naturally into a more comfortable spot. Improved my tone and control, too. Flatpicking especially, it made the pick cross the strings more perpendicularly. Cleaner and stronger.

If they made acoustic guitars with the "waist" further back I'd buy one.

[kjb]

I had to quit for a few months several years ago because I had killer pain in my right (picking) elbow. A while after I resumed I started getting tendinitis in my left (fretting) thumb. More recently my left arm and shoulder have been the culprits. In addition there's always the problem of pain in the fretting fingertips when I pick up the number of hours I put in into practice without building up to it.

So, I've developed several changes to the way I practice guitar. First, I switched to something like the classical style of holding the guitar, so my right elbow isn't bent over the box. But more importantly, I've taken a cautious attitude towards practicing. I take breaks much more often, and also vary the pieces and positions. I tend to think of guitar more as a process of building strength, rather than just learning to coordinate movements. When I'm learning something new, I know I'll be straining my hands, and pressing harder on the fretboard, so I try not to force things. I know I can't "conquer" a passage by sheer repetition, at least until I get to the point where I can play it somewhat comfortably.

I think I may have gone over to being too patient, in that I sometimes take a very long time to learn any one piece. But I'm always balancing the health of my arms and fingers against the process of learning.

kjb

[Roccorobb]

In addition to posture, another very important lesson I have learned in recent years is to pay attention to how I hold tension in my body while I play, especially when playing difficult pieces. I learned this principle way back in college when studying classical guitar, but I wasn't putting it into practice until I started speed building in the flatpicking tradition. Learning to be mindful of tension in the body, to be very intentional about being relaxed in both hands, not only prevents injury but also makes for much more musical play.

[Ralph124C41]

I had something like that develop, I think, from (no joke) how I was using the mouse for my desktop computer. Again this is a real thing.

In my case I do a lot of computer work and I used the standard mouse. What I was doing was at my position I was holding the mouse at a sharp downward angle. After hours of repetitive motion using the mouse my wrist felt a little painful. Then the next day I reached up in the cupboard to pick up a can or two of tuna and I felt a sharp pain , like a bee bite but infinitely worse. It stung and it hurt.

What I had to do was buy a vertical mouse (which I like a lot better anyway). I went to the VA and they sent me to a physical therapist. It took several trips (but all free thanks to the VA) and slowly but surely the pain fell away to nearly nothing.

However I could still sort of play the guitar as badly as before if I was careful. But for some time I wore a wrist brace. I tried out for a band and forgot to take it off and the leader saw it and said, "What's that?" So I explained the best I could and did my best at the rehearsal, which I thought went pretty OK.

But I didn't get the slot. And I still think that as soon as the band leader saw that wrist brace (plus I'm an old guy, too) that I really had three chances ...slim, fat and none.