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11/02/2007

What are the primary reasons our wrists and elbows get sore from lots of guitar playing? Actually there may be several causes wrists and elbows develop soreness, weakness and numbness.

Note: Realistically speaking any time you develop a chronic soreness it becomes imperative that you see a doctor in relation to your ailment. If you look at the big picture and your long term best interests, caring for soreness sooner than later will cut down off time and discomfort,

The most common and treatable concern is Tendinitis . This condition can become quite serious if you ignore it, perhaps surgery is in your future if not treated.

However the good news is you can almost always stop doing more damage or even get rid of the symptoms all together.

You want to know more? Tendinitis is the inflammation of a tendon, a strong rope-like tissue that connects muscle to bone. Tendons that affect guitar playing and commonly become inflamed include tendons of the hand, elbows and tendons of the upper arm that effect the shoulder joint.

I would be doing you a disservice not to send you to newgrip.com. The information they provide far exceeds my knowledge and perhaps you can find the cure you need there.

There is a growing body of evidence that suggests the vibrations send through your hands, wrists, elbows and shoulders causes inflammation to the tendons and nerve endings. thus causing pain, soreness and numbness. Most of the time a few days rest and an anti-inflammatory over the counter- use as recommended pain killer will do the job.

As a guitar player you can consider your fingers and hands little athletes. I prefer to warm my athletes up for 10-20 minutes by going over scales and exercises before letting it go.
Now that we have established your fingers, hands elbows and shoulders as guitar players muscles, it makes sense to warm up and stretch first. It is one of the first things any athlete is taught and that is to stretch and warm up before your activities to prevent muscle and tendon inflammation or injury.

Obviously down-time, especially if your a pro can mess up your pocketbook and it’s just a plain bummer if you can’t play recreationally either. Are ya just gonna stand around bummed out? No one likes to play hurt. No one plays as well when hurting either. Take action and take care of yourself. Have along pain free future.

Enjoy playing your guitar pain free. Guitar Players Center is committed to providing more articles on Guitar Players Health. Please stay tuned in and stay healthy.

Note: I would lose his mind if I couldn’t handle my Eric Clapton Artist Series Strat every day!

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