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Posted by: erik Nov 1 2007, 07:32 AM

Hey.
sometimes when I play the muscles in one of my finger hurts.. it's the E-section in this picture, on the other side of the hand:


It's kind of wierd, I think it's almost a year now since I first felt it. I feel it only now and then, sometimes it can be gone for a couple of months, other times its there everytime i practise more than 5 minutes (very rarely)
In december last year I took a 10 days break from the guitar, but it came back. I tried a week's break about half a year ago.. It always comes back..
I never worry about it because it's always temporary, but lately it's been really anoying cause I can't play for long without feeling it.

any advice?...

Posted by: Soul_Decision Nov 1 2007, 07:38 AM

QUOTE (erik @ Oct 31 2007, 11:32 PM)

Hey.
sometimes when I play the muscles in one of my finger hurts.. it's the E-section in this picture, on the other side of the hand:


It's kind of wierd, I think it's almost a year now since I first felt it. I feel it only now and then, sometimes it can be gone for a couple of months, other times its there everytime i practise more than 5 minutes (very rarely)
In december last year I took a 10 days break from the guitar, but it came back. I tried a week's break about half a year ago.. It always comes back..
I never worry about it because it's always temporary, but lately it's been really anoying cause I can't play for long without feeling it.

any advice?...

Posted by: Fabian Schulz Nov 1 2007, 07:48 AM

there are no muscels in the fingers, you move them with the muscels in your arm. so it will be the tendons or the joints. be very careful with that. always warm up before you play and when it hurts try to cool the area. AND STOP TO PLAY WHEN IT HURTS !!

Posted by: Robin Nov 1 2007, 07:59 AM

Yeah you should go to a doctor and check it out, and always remember to warm up, stretch and stop for a couple of days if you feel pain.

Posted by: dogman Nov 1 2007, 08:19 AM

The "E" spot that you refer to, the top part of the ring finger that meets the rest of the hand?

I get that pain everytime I try to play beyond my capabilities or try too hard to do something too fast too quickly.

I got the pain really bad one time to where the spot was locking up too so I went to the doctor.

He did an MRI on my hand and it turned out to be a strained ring finger tendon. He stressed that if I kept doing what I was doing it would never heal properly and I could do permanent damage to the tendon.

So now I force myself to play slow until I am warmed up and work my way up to speed.

If I feel even the slightest pain I stop right away. That tells me I am over doing it.....

PS. My problem started from bad practice habits.........

Posted by: ActiveX Nov 1 2007, 10:59 AM

I've got that same pain except that it is my index finger.
I just figured it was getting sore because I hadn't played in a long time.
I hope that's all it is

Posted by: Smells Nov 1 2007, 07:07 PM

Yup, you must warm up with slow stretching exercises, just like you would if you went to the gym for a workout, if your "cold" then your gunna pull something.

I usually start with some chord exercises, nothing in particular but it gets the fingers working, then some slow scales gradually speeded up. Just 5-15mins, as I said before, just to loosen up and warm up your hands, fingers, and tendons.

Other than that, I`d take it a bit easy until you arnt sore when you are playing.

Posted by: mattacuk Nov 1 2007, 07:15 PM

For the first six months of playing i experienced an awful lot of pain in my fretting hand. This was in a similair place to your pain. I also experienced fingers locking up!!

I changed my routine around to include very slow warmups (basically improvosing to slow tracks) and this really helped me out.

Today i dont get any pain at all !

Posted by: erik Nov 2 2007, 05:30 AM

thanks for the tips everyone!

Posted by: mattacuk Nov 2 2007, 05:41 AM

Good luck Eric, As i said, take a look at your routine and see if you are starting off too fast, this more often than not is the problem!

Posted by: erik Nov 2 2007, 05:52 AM

yup, I have been warming up for quite some time, but I think I start playing fast to early

Posted by: Smells Nov 2 2007, 06:29 AM

QUOTE (erik @ Nov 2 2007, 04:52 AM)

Posted by: ActiveX Nov 2 2007, 08:36 AM

QUOTE (Smells @ Nov 1 2007, 10:29 PM)

Posted by: Maximus Nov 2 2007, 09:11 AM

There are actually muscles in the hand although they are not likely the culprit. Because of the positioning of the pain it is likely a tendonitis aggravated by finger extension. This is the motion made when opening the hand. There could also be some arthritis in the joint but the way it comes and goes leads me to believe this is not the case. When the spot is really hurting, an over the counter antiinflamatory like Tylenol can be effective with managing the pain. I would do some basic strengthening of your hand and fingers using something like a rubber ball for flexion (squeezing) and try using a small rubber band positioned over your thumb and the ring finger and just open and close (extension). You can do this over all fingers to ensure even strengthening. Keep in mind that many of the thing we do on a daily basis are not really the things our hands, fingers, etc were designed to do. When you think about guitar playing specifically, we are asking our hands and specifically fingers to do some pretty crazy things that tend to strengthen our muscles in irregular patterns. Irregular strengthening can often lead to misalignment and pain. You would be surprised how much a simple strengthening program can help relieve these situations. Gentle stretching and moist heat before exercise will also help. Sorry for the wordy reply. I am a Physical Therapist so I deal with this stuff every day. Good luck and feel free to ask me some questions if you like. Max

Posted by: symon Nov 2 2007, 09:57 AM

Hi there you have recieved some great advice here from others i think dogman and maximus are on the right path and as others have said it would be wise to seek a medical opinion like maximus i am in involved in physical therapy (remedial massage therapist) and from your explanation this is quite a common injury among rock climbers because of the way they crimp there fingers and support there body weight bit like how we curl our fingers over the fret board and hold the strings down with force
you could google pulley injuries for a better understanding and see if the symptoms match what you are experiencing but please do seek a medical opinion
warm regards symon