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GMC Forum _ PRACTICE ROOM _ Post Practice Symptoms.

Posted by: llibach Dec 4 2011, 10:59 PM

Anyone else out there get a weird tingling senseation in the fingers of the fretting hand after a practice session.
I get it mostly if I practice for over an hour and sometimes during pratice especially if I've been working on legato, sometimes it even happens the morning after a good practice session.
Is this down to bad form or is it normal ? It's never painfull but I Don't want it to become a problem and would rather get to grips with it now before it gets worst.
What are your experiences or post practice symptoms?

Posted by: jstcrsn Dec 4 2011, 11:11 PM

yes ,I have that happen as well . that also happens to my muscles when I work out so I was just chalking it up to using/introducing new muscle memory, there is no pain , so i am not worried- still I keep a watchful eye out

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Dec 4 2011, 11:22 PM

It can happen after intense practice sessions. I'm not an expert, so cannot tell you if this is not healthy, but, personally, I tend to avoid that stress on the fingers by making pauses and warming up. Better be safe then sorry.

Posted by: Nihilist1 Dec 5 2011, 12:24 AM

QUOTE (Ivan Milenkovic @ Dec 4 2011, 10:22 PM) *
It can happen after intense practice sessions. I'm not an expert, so cannot tell you if this is not healthy, but, personally, I tend to avoid that stress on the fingers by making pauses and warming up. Better be safe then sorry.


+1

I have to agree with this statement. When I first started playing guitar for long periods of time, this happened. Are you stretching before you play? Are you warming up? If not, start doing it. You will avoid Tendonitis and a boat load of more horrible problems. Then, take mini-breaks during your playing. At the Julliard school of music they have their students working for 15 minutes, and then taking a 2-3 minute break because apparently, that is the longest your brain can focus at maximum levels. Plus, it allows them to relieve their muscles a little bit. Try it out. I can honestly say it helps because I practice for 11 and a half hours a day, and without those mini-breaks(as well as 5-10 minutes between every hour), it would not be possible.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Dec 5 2011, 02:36 AM

Well said smile.gif In my Saturday Video Chats, we always spend time doing some hand/finger stretches, then some warmup playing before getting in to the lesson. If you start playing cold, you can do some long term damage after a while. So always warm up, and always stretch. Then, try to do some light stretches after your done and drink plenty of water. It helps flush out toxins your muscles create. If you notice swelling, tension in your forearms, maybe run an ice cube over the area ( or a bag of frozen peas like Ben Higgins) this reduces swelling. I'm not a doctor and can't give medical advice, just a player who has suffered injury from playing.

I found out the hard way that hours and hours of intense shredding can wreck your arms/hands and fingers! You get one pair of hands per life. Take good care of them smile.gif Here are some stretches I do every day before practice.

*DON"T DO IT IF IT HURTS (playing or stretching)
*DON"T PUSH THE STRETCH TO PAIN
*DON"T BOUNCE THE STRETCH



Todd

QUOTE (Nihilist1 @ Dec 4 2011, 06:24 PM) *
+1

I have to agree with this statement. When I first started playing guitar for long periods of time, this happened. Are you stretching before you play? Are you warming up? If not, start doing it. You will avoid Tendonitis and a boat load of more horrible problems. Then, take mini-breaks during your playing. At the Julliard school of music they have their students working for 15 minutes, and then taking a 2-3 minute break because apparently, that is the longest your brain can focus at maximum levels. Plus, it allows them to relieve their muscles a little bit. Try it out. I can honestly say it helps because I practice for 11 and a half hours a day, and without those mini-breaks(as well as 5-10 minutes between every hour), it would not be possible.


Posted by: Michael AC Dec 5 2011, 03:04 AM

QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Dec 4 2011, 08:36 PM) *
Well said smile.gif In my Saturday Video Chats, we always spend time doing some hand/finger stretches, then some warmup playing before getting in to the lesson. If you start playing cold, you can do some long term damage after a while. So always warm up, and always stretch. Then, try to do some light stretches after your done and drink plenty of water. It helps flush out toxins your muscles create. If you notice swelling, tension in your forearms, maybe run an ice cube over the area ( or a bag of frozen peas like Ben Higgins) this reduces swelling. I'm not a doctor and can't give medical advice, just a player who has suffered injury from playing.

I found out the hard way that hours and hours of intense shredding can wreck your arms/hands and fingers! You get one pair of hands per life. Take good care of them smile.gif Here are some stretches I do every day before practice.

*DON"T DO IT IF IT HURTS (playing or stretching)
*DON"T PUSH THE STRETCH TO PAIN
*DON"T BOUNCE THE STRETCH



Todd



Since doing more warmup and the stretches Todd described plus always take a short 5 minute break after 45 min the sensation you describe I do not experience anymore.

Posted by: Daniel Realpe Dec 5 2011, 04:39 AM

it's probably not a good thing to have these symptoms. I mean, of course you feel a bit tingly after practicing a lot, but it shouldn't be to the point of bothering you,

Posted by: Ben Higgins Dec 5 2011, 10:52 AM

Usually we can expect a warm, pumped, tingly feeling after working muscles hard.. sometimes if we get it the next day, it could be because we've woken up from being in a static sleeping positon and the blood is coming back to our tired muscles. But as the guys said, just keep an eye on it. If it's being accompanied by pain, then it's probably been overworked and needs a rest.

It may not be anything to worry about but use it as an opportunity to excercise vigilance over how you train your hands.

While we're on the subject of tingling hands, always beware of your sleeping positions.. if you sleep on your arm/hand this can compress neverves and if you sleep with your arm in a bent position this can lead to a nasty condition know as cubital tunnel syndrome (not carpal, that's another nasty one which Todd has experienced). Forewarned is forearmed ! smile.gif

Posted by: Nihilist1 Dec 5 2011, 10:56 AM

QUOTE (Ben Higgins @ Dec 5 2011, 09:52 AM) *
Usually we can expect a warm, pumped, tingly feeling after working muscles hard.. sometimes if we get it the next day, it could be because we've woken up from being in a static sleeping positon and the blood is coming back to our tired muscles. But as the guys said, just keep an eye on it. If it's being accompanied by pain, then it's probably been overworked and needs a rest.

It may not be anything to worry about but use it as an opportunity to excercise vigilance over how you train your hands.

While we're on the subject of tingling hands, always beware of your sleeping positions.. if you sleep on your arm/hand this can compress neverves and if you sleep with your arm in a bent position this can lead to a nasty condition know as cubital tunnel syndrome (not carpal, that's another nasty one which Todd has experienced). Forewarned is forearmed ! smile.gif


I have had Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I got it from working in front of a computer all day rolleyes.gif

Trust me, it is a horrible experience. Do everything you can to never get it!

Posted by: Ben Higgins Dec 5 2011, 11:31 AM

QUOTE (Nihilist1 @ Dec 5 2011, 09:56 AM) *
I have had Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I got it from working in front of a computer all day rolleyes.gif

Trust me, it is a horrible experience. Do everything you can to never get it!


Bogus mellow.gif That must have sucked immensely ! dry.gif


Posted by: Nihilist1 Dec 5 2011, 11:39 AM

QUOTE (Ben Higgins @ Dec 5 2011, 10:31 AM) *
Bogus mellow.gif That must have sucked immensely ! dry.gif


I couldn't play guitar for about a week. I didn't know what to do with myself! I had so much free time. I settled on reading, because even simple things like opening doors and holding a video game controller hurt. It did force me to do a lot of research and now I have a LONG warm-up/stretch routine. I don't think anyone who does my warm-up should ever fear Carpal Tunnel.

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 5 2011, 12:33 PM

QUOTE (Nihilist1 @ Dec 5 2011, 10:39 AM) *
I couldn't play guitar for about a week. I didn't know what to do with myself! I had so much free time. I settled on reading, because even simple things like opening doors and holding a video game controller hurt. It did force me to do a lot of research and now I have a LONG warm-up/stretch routine. I don't think anyone who does my warm-up should ever fear Carpal Tunnel.


What does your warm-up routine contain mate?

Posted by: Nihilist1 Dec 5 2011, 01:11 PM

QUOTE (Cosmin Lupu @ Dec 5 2011, 11:33 AM) *
What does your warm-up routine contain mate?


10.5 Minutes of finger/wrist/arm stretches, followed by a very interesting routine my choir teacher in high school taught me to get the circulation flowing, and then an hour and fifteen minutes of warming up on the fretboard. I can make some youtube videos if anyone is interested.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Dec 5 2011, 03:57 PM

I used to feel some pain on the muscles after long and intense practice sessions. I think that it's normal but it won't be bad if you could check with an specialist.

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 5 2011, 05:02 PM

QUOTE (Nihilist1 @ Dec 5 2011, 12:11 PM) *
10.5 Minutes of finger/wrist/arm stretches, followed by a very interesting routine my choir teacher in high school taught me to get the circulation flowing, and then an hour and fifteen minutes of warming up on the fretboard. I can make some youtube videos if anyone is interested.


That one with the blood flow would be very interesting to see smile.gif

Posted by: llibach Dec 5 2011, 07:18 PM

Thanks for all the advice guys. It's never painfull but and annoyance. Got to admit I do warm up running through scales and a bit of chromatic work but not streching so will start to apply that into my practice. I've played competitive sport for over 15 years where streching and warming up was one of the most important factors, guess I should have applied the same principles to my guitar work and will from now on.
.

Posted by: Nihilist1 Dec 5 2011, 10:55 PM

QUOTE (Cosmin Lupu @ Dec 5 2011, 04:02 PM) *
That one with the blood flow would be very interesting to see smile.gif


I can make that tonight after work!

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 5 2011, 11:09 PM

QUOTE (Nihilist1 @ Dec 5 2011, 09:55 PM) *
I can make that tonight after work!


Sounds good mate!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Dec 6 2011, 01:03 AM

QUOTE (Nihilist1 @ Dec 5 2011, 04:56 AM) *
I have had Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I got it from working in front of a computer all day rolleyes.gif

Trust me, it is a horrible experience. Do everything you can to never get it!


I feel your pain. I work on a computer a ton and practice a ton so (as Ben mentioned) I came down with carpal tunnel in both arms sadly. It really taught me a valuable lesson. It's amazing how extreme pain can be such a good teacher smile.gif I learned to stretch, warmup, cool down, drink lots of water, increase in increments, not all at once, etc.

Essentially things that athletes learn along the way smile.gif Tons of which applies to learning music as well. It's a mental activity but it's also very physical so your body plays a big part.

Todd

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 6 2011, 10:10 AM

Thanks for reminding me that I should empty my bottle of water more often smile.gif drinking water is good for many things!

Posted by: Ben Higgins Dec 6 2011, 12:03 PM

Oh and stay off the coffee when playing guitar as this encourages build up of lactic acid and sluggish muscles !

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 6 2011, 01:24 PM

QUOTE (Ben Higgins @ Dec 6 2011, 11:03 AM) *
Oh and stay off the coffee when playing guitar as this encourages build up of lactic acid and sluggish muscles !


Oh my! The number of times (out of sheer lack of attention) I have experienced that smile.gif ...

Posted by: Alex Feather Dec 6 2011, 08:26 PM

Practicing legato is like working at the gym you can't just start lifting heavy weights you need to warm up first there is a lot of exercises on how to do so! Just start easy and slow until your muscles are warm and ready! If you are not doing warm up exercises it might lead to overplaying your hands and injury! Be very careful!!!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Dec 7 2011, 01:57 AM

QUOTE (Cosmin Lupu @ Dec 6 2011, 04:10 AM) *
Thanks for reminding me that I should empty my bottle of water more often smile.gif drinking water is good for many things!


Bottled water does a body good wink.gif Especially after intense practice. Flushing out the toxins our muscles makes helps recouperation time. It used to take me a couple of days to recover from intense marathon style practice (I tend to sorta get lost in it sometimes and practice for very long periods and lose track of time, especially when running scales/drills). I've since adopted much better habits and can recover by the next day.

So yeah, WATER!, and ICE! and Frozen Peas if need be!

QUOTE (Ben Higgins @ Dec 6 2011, 06:03 AM) *
Oh and stay off the coffee when playing guitar as this encourages build up of lactic acid and sluggish muscles !


Quite true! And it's a diuretic so it makes you get rid of precious water that your body needs. I'm a big fan of the odd cup of strong Java/redbull/etc, but it's really important not to overcaffienate and even more important to replenish fluids.

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 7 2011, 08:04 AM

QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Dec 7 2011, 12:57 AM) *
Bottled water does a body good wink.gif Especially after intense practice. Flushing out the toxins our muscles makes helps recouperation time. It used to take me a couple of days to recover from intense marathon style practice (I tend to sorta get lost in it sometimes and practice for very long periods and lose track of time, especially when running scales/drills). I've since adopted much better habits and can recover by the next day.

So yeah, WATER!, and ICE! and Frozen Peas if need be!



Quite true! And it's a diuretic so it makes you get rid of precious water that your body needs. I'm a big fan of the odd cup of strong Java/redbull/etc, but it's really important not to overcaffienate and even more important to replenish fluids.


What are Frozen Peas? smile.gif

Posted by: Nihilist1 Dec 7 2011, 08:53 AM

QUOTE (Cosmin Lupu @ Dec 7 2011, 07:04 AM) *
What are Frozen Peas? smile.gif


http://easypeasyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/WF-peas1.jpg

I think they might be called mazăre in Romania. That is all dependent on whether or not Google Translate is correct.

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