kenjitakeshi -> RE: Curing tendonitis (May 24 2010 12:25:01)
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Dear fellow Flamenco friends, I've been playing Flamenco for about 15 years and never had any problems before, but for the last year or so I began to gradually struggle with my right hand fingers while doing arpeggios and especially tremolos. My ring and middle fingers somehow mysteriously began to curl into the palm of my hand "involuntarily" so it takes a conscious effort for me to uncurl them and have them strike the correct strings on the guitar. In other words, I can still do arpeggios, but they take a lot of effort and my right hand gets very tired quickly because my fingers are not relaxed (since I am forcing them to uncurl in order to hit the proper strings) This has gotten progressively worse and I am now completely unable to do tremolo and I'm struggling heavily with simple arpeggios which I used to be able to do easily. Oddly whatever I'm experiencing has not affected my thumb or picado at all so I can still do these with great ease. I can also do all kinds of rasgueados, but due to the same involuntary curling-in of the middle and ring fingers my hand gets tired very quickly so I am no longer able to do long ragueados like I used to. It's worth mentioning that I do not have any pain at all anywhere. I've tried doing research on the internet, but I haven't been able to find anything remotely similar to what I'm experiencing. Not knowing what was causing this I had to adjust my playing by replacing most arpeggios and tremolos in the songs I play, and using picado or thumb instead. The result is that I've purposely stayed away from doing tremolos and arpeggios for almost a year and maybe this avoidance has made the condition worse (since my fingers are not exposed to doing the techniques regularly). I confess that I miss tremolos and arpeggios with a passion and it's a very helpless feeling not being able to do them. Since my middle and ring fingers are involuntarily curling in after striking each string, what ends up happening is they miss the right string often and it results in very frustrating, sloppy playing. I considered that maybe I am getting some form of rheumatism? (That would be very sad because I would love to be able to play flamenco for the rest of my life) or carpal tunnel? (Since I work on a PC all day). Whatever is happening to my right hand is also affecting my typing so my right hand gets very tired after only a minute or so. It's affecting me to such an extent that I am now typing only with my left hand so my right hand can rest! My right forearm is also very often fatigued even though I don't play often. In fact, I used to play hours a day without a problem, and now due to my condition I only play 5-15 minutes daily. I would greatly appreciate any feedback/advice/comments on this debilitating condition. Has anyone else experienced anything similar? Kenji
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