Wrist And Finger Tendonitis, Tennis Elbow And Other Guitar And Stringed Instrument Injuries
For a musician, just about the only thing worse than breaking your arm or fingers is developing one of the dreaded ‘Tendinopathies’ especially if you’re a string player!
Whether it’s Guitar Elbow, or a Tendonitis of the wrist, thumb or fingers, you can all too easily develop one of these painful injuries from playing guitar or any other stringed instrument.
(These kinds of injuries are actually notorious among stringed instrument players – including both professional and amateur / hobbyist players of the guitar, violin and cello. Of course, if you’re a professional musician, you’re likely well aware of this!)
- Tennis Elbow (which is at the “outer” elbow – AKA, ‘Lateral Epicondylitis’) is one of the more common Guitar- and string-related injuries.
- Golfer’s Elbow (which is on the “inside” of the elbow– AKA, ‘Medial Epicondylitis’) is also fairly common among guitar players – and other string musicians
- Other Tendon Injuries (Finger Flexor and Extensor Tenosynovitis, Wrist Tendonitis/Tendinosis, De Quervain’s of the thumb) are also all-too-common among musicians of all types
But the key thing to keep in mind with these kinds of injuries, often referred to as Repetitive Strain Injuries1-RSIs is that they typically happen gradually, from the cumulative effects of stress and strain.
They are ‘chronic’ injuries that often take many weeks – but more likely months – or even years to build up and to begin causing pain. (Unlike ‘acute’ injuries, which occur suddenly and forcefully.)
This is what makes these injuries so damn insidious! They sneak up on you!
At first, it’s only natural that you tend to dismiss the initial, minor symptoms of these things – Maybe you simply ignore thoems… Maybe you start practicing less, assuming a little rest is all you need…
The most common symptoms include:
- Burning pain at the inner or outer elbow, wrist or thumb
- Occasional sharp twinges of pain at those locations (from the tendons, usually)
- Tension, weakness, soreness and pain in the forearm muscles (either side)
- Stiffness, achiness and soreness in those areas upon waking every morning, and after playing or practicing your intrument
But it just doesn’t seem to resolve and keeps flaring up on you – And as the pain intensifies and gets more persistent it starts sucking the joy out of your guitar playing or even keeping you from playing at all…
Or your start worrying more and more about how bad your injury might be getting, if you have to keep playing because it’s how you make a living!
You start getting desperate and throwing more things at it:
- Ice (here’s why that’s a bad idea)
- More and more Anti-Inflammatories (Very bad idea)
- Topical treatments like creams and liniments
- Maybe even a Cortisone Shot (which would be a terrible mistake!)
You may start wearing a brace or splint of some kind and tying to rest – moving as little and doing as little as possible:
Eventually, you realize you’re stuck – In what I call The Tennis Elbow Triple Trap! (Or the “Tendonitis / Tendon Injury Trap”
How Does Playing The Guitar Cause An Injury?
How the heck does playing your guitar cause an injury?
- The build up of muscle tension (exacerbated by poor technique / posture)
- The formation of adhesions (stuck areas) between layers of muscle and tendons
- The weakening of certain muscles – Along with compensation patterns
- And when things get bad, the breakdown and degeneration of certain tendons.
The good news is, you can be in terrible pain – (including tendon pain) – from the first three things without necessarily having much if any of the 4th: Tendon damage.
How the heck is that “good news!?” It’s twofold:
- These injuries (RSIs) typically begin to hurt well before any actual damage occurs! – (In other words, you will tend to get “warning signs” as your muscles tighten and there’s too much tension on your tendons – so you usually have time to “catch it” before significant tendon damage starts happening, because it’s the tendon damage that’s The Really Serious Stuff!
- And, even if your injury has progressed to the point of damage, it’s often reversible! – (Remember, it’s a gradual process and not a permanent event, and that process can usually be reversed and the damage it causes can often be healed – Not to say that it’s easy, mind you.)
So, you can reverse the process that’s causing your injury and pain – IF you treat it the right way!…
Hopefully, before it causes you any real, significant damage and before it separates you from the guitar you love to play (or NEED to play because it’s your livelihood!
How do you reverse this dynamic?
By releasing your muscular tension and adhesions, strengthening your weakened muscles and tendons…
And doing everything you can to stimulate healing and regeneration in your tendons if your injury has progressed to the point of damage (which is typically degeneration / Tendinosis.)
All of which takes effort. It’s work. Pills, ice, braces, shots and creams will not do it.
From my perspective, it takes diligent, focused, hands-on therapy to accomplish this.
Fortunately, you can learn how to do this kind of therapy yourself!
And here’s where you can learn more about my self-help programs if you want to learn the best techniques from me, through video lessons:
Treatment In The Marin County / S.F. Bay Area
And if you happen to live in Marin County (or fairly close by in the San Francisco Bay Area) I may be able to help you in person, at my clinic in Corte Madera.
- Learn more about my approach to treating Tennis Elbow here
- Learn more about my Golfer’s Elbow approach here
For the original article and over a dozen visit my Tennis Elbow Classroom:
Full, Original Article on Guitar Elbow Here
“Repetitive strain injury (RSI) and associative trauma orders are umbrella terms used to refer to several discrete conditions that can be associated with repetitive tasks, forceful exertions, vibrations, mechanical compression, or sustained/awkward positions… Examples include edema, Tendinosis (or less often Tendinitis), Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Cubital Tunnel Syndrome, De Quervain syndrome, thoracic outlet syndrome… golfer’s elbow (medial epicondylitis), tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis), trigger finger… etc.”
