Knuckle Joint Stiffness in Fretting Hand Index Finger

FiggyPudding18 · #1 04-24-2019, 04:48 AM

Hi all, I’m wondering if you can offer me some insight on something. I’ve played guitar here and there just a little over the years, but I’ve gotten really serious about playing two months ago. I’ve been playing a ton and it’s been great. About a week ago I noticed that I have soreness in the aforementioned finger around the knuckle joints (joining the hand and the middle of the finger). I kind of started to panic. It doesn’t hurt while playing at all and functions absolutely fine, but it’s stiff and sore and isn’t quite as flexible in the morning. I really don’t want to develop some sort of chronic injury that prevents me from playing for a really long time, but I’m also not sure if this is just normal and a “rub some dirt” in it situation. I took the day off yesterday and applied a heat compress. Overall it feels less sore but still just as stiff. Not sure what my goal should be before playing again. Also, yes it is sometimes ridiculous to ask medicalish questions online, but I’m curious to hear the perspective of other guitarists who may have experienced this. BTW I’m in my 20’s and haven’t experienced any kind of stiffness/soreness in my hand until now. Thanks so much for your help in advance.

Paddy1951 · #2 04-24-2019, 05:45 AM

If you cannot come up with an obvious cause for your hand/finger distress, see your doctor.
Don't allow yourself to be brushed off. A person as young as you are should not be having any trouble.
If you can, talk to an occupational therapist or physical therapist. In my experience, those are the folks who really can figure out what is wrong and know how to go after the problem.

You may just be having a bit of arthritis. But that can be serious, too. Especially, at your age.

Good luck.

FiggyPudding18 · #3 04-24-2019, 06:41 AM

Thanks for your reply...I should say that my best guess for the cause of the soreness/stiffness is just playing a whole lot suddenly...it definitely is guitar playing related as I haven't had these issues before I started playing. I'm just not sure what the solution is, if I should power through it, take a week off (ugh!) etc...

roylor4 · #4 04-24-2019, 07:24 AM

1) Soak your hands in HOT water in the morning and do some hand/wrist/finger stretches immediately after.

2) Consider taking a Glucosamine/Chondroitin supplement.

I'm 56 and a gigging musician as well as a Massage Therapist that specializes in treating pain. I know something about stiff hands.

jeanray1113 · #5 05-02-2019, 10:41 PM

Is it just your fretting hand, or both? While the former tends to be more indicative of overuse, if it doesn’t clear up soon you need to get it checked out. There are many kinds of arthritis, some being autoimmune disorders that need treatment, and your age doesn’t rule them out. Not meaning to scare you, and it probably isn’t anything serious, but you need to have it checked out.

godfreydaniel · #6 05-03-2019, 04:24 AM

Heat is good for long term chronic conditions, like arthritis. This is a recent issue, and may be due to inflammation. Try ice! You can’t hurt yourself with ice (no more than 15 minutes at a time), heat can aggravate if it’s inflamed. And as already mentioned, definitely see a hand specialist or a physical therapist or an occupational therapist. My wife’s a PT.

When to use heat vs. ice:

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/s...n-infographic/

RJVB · #7 05-05-2019, 09:18 AM

Do warm-up & stretching exercises when you wake up, before you start studying and (importantly!) *after* your session. Good ones are making "rolling" movements with all fingers, starting with out-stretched fingers but also but the fingers all rolled up. Your finger muscles are by and large situated in the forearm, so include arm motion; you'll feel the stretching effect. Another nice one is placing your palms against each other in front of your chest, fingers stretched out, and then bring your hands to your chest and back. Rotate your hands over 180 degrees while keeping the contact, and repeat the movement towards your chest. You can also wiggle each pair of left and right fingers in that position (they should curl a bit).

I also like to do finger strength exercises after my study session.

Are you doing lots of barre chords, and have you had feedback from a teacher about this aspect? I came across some advice recently that really helped me: instead of applying the required force by pinching, push the guitar against yourself (with the barring finger, compensating with the right arm). I think I found that through this forum; originally it came from a teacher who realised he had one big, strong male student who was struggling with these chords, and a 7yo girl who played them without effort.

Note that a little stiffness in the morning is normal when you're training your muscles (which is what you're doing), but it should dissipate after a few exercises. And it should get less when your muscles are more and more trained.

archerscreek · #8 05-05-2019, 11:39 AM

I've had this flare up in the past. But now my fingers move around a lot playing lead lines and making chords flashier with hammer ons and adding 2nds, 4ths, etc. I think because my fingers are always on the move they never get that stiff, locked up thing anymore.

FiggyPudding18 · #9 05-10-2019, 05:06 PM

Thanks everybody for the opinions! I decided to take two weeks off, did see the doctor for unrelated reasons and they also advised me to take a break. It feels better every day at almost two weeks. I think it was the right thing to do. Now I’m trying to figure out how I will prevent this from happening again. I think it may have just been overuse from trying to do a lot of thumb over chords. It is just my index finger in the fretting hand. I think when I use thumb over chords with a more baseball bat grip approach I end up kind of crunching the index finger...

Here’s are three angles of me fretting a thumb over chord....

https://www.flickr.com/photos/169497...posted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/169497...posted-public/
https://flic.kr/p/2e4NGGi

I don’t really have trouble with regular barre chords. However out of stubbornness I have been perhaps trying to practice thumb chords slightly excessively...thanks again for the replies everyone!

RJVB · #10 05-10-2019, 06:17 PM

I think the doctor must have said this: unless you have a really bad case of RSI, "taking a break" should mostly be from doing the bad things that caused your problems instead of total rest. Not for so long that you lose muscle tone.

Your hunch about thumb-over chords sounds reasonable. I understand not everyone uses them so why not try without for them for the time being? You can always come back to them (with moderation!) once your symptoms are gone and your left hand has had more training (and, possibly, you've unlearned a few bad techniques).

FiggyPudding18 · #11 05-10-2019, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RJVB

I think the doctor must have said this: unless you have a really bad case of RSI, "taking a break" should mostly be from doing the bad things that caused your problems instead of total rest. Not for so long that you lose muscle tone.

I definitely went back and forth about this quite a bit. Ultimately though I decided that my finger shouldn't be sore and stiff for two weeks plus from playing--and only getting stiffer. After this long, my best guess was that it wasn't just "muscles getting stronger". Eventually I figured I should just rest it instead of trying to go on with an annoying nagging injury. I've had minor knee overuse injuries from running in the past, and as much as it stunk, I remembered the only real fix is time...and running through injuries never really worked...I am all for the no pain no gain approach but I didn't want to develop something worse all because I was too stubborn to take a few weeks off....but who knows...I wonder if others here have had experiences similar to this and decided "play through the pain"?

RJVB · #12 05-11-2019, 06:23 AM

Erm, I was hinting at anything but "playing through the pain"! The parallel with running is not a bad one; you stopped running for a while, but I presume you didn't stop walking and/or bicycling, and maybe even did more of that.

By all means take as much time off of the guitar as you feel you need, all I want to suggest is that a light and not too long practice routine that doesn't make you apply excessive force shouldn't be contra-indicated. Maybe something that focusses on dexterity rather than complicated chord changes?

FiggyPudding18 · #13 05-11-2019, 06:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RJVB

Erm, I was hinting at anything but "playing through the pain"! The parallel with running is not a bad one; you stopped running for a while, but I presume you didn't stop walking and/or bicycling, and maybe even did more of that.

By all means take as much time off of the guitar as you feel you need, all I want to suggest is that a light and not too long practice routine that doesn't make you apply excessive force shouldn't be contra-indicated. Maybe something that focusses on dexterity rather than complicated chord changes?

I see your point...will consider and thank you for your insight!

RJVB · #14 05-12-2019, 01:54 AM

One more thing, I think a repeat of what I already said: use a hand/finger strength trainer device. Evidently not if and as long as you're injured, and evidently not in a way that's detrimental to flexibility. That's a kind of exercise you typically won't be doing in a way that can lead to RSI (= hours on end); the idea is to develop more strength than you need for playing guitar.

Good luck!