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Injuries...
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srshea
Posts: 833
Joined: Oct. 29 2006
From: Olympia, WA in the Great Pacific Northwest
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RE: Injuries... (in reply to XXX)
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Hey, Deniz I’m not totally clear on the specifics of the problem you’re having, but there seem to be some similarities with my own finger problem, so I figured I’d drop in and cross compare. From your descriptions I can’t quite tell if what you’re talking about is more of a nerve thing or more of a tissue thing. When you say that the pain is “in” the tip of the finger and that it feels like there’s something “in” there, do you mean right at the surface or deeper into the flesh of your fingertip? And when you say finger tip are you talking about the dead center (where the finger meets the string) or the area where the finger and the nail are connected? I think of the electrical shock “zing” deal as a nerve thing. It’s like a nerve gets “pinched” or “pops”. But if I’m seeing your photos correctly, it looks like you’ve got swelling in the area where the nail connects to the finger, which is exactly where I’ve been experiencing my problems. Last June I came home after two nights in a row of dance class. My hands were feeling a bit raw and worn out, but no worse than usual really. I went to do some dishes and as soon as my hands got wet the nail/finger connection area of my left middle finger started stinging like a son of a bitch. Same thing next morning when I took a shower. The stinging-when-exposed-to-water feeling told me that what I was dealing with was some kind of tear or break in the skin. Outside of that, the feeling was basically the same as when I’ve accidentally cut a nail too short (though I did not actually cut the nail to short in this case) and it feels really tender and raw for a few days, before the nail grows out a bit. (It looks like your nails are cut really short. Have you considered that as a potential part of the problem?) I’ve had this happen plenty of times in the past and it’s always worked itself out after a few days of taking it easy. That didn’t happen this time. Things just got worse, even when I fully rested the finger for weeks at a time. Guitar playing became a total no-go, typing on a keyboard would send raw waves of pain up my arm. Even just a gentle, accidental brush of that fingertip against something soft would hurt. Even though this was definitely a soft tissue problem there was still a bit of a sensitive “nervy” aspect to it as well. Sometimes I would get a nervy feeling that would run up my arm and up the side of my neck and jaw. This would happen pretty much at random, and wouldn’t necessarily be triggered by my aggravating the problem finger. So, I spent the first few months trying to manage the problem, taking some time off, trying to start up again and I got absolutely no where with that. I was focused on isolating the right hand for a time and actually making the best of that for a while when I got a pretty deep cut RIGHT where my thumb callous is. At that point I got very discouraged/depressed and just packed the ol’ git box up and stashed it in the corner. After a few months I tentatively started playing again, and so far I seem to be better. Not 100%, but much better than at any time in the previous 6+ months. I always play with a capo, and have been using low tension strings as I work my way back into playing. I can get away with 60 to 90 minutes a few times a week. Anything beyond that, and I can feel the finger getting close to that “danger zone”, so I’ll back off and take it easy for a few days. Fretting with the finger straight down tends to be more “iffy” than fretting with the finger at an angle, so I’ve been doing that. It’s a little crappy technique wise and sometimes I end up muffling the next highest string but, it’s better than nothing. So, finger injuries, yeah. This sh*t sucks, doesn’t it? I’m glad to be a least partly better, but I’m still at the point where I’m carefully monitoring myself and managing the problem day to day. Not out of the woods yet. I dunno if this is something that will fully clear up in time, or if I’m gonna have to manage it long-term. Guess I’ll just take it as it comes. Deniz, all I can say is “I feel your pain”, for real!
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Date Feb. 8 2010 16:39:35
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srshea
Posts: 833
Joined: Oct. 29 2006
From: Olympia, WA in the Great Pacific Northwest
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RE: Injuries... (in reply to srshea)
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In response to Pgh_flamenco on another thread: “I've never heard of this happening to a finger used for fretting. Was the nail long enough to touch the fb?” Yeah, the only other similar stories I’ve heard have concerned the strumming hand, not the fretting hand, so I don’t know what’s wrong with me! The nail wasn’t too long, or too short for that matter, though now I have to keep that nail longer than I used to. If I go too short the problem is more prone to flare up again, but if I let it get too long, it increases the likelihood that the nail will catch on something and pull up from the nail bed, aggravating the problem all over again. So I’ve been micromanaging the length and shape of this nail, and have found an odd, lopsided shape that seems to work best. I’ve been keeping my index nail a bit longer than usual because I started to feel “the problem” start creeping up on that finger a while back as well. Take care of your fingers, folks!
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Feb. 8 2010 16:42:09
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srshea
Posts: 833
Joined: Oct. 29 2006
From: Olympia, WA in the Great Pacific Northwest
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RE: Injuries... (in reply to XXX)
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quote:
Maybe i can start playing via using a protection, like a finger condom or something. Oh, man. I’ve got a long list of bullsh*t homemade fixes that I tried out. I superglued it, I wrapped the finger tight in surgical tape hoping that would hold the nail and finger together, and, yes, I even made a little finger condom. Got one of those brown rubber thimble things with nubs all over it that you get at an office supply store, you know, for counting lot’s of money or something. I carefully clipped all the little nubs off so that the surface was smooth and then tried wearing it while playing. There is no “smiley” in all the internet that can express how totally lame and unproductive that experiment was….. Wish I could offer more help with your problem. Sounds like our aflictions are superficially similar, but ultimately different in nature. Sounds like your thing is more on the inside of you finger and not at the surface of the skin, but, just for the heck of it, I’ll mention the one thing aside from sitting around and waiting that I think helped a little bit, which was witch hazel. I don’t know if you’ve got a different name for it over there (my one visit to a Berlin drugstore was a bit baffling…). What we get over here is an extract from the witch hazel plant in an alcohol base. It mostly works as a topical astringent but I think it has some good-for-the-skin curative properties as well, and I believe it’s been used for muscular soreness and swelling. I couldn’t use a nailbrush or anything to clean under the nail since that would just inflame the problem, so I routinely flushed out that area with witch hazel. I think, for me, it was good for keeping the area clean and bacteria free, and the alcohol was good for making sure the “fissure” area was kept dry. Sorry, but that’s all I got…..
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Feb. 10 2010 14:30:55
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srshea
Posts: 833
Joined: Oct. 29 2006
From: Olympia, WA in the Great Pacific Northwest
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RE: Injuries... (in reply to Pgh_flamenco)
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Hooo boy, do not get me started on the subject of intellectual laziness in the medical establishment. I once went through a years long, debt-digging process of seeking help with a GI problem, during which I saw every kind of doc under the sun: general MD, gastroenterologist, colorectal surgeon, naturopath, homeopath, Chinese medicine, acupuncture, bio-feedback, the works! I was met with a disheartening indifference from all the “traditional medicine” guys, since my symptoms didn’t directly match up with their own immediate knowledge. My favorite answer from one of these guys to my question as to what he thought the problem might be was an impassive stare and this gem: “Ya got me…”. Thanks Dr. Genius, here’s your f*cking check! I tend to disregard TV gurus, but I gotta say that I am a Dr. Oz fan. He seems to offer a refreshing and pragmatic balance between traditional and alternative medicine and an honest, healthy, whatever-works approach.
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Feb. 10 2010 15:18:03
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