Date: Thu, 25 Aug 1994 00:48:49 GMT From: "Gary L. Karp" Subject: Guitar Playing To: Multiple recipients of list SOREHAND Organization: Faludi Computing, San Francisco > Has anyone on sorehand ever experienced any problems > related playing the guitar? I have played the guitar for 33 years, since I was 7. I performed regularly and had recorded my first album (available for a price, of course) just before the onset of my RSI symptoms. I never had pain in my wrists or elbows that I would attribute directly to playing the guitar. I played every day, and feel my body was fully acclamated to it, strong and flexible enough for what I did. During one period in my life I didn't play regularly, and when I began to again, had an occasional cramping of the left hand. This stopped once I got back in shape. My symptoms - pain in the wrist flexors and both epicondyles, bilaterally - began after a couple of years of computing at my own desk, doing all of my own writing, as well as graphics and database development work. I am absolutely clear that the computer work and the various pressures of my job were the cause. The bad news is, having developed RSI, guitar playing became an aggravant. It has been the thing most capable of bringing on a flare up. Part of the problem is how passionately I miss playing, and when I feel able to play a little, I have trouble drawing the line and stopping when I should. The good news is, after my recent adventure into myofascial treatement I have been able to play daily, and I have calousses back on my left fingertips for the first time in two years. I'm a long way from performance readiness, and I remain prone to flare up if I really pushed it, but it is great to be able to play as much as I am, and I feel ready to do open mike nights where you get two or three tunes. I feel hopeful in a way I had nearly given up on that I might be capable of doing full sets again someday. Still, I make a point to stretch before and after. I warm up with light scales and such before getting into anything heavy. I wear Handeze gloves to keep my hands warm, and a long sleeve shirt and/or sweater likewise. I try to play in an upright posture without rounding forward over the instrument so I am able to breathe fully and not tighten my neck and shoulders down on the thoracic outlet. I rest a bit and shake out my hands between songs. I try to hold the instrument in a way that doesn't cause my wrist to bend, fortunately a posture I already had a habit of. Vivienne Griffin is a pianist here in the Bay Area who was diagnosed with RSI and told to stop playing. She said, "Forget that!" She devised a new style of using her hands where she uses her forearm and wrist more to take some of the load off of the fingers. She plays. As applied to the guitar, the right hand can rotate some at the wrist to aid in striking the strings. A hard change to make after so many years, but I'm trying to retrain by hand little by little. None of this is to say that the guitar can't be a cause. There are certainly full time musicians who suffer from it. Enough! Bye. Gary Karp Onsight