Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.
This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.
We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.
Posts: 2879
Joined: Jan. 30 2007
From: London (the South of it), England
Broken thumb, lost nail.need solution
Hi all, I'm after some advice. I broke my right hand thumb in late January. Pretty grim crush injury with plenty blood and severed skin. I crushed the joint. I got 75% movement back and no trouble executing any flamenco techniques from a movement point of view.
Anyway long story short.
Last month my old nail finally fell off with new one underneath. However the new nail length was 3mm or so short of the top of my thumb. It's growing really slowly and still hasn't reached the tip. I can't wait any longer. I have to play!! Is there any acrylic/fake nail solution I can use/fix to my thumb until it's fully grown again???
Any experience with these products etc? Links gratefully received.
RE: Broken thumb, lost nail.need sol... (in reply to Stu)
Ouch sounds brutal! Glad your still able to play. Coincidentally I just broke my thumb nail and I’m supposed to play a show Saturday. My thumb is an ongoing problem so I’ve tried acrylic with tip a lot of times and I hate the way it feels and sounds so I decided to try UV gel. So far I’m really liking it. It doesn’t feel and sound so heavy and supposedly a lot better for your nails. I bought te stuff on amazon to do it and there’s tons of vids on YouTube about how to apply it. Just search “guitar gel nails”. Hope this helps and you’re back at it soon! Willing to bet there’s a ton of nail salons in London that would do it for you too.
"Anything you do can be fixed. What you cannot fix is the perfection of a blank page. What you cannot fix is that pristine, unsullied whiteness of a screen or a page with nothing on it—because there’s nothing there to fix."
RE: Broken thumb, lost nail.need sol... (in reply to mecmachin)
Lol Pwin!
Damn Stu, I’m glad to hear that you’ve regained everything back already minus the nail. If there is any nerve ending trauma it can take a while, had a lot of experience with that myself. Time to become a Picado monster!
RE: Broken thumb, lost nail.need sol... (in reply to Stu)
quote:
I'm after some advice
Well, my advice would be to wait until the nail matures before putting anything on it. Why risk doing permanent damage to a presently fragile structure when waiting 30 days or so will work? At the least, check with your doctor first.
RE: Broken thumb, lost nail.need sol... (in reply to Stu)
It's great that it recovered well.
All I can think of as advice is to take health supplements that improve nail and hair growth, something like biotin and other stuff that can be found by googling. get better soon
Thumb picks or pingpong ball nail fix might be temporary solution
RE: Broken thumb, lost nail.need sol... (in reply to Stu)
Yeah it's a prop for magicians. A hidden compartment type of thing.
For what's it worth, I agree with Dave K on this one. Dunno, for some reason I'd think a new nail like that might be a bit on the fragile side and I'd wait till it's "settled in".
_____________________________
"Anything you do can be fixed. What you cannot fix is the perfection of a blank page. What you cannot fix is that pristine, unsullied whiteness of a screen or a page with nothing on it—because there’s nothing there to fix."
Posts: 2879
Joined: Jan. 30 2007
From: London (the South of it), England
RE: Broken thumb, lost nail.need sol... (in reply to Piwin)
Guys thanks. Especially for the words of caution. I hadnt.really thought about that. Am just eager to get playing. Perhaps I will hold off and practice finger stuff.
Even without the full nail support round the tip of my thumb the thumb tech feels strong. Just lack of tone and attack.
I'm kind of hoping once the nail is back, I'll realise that the brake/accident has actually given me some kind of super thumb powers. Like spider mans spider bite or the turtles on radio active gloop.
Also! Health supplements. Thanks for that. Excellent idea for healing on general.
RE: Broken thumb, lost nail.need sol... (in reply to Stu)
Speaking of nails- I just crushed my right index fingertip this morning. My nail has a big dent right in the center going into the flesh and a tear going up near the cuticle. The nail will probably fall off. Really sucks because I have been working hard on picado lately and making progress. So I guess I’m going to have to learn recent Gerardo Nunez material (poor Gerardo). Or practice music theory :/ for the next 2 months
RE: Broken thumb, lost nail.need sol... (in reply to Leñador)
Thanks dude. I was using a stationary disc sander and ithe piece I was grinding got sucked in between the platform and the disc along with my finger. Could have been a lot worse!
Posts: 2879
Joined: Jan. 30 2007
From: London (the South of it), England
RE: Broken thumb, lost nail.need sol... (in reply to JasonM)
Jeez Jason, that sounds nasty man. I hope its not to painful If its any consolation I am playing again and my thumb technique feels better than ever..weird. Maybe your picado will fare the same.
After practically no growth for weeks. After I posted, the nail grew back really quickly. surprising. So practicing every Eve now for an hr or so. It's great. Really missed it.
RE: Broken thumb, lost nail.need sol... (in reply to Stu)
Wow maybe you willed it back? And better than ever? Yeah I’d take that consolation. glad to hear your back in the game finally. My It’s such a long time to be out of commission.. Only you guys get it
Posts: 2879
Joined: Jan. 30 2007
From: London (the South of it), England
RE: Broken thumb, lost nail.need sol... (in reply to JasonM)
yeah it does seem better than ever. the nail integrity isn't. I mean my technique. i don't know why. maybe the rest, maybe the fact it doesn't bend so much at the top knuckle anymore. or maybe the practice/work I'd done prior is paying off. who knows.