Broken Hand

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Broken Hand

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shaun

Posts: 176
Joined: May 11 2012
From: Edmonton, Canada

Broken Hand

I've done some damage to the fourth metacarpal in my right hand. This is preventing me from playing guitar. Basically, this sucks. Has anybody else experienced an injury like this? What was the recovery time like?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 15 2014 18:03:50

henrym3483

Posts: 1584
Joined: Nov. 13 2005
From: Limerick,Ireland

RE: Broken Hand (in reply to shaun)

pinky finger metacarpal? took 6 weeks to heal, then 4 months to get back to some decent level of playing. yes it sucks

take your time in the recovery process

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 15 2014 18:07:32

shaun

Posts: 176
Joined: May 11 2012
From: Edmonton, Canada

RE: Broken Hand (in reply to shaun)

Ring finger metacarpal. 4 months! Yikes!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 15 2014 18:25:33

Arash

Posts: 4495
Joined: Aug. 9 2006
From: Iran (living in Germany)

RE: Broken Hand (in reply to shaun)

this sucks man , get well soon.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 15 2014 18:32:31

keith

Posts: 1108
Joined: Sep. 29 2009
From: Back in Boston

RE: Broken Hand (in reply to shaun)

shaun, sorry to hear of your injury. several years ago a window fell on my left middle finger and i was out for a few weeks. during my healing and recovery time i spent practice time working on my right hand. since it was your right hand (non-fretting hand i assume) you could focus on thumb and picado work. your left hand may get better in the process.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 15 2014 18:54:26

Sr. Martins

Posts: 3079
Joined: Apr. 4 2011

RE: Broken Hand (in reply to shaun)

It's been 3 years since I've started recovery from "pick only". It's not fully healed yet but there's been huge progress.

Get well soon

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"Ya no me conoce el sol, porque yo duermo de dia"

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 15 2014 21:46:37

pink

Posts: 570
Joined: Jan. 8 2013

RE: Broken Hand (in reply to shaun)

Get well soon ....but try not to rush things!!
Shall be thinking positive thoughts for you Shaun.

Best

pink

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 15 2014 22:00:07

Ramon Amira

Posts: 1025
Joined: Oct. 14 2009
From: New York City

RE: Broken Hand (in reply to shaun)

That sucks all right. But while your "A" finger is recovering, you can play picado with I and M, which you mostly do anyway, you can play arpeggios with P-I-M, you can play rasgueados with P, I, and M, and you still have "P" and ligado. Plenty there.

Ramon

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Classical and flamenco guitars from Spain Ramon Amira Guitars

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 16 2014 1:48:58

Blondie#2

Posts: 530
Joined: Sep. 14 2010

RE: Broken Hand (in reply to Ramon Amira)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Prominent Critic
But while your "A" finger is recovering, you can play picado with I and M, which you mostly do anyway, you can play arpeggios with P-I-M, you can play rasgueados with P, I, and M,

Well I would seek advice from a therapist who specialises in this kind of thing (eg musicians injuries or at least sports injuries) but would guess the above is all extremely unlikely, and unwise, due to that fact that M-A-C are highly interconnected and in most situations A sympathetically flexes with M.

To see what I mean, hold out your hand, relaxed , fingers outstretched and slowly flex your M finger curling it in towards the palm. Unless you are tensing A to hold it still, it is not long before A starts following M.

The real danger, and this causes no end of problems, is that Shaun would recognise this but try and compensate somehow - carrying on with all those movements above but consciously or unconsciously adapting his technique to avoid movement or pain in A. That's when things really get screwed up.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 16 2014 7:38:13

machopicasso

Posts: 973
Joined: Nov. 27 2010

RE: Broken Hand (in reply to shaun)

quote:

Has anybody else experienced an injury like this? What was the recovery time like?

I'm really sorry to hear about your injury.

While I have not experienced this particular injury, I am recovering from another one (a rotator cuff injury from weightlifting). I would recommend learning as much as you can about the nature of your injury, including the most effective strategy for rehab. I failed to do that with mine and, as a result, simultaneously delayed my recovery and made the injury worse. So, don't do what I did!

If you can perform any guitar-related movements with your right hand which don't cause pain to the injured part, then I would suggest continue doing those. But, more importantly, seek out expert advice and patiently do whatever the best available science recommends.

Hang in there and good luck.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 16 2014 10:11:19

burnsbyrne

Posts: 44
Joined: Sep. 17 2005
From: NE Ohio, USA

RE: Broken Hand (in reply to shaun)

I broke my left wrist, the radius bone, about twenty years ago. After two surgeries over two years I was about 90%. What I didn't realize was that I was compensating for my weak wrist with my elbows and I developed chronic "tennis elbow" in both arms and eventually had to stop playing altogether. About 9 months ago I started playing again, taking it very slowly to avoid wrist and elbow pain. I am making progress but very slowly.

My advice to you is to find a physician and/or physical therapist who specializes in upper extremity injuries. Take it slow and avoid the impulse to overdo it. Good luck for your recovery!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 16 2014 11:40:47

Erik van Goch

Posts: 1787
Joined: Jul. 17 2012
From: Netherlands

RE: Broken Hand (in reply to shaun)

Sorry to hear about your problems. Make sure you take all the time you need to heal it properly. Keep in mind not all advise is trustable, not even from "specialists" in hospitals. When my father had a hand operation by one of the best doctors in the field (specialized in hands of musicians) the aftercare was done by the hospitals revalidation department. The exercises they told my father to do seemed to go against all logic. So my father refused to do them and with good reasons. According to the doctor the exercises suggested were quite the opposite of what he told them to do and could indeed have harmed him very much. For this reason that highly specialist doctor decided to leave the hospital and to continue his practice elsewhere.

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The smaller the object of your focus the bigger the result.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 16 2014 12:50:35

mark indigo

Posts: 3625
Joined: Dec. 5 2007

RE: Broken Hand (in reply to shaun)

quote:

I've done some damage to the fourth metacarpal in my right hand. This is preventing me from playing guitar. Basically, this sucks. Has anybody else experienced an injury like this? What was the recovery time like?

bad news about your hand

really hard to say how long to recover without knowing what sort of injury/damage it is

likely you can still play with pulgar, and maybe pulgar-indice combinations, even if you can't use middle or ring fingers (and that means no golpe either).

Another suggestion is to read up on the hand, I have found that learning about the hand has helped me to become more sensitive to (and to avoid) misuse and overuse of the hands

you might try "The Hand: How Its Use Shapes the Brain, Language, and Human Culture" by Frank R. Wilson as a general easy reading introduction

best of luck with it

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 16 2014 13:36:56

shaun

Posts: 176
Joined: May 11 2012
From: Edmonton, Canada

RE: Broken Hand (in reply to shaun)

It's been almost two weeks since the injury and with the swelling down and movement improving, I tried to play a little bit of guitar last night. Thumb and index are fine and the middle finger is usable but very limited.

quote:

The real danger, and this causes no end of problems, is that Shaun would recognise this but try and compensate somehow - carrying on with all those movements above but consciously or unconsciously adapting his technique to avoid movement or pain in A.

quote:

What I didn't realize was that I was compensating for my weak wrist with my elbows and I developed chronic "tennis elbow" in both arms and eventually had to stop playing altogether.

This has been one of my biggest concerns. I've had injuries in the past where one extremity is injured but the other one experiences more long term effects because it overcompensated during the healing and recovery time.

quote:

Another suggestion is to read up on the hand, I have found that learning about the hand has helped me to become more sensitive to (and to avoid) misuse and overuse of the hands

you might try "The Hand: How Its Use Shapes the Brain, Language, and Human Culture" by Frank R. Wilson as a general easy reading introduction

I'll probably do that. Since I'm limited in what I can do, reading seems like a good way to fill in the time that's left open.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 16 2014 15:39:27

jba

Posts: 1
Joined: Sep. 18 2015

RE: Broken Hand (in reply to henrym3483)

Hi,
I broke my 5th metacarpal at the base (pinkie finger on right hand) on May 4th.
Still in a cast... no surgery as long as it stays stable.....
I saw a few posts about it.
Does anyone have any insights having gone through the experience?
I am so worried about it......
Many thanks and kindest regards,
jba

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 28 2016 6:55:28

jshelton5040

Posts: 1500
Joined: Jan. 17 2005

RE: Broken Hand (in reply to jba)

I shattered my right wrist many years ago in a horse riding accident. I propped the cast on a cheapo guitar and practiced picado for six weeks. When the doc removed the cast he was amazed that my arm hadn't shrunk at all. Overall it was probably a benefit to my technique