Dealing with Tendonitis
One of the most frustrating experiences for a musician is having the time, will, and energy to practice but being unable to because of injury. Due to the repetitive nature of playing an instrument, musicians are particularly prone to tendonitis, an inflammation of the tendons which connect muscle to bone. In my experience, tendonitis related to practicing guitar primarily occurs in the tendons at the base of the forearm, where the finger-operating muscles connect to bone, and also sometimes the tendons between the knuckles and wrist on the top of the hands. The first symptom is usually a burning sensation, followed by a slow throbbing pain that continues after the cessation of playing. In my experience, the best thing to do in the moment is to immediately stop playing, ice the area for 5-10 minutes, wait for another 20 or so minutes, and then try playing again. If the pain returns, then wait at least a day before picking up the guitar again. Over time, I've found that there are a few effective strategies for reducing occurrences of tendonitis and recovering more quickly from them. I should mention that I am not a doctor, and these methods are drawn from my own experience and not any official medical training. Slow Down: Invariably, tendonitis in my left hand and arm happens when I'm gripping the strings with my fretting hand much harder than needed, usually when I'm trying to play a piece faster than usual without working up to it, or when I'm compensating for not knowing the piece that well yet. I usually don't realize how hard I'm gripping until I feel pain. The easiest way to keep the grip relaxed is to force myself to slow down (often with a metronome) and concentrate on keeping hands and forearms relaxed while I play. Ramping up speed gradually with the metronome as a guide lets me get back to that target speed without gripping harder than needed. Similarly, tendonitis in my right hand and arm happens when I'm tensing my muscles unnecessarily, which can again be prevented by slowing down and concentrating on remaining relaxed. Play in Bursts: There are just some passages that, for whatever reason, tend to cause tendonitis to flare up more often than others. Usually these are fast, intricate sequences that I need to practice over and over to nail down. I've found that taking a short 30 second break every two or three times through the passage helps me reset and avoid bearing down on my grip, which keeps a lot of strain off my tendons. Changing Strings: I used to play D'Addario hard tension strings for the punch and the volume, but after playing a friend's guitar I realized that I could play for much longer on normal tension strings. After switching to normal, I experience tendonitis much less frequently. Also, using strings past their prime can make it more difficult to pluck rapidly with the right hand. I'm not sure, but I think this is due to the loss of tension in the strings, making their vibrations carry them further away from the midline of vibration. This makes it harder to find the exact position of the string with my nail when attempting to pluck it, which I compensate for by subconsciously tensing my hand to try to control finger position. Whatever the exact reason, I've found changing strings more frequently (every 1-2 weeks, or about every 30-60 hours of playing time) enables me to avoid tendonitis in my right forearm. Lowering Action: I bought a new guitar recently (built by Waddy Thompson, you can check out his website here) and it had a lower action than anything I'd previously played, meaning that the strings are closer to the fretboard. This makes it take less force to push the string down to the fretboard with your fretting hand, which decreases strain on your tendons and helps prevent injury. I've found I can play for longer periods and play much more quickly on this guitar due to the lower action. One drawback of lowering string action is that you can lose punchiness and sometimes develop buzzing problems if the string rubs against other frets during its vibration, but I haven't experienced these problems with this current guitar. Compression Sleeves: I used to think these were gimmicks for athletes that didn't really do anything, but there's actually a bit of research showing that they increase tissue oxygen saturation and reduce venous pooling. I'm not completely convinced that they do everything that the packaging claims they do, but I've had one for about a year, and in my experience it has helped me recover much more quickly from the type of forearm strain that typically precedes tendonitis. They're pretty cheap - about $10-$15 on amazon - and for me it's been well worth it. Anti-Inflammatories: NSAIDs, or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as aspirin or ibuprofen, are proven to reduce inflammation, and also act as painkillers. I'd be careful about relying too much on these, as high doses can damage your kidneys over time, but popping a few during particularly bad bouts of tendonitis wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. Obviously, everyone's different, and I'm sure not all of these strategies will work for everyone. But if you find yourself dealing with recurring tendonitis in your forearms and hands, hopefully these ideas can help. Please feel free to share any other tricks for dealing with tendonitis that I've not mentioned in the comments section (back on the post navigator page). Additionally, if you have ideas for guitar-related topics I could cover in the future, I"d love to get those as well. Thanks for reading.