Pain In My Wrist And Hand Options

[Electric_Blues]

Hi there

I spent about 4 hours practicing yesterday , i did not feel any pain during practice but a few hours after i had pain in my wrist and a bit of pain in my hand.

There doesnt seem to be any pain in the fingers.

Its still sore today , its the first time i have ever had anything like this and was wondering what advice you could give.

Will it heal up and go away over time or will i need to get it checked out?

Bit worried it will have an overall affect on my performance because i cant practice and will lose technique.

Many Thanks

[berko]

If this was your first longer practice session then it's totally normal to experience a bit of pain and tension in your hands. Your muscles must have tensed up a bit because they probably weren't used to such exercises. You should do at warm-up exercises for at least 10 minutes before each practice session if you plan to play for hours For example, do some chromatic runs on the fretboard, practice legato and after each exercise be sure to have a rest. Circle your wrist, stretch your fingers carefully and stretch your fore arm to to loosen you tendons a bit.

As I said this is perfectly normal. If you feel too much strain in your hands then take a day off or if you can't resist playing, start practicing slowly, leave your wide bends for later and let your hands get warmed up.

[Emir Hot]

Don't force too much. I had it before. When you feel it's coming then you take a little break. When you get enough strength you'll notice that you can do a lot more before you feel anything. That's completely normal.

[Muris Varajic]

Yeah, I guess it's typical feel of "tiredness"
after a bit longer practicing than usual.
Make some breaks from now on and as you keep practicing more
you'll feel the same less and less, just like Emir said.

[Fingerspasm]

I have had the same problem. I also had problems with my left shoulder. I was playing in the classical position all the time with the guitar between my legs instead of on my right thigh. Now what I do is plenty of stretching and I change the positions in which I play. Sitting with the guitar on my right thigh, then in the classical position then I might stand up for awhile. This seems to help because other muscles will get used as you change your posture and position. Also a little bit of excersise helps also. Jumping jacks, push ups etc. Helps get the blood pumping to all of your joints and tendons.

[Ivan Milenkovic]

As everybody said, just take a rest and don't push yourself too hard. It's OK if you are used to regular 4 hour sessions, but if you do one out of the blue then you will get problems, similar to muscle issues when you train football for 4 hours without any preparations for example. I suggest warming up a little before starting some serious practice, and just take it slowly during the first hour. Take regular small breaks during session so you don't put too much strain on your fingers.
Don't worry about not practicing. When you do some good sessions, it is normal to see the progress only after a couple of days of not playing the guitar. During that time, the brain is "storing" the information it got during practice, so you will actually improve while the pause lasts.
For now, I believe you don't have to visit a doctor, but take it easy as well. If the problem persist, better check it out. Cheers man