Tendon Pain ......help!

[richard]

Hello

 

I have had a bit of arm pain from time to time. I then stop playing for a day and it goes away.

 

Last week I played a lot, had a bit of arm pain then I kept playing for a few more days.

 

Then my arms really hurt. I am laying off for a few days and letting things settle back.

 

BUT I am a bit frightened now. I do not want to give myself permanent damage and end my just beginning life as a concertina player,nrrf surgery or any of the awful things I have heard can happen.

 

What has been your experience dealing with arm and finger pain? Do you have a set of rules concerning when to stop for a day or two? Do you have a time limit of playing each day.

 

How do you treat your arms and hands when they hurt?

 

Normally I can play 2-3 hours a day (cumulatively) and I have had little problem.

 

I really want to avoid permanant damage.

 

Is this a common occurence that every one deals with?

 

What do you do?

 

Thanks,

 

Richard

Edited February 9, 2006 by richard

[Jim Besser]

BUT I am a bit frightened now. I do not want to give myself permanent damage and end my just beginning life as a concertina player,nrrf surgery or any of the awful things I have heard can happen.

 

Seek medical help. If you have something like tennis elbow (my problem) or carpal tunnel, you can make things much worse by continuing the activity that caused it.

 

In many cases, physical therapy can make things better, and appropriate stretches and exercises can keep it under control. But you need a diagnosis.

 

And don't play through pain!

[Greg Jowaisas]

Hi Richard,

 

As an individual who took up concertina with great gusto at the age of 53 and who has had to work through joint and connective tissue issues the past 2 & 1/2 years, you have my sympathies.

 

I concur with Jim Besser. Ask the healthcare experts.

 

But be aware that some are more expert and in tune with your problem than others.

 

If you can get a recommendation from musicians (violinists, symphony members) for a physician who treats

performing related repetitive stress injury you will have a much better chance of getting a specific diagnosis and practical advice.

 

Physical therapists are amazing people. They are in the healthcare trenches everyday helping people rehab and resume their activities. If you get physical therapy pay attention to what they say and KEEP doing the stretch and exercise regimine they recommend.

 

There are procedures and treatment for connective tissue problems. They all take some time and dilligence.

 

Best to get help sooner than later. Playing through pain almost always makes things worse and recovery longer.

 

Maintenance is always preferable to rehab. Do your stretches, practice with good technique and in shorter duration. Improve your general health and conditioning.

 

Being a musician is being a small muscle athelete. It takes time, training, maintenance and reasonable goals for atheletes to compete at any level. Why should it be different for musicians?

 

I wish you well. You will get better and there are people who can help.

 

Greg

[Jim Besser]

But be aware that some are more expert and in tune with your problem than others.

 

Absolutely, forgot to mention that.

 

I was lucky; I found a physical therapist who had worked with a number of bagpipers; she understood musicians' issues and was able to tailor a program to help me.

[JimLucas]

Ask the healthcare experts.

Absolutely. You wouldn't stand on a street corner with a sign saying, "Medical advice, please," would you? Then why do it on the internet?

 

True, some of us may have had the same problem, but we might just as well have had a problem that only sounds the same, and what helped us might turn out to damage you.

 

But be aware that some are more expert and in tune with your problem than others.

Advice: If you go to an "expert", whatever their title or training, and they don't immediately ask to watch you play, go find a different one.

 

...get a recommendation from musicians....

Yep. Even the specialists specialize.

 

Physical therapists are amazing people.

The story I often tell is of a friend who had problems with her knees. Whenever she visited my walkup apartment her knees reacted painfully. For ten years she had gone to expert after expert, including PT's, and none of them was able to identify a cause or prescribe a cure. At some point I mentioned this to another friend, who happened to be a PT with a dance specialty. Then one night when we three were backstage together (a Revels rehearsal ), PT grabbed friend and said, "Show me those knees!"

 

After a quick inspection, PT said,

... "Here, feel these muscles on my legs. Now feel yours."

... "Surprised? You don't have any."

... "Actually, you do, but somehow you have learned to walk without using them, so they haven't developed."

 

After just a couple of months of prescribed exercises, this friend came to visit and unexpectedly found herself facing the roof door in my building. She had passed my floor without noticing, because she had unconsciously been waiting for her knees to hurt... and they didn't.

[Daniel Hersh]

Hi, Richard--

 

I've been there myself--you may have noticed the elbow strap that usually on my left arm when I play. I developed tennis elbow from playing concertina about 15 years ago. When it got bad enough that it was keeping me awake at night I saw a doctor--an orthopedist with a sports medicine specialty--and wound up in fairly intense physical therapy for a while. I agree with the others who have said that you should get professional help. For myself, I have found that stretching before and during playing and ice afterwards (both recommended by the physical therapist) have helped a lot. I wasn't cured by any means, but it's nowhere near as bad as it was...though my elbow hurts in sympathy whenever I read, write or talk about these issues! The important thing, though, is that I can still play without doing permanent damage to my body.

 

Good luck...

 

Daniel

 

Hello

 

I have had a bit of arm pain from time to time. I then stop playing for a day and it goes away.

 

Last week I played a lot, had a bit of arm pain then I kept playing for a few more days.

 

Then my arms really hurt. I am laying off for a few days and letting things settle back.

 

BUT I am a bit frightened now. I do not want to give myself permanent damage and end my just beginning life as a concertina player,nrrf surgery or any of the awful things I have heard can happen.

 

What has been your experience dealing with arm and finger pain? Do you have a set of rules concerning when to stop for a day or two? Do you have a time limit of playing each day.

 

How do you treat your arms and hands when they hurt?

 

Normally I can play 2-3 hours a day (cumulatively) and I have had little problem.

 

I really want to avoid permanant damage.

 

Is this a common occurence that every one deals with?

 

What do you do?

 

Thanks,

 

Richard

[sourdoh]

Just a suggestion, when you seek professional help with the pain, I recommend taking your instrument along so you can show what you're doing instead of trying to describe it.

 

Hope you find, and resolve, the problem.

 

- Keith

[Bruce McCaskey]

I don't discount the value of good medical advice, but it's not clear to me from your initial posting that you've addressed the very basic issue of proper wrist position when playing.

 

I suggest that you pay attention to (and strive to minimize) any angles in your wrists when playing; a near straight line between forearm and the back of your hand is ideal. Pay attention to both planes of possible angles with your wrist, that is, both left-and-right flexed angles as well as up-and-down, and try to minimize the angles in both planes. It's easy to overlook this after playing an hour or more, but it's important to remain attentive to the issue. If you wear a watch with a tight non-expanding band it's not a bad idea to remove it while playing too.

 

Perhaps you are fully attentive to this already, but it seemed to bear mention in case you weren't. I don't know that others will take exception this advice, but I've heard it offered in classes from two well known professional players as part of their basic orientation on playing the instrument and it makes good sense to me.

 

Of course there could be other factors involved here so if you continue to experience pain I echo the advice of others to stop playing before it becomes painful and to seek medical/therapist advice.

[richard]

Hi Folks

 

Thanks a lot for the advice and personal experiences. I have an appointment with a reccomended physical therapist who works with musicians.

 

My arms feel a bit better but I want to get professional advice and do my best to keep pain free.

 

I wonder if I hurt myself because I played for while sitting on my concertina case (very low to the ground) for an hour and a half or so.

 

I did try to "play throught the pain" and I will take that very seriously from now on and NOT do that.

 

Any other feedback is appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Richard

Edited February 11, 2006 by richard

[m3838]

Being there, done that.

What worked was not a massage, not pills, and not excercises.

Ice!

Put a pack of ice on your forarms for 10 minutes daily. Relax.

10 days - no playing. It'll probably heal your tendons OK. Then you need to take care of strained muscles.

And the thing is Bio-feedback. But it depends on the specialist. I was lucky to have an enthusicast, who designed his own method, with multi-graph system.

I learned to open my heart valve on exhale and close on exhale! Imagine that.

Massage gets to 1 cm maximum and your muscles are much deeper.

Only relaxation and correct breathing gets that deep. Sounds like Berkeley sandall walker

with a pony-tail, but it works. Not easy, but it's the only solution out there. Or muscle relaxing pills.