srshea -> RE: Injuries... (Feb. 8 2010 16:39:35)
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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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