A dumb injury, a great remedy

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gj Michelob

Posts: 1531
Joined: Nov. 7 2008
From: New York City/San Francisco

A dumb injury, a great remedy

A dumb injury, a great remedy:
I repeatedly mentioned how I injured my LH’s index and was unable to play for two weeks. My unexpected inability to enjoy the Holidays’ free time and play to my heart’s content horribly exacerbated the already stressful state of affairs.

I injured my fingers on “pegs”. Yes sir, that is why I chose to pre-empt any similar epithets and concede that it is a “dumb” injury. ‘wanted to be cool and use the traditional pegs. For looks, more than anything else. My inexperience perhaps, or otherwise to be blamed on stiff poorly fitted pegs. Whichever… I injured that index to the point it wouldn't care to bend at the sight of the pope!!

A few kind hearted members of this Forum (you know who you are) offered compassionate advice. It helped to give hope and some relief. But ultimately…. Acupuncture, excruciatingly painful acupuncture, one hour long, but then, a few hours after leaving what seemed a torture chamber, absolute relief. Freedom from the debilitating effects of pain. The therapeutic advice is to resume playing in a week. I will eagerly wait until I am back from Madrid. Nothing like being on a diet, to appreciate the subtle flavor of simple bread we had taken for granted. I emotionally look forward to hearing my hand form any chord…. and dwell on it as if the universe were applauding.

God bless Chinese medicine… and my Chinese mother in law who introduced me to it and fried rice.

_____________________________

gj Michelob

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 11 2009 18:12:06

Jim Opfer

Posts: 1876
Joined: Jul. 19 2003
From: Glasgow, Scotland.

RE: A dumb injury, a great remedy (in reply to gj Michelob)

Mind over matter.
After one hour of excruciatingly painful acupuncture, you were advised:
'If it's not better by tomorrow, come back and we'll try again'.....Oh! it feels better already.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 12 2009 0:15:02

Stu

Posts: 2564
Joined: Jan. 30 2007
From: London (the South of it), England

RE: A dumb injury, a great remedy (in reply to gj Michelob)

Hey good to hear you're on the mend. I'd missed the original post but it sounds upsetting to have been unable to play during the holidays when there was plenty of time!

How did you injure it on Pegs??

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 12 2009 2:21:16

gj Michelob

Posts: 1531
Joined: Nov. 7 2008
From: New York City/San Francisco

RE: A dumb injury, a great remedy (in reply to Jim Opfer)

quote:

Mind over matter.
After one hour of excruciatingly painful acupuncture, you were advised:
'If it's not better by tomorrow, come back and we'll try again'.....Oh! it feels better already.

ha ha ha... a witty commentary, Jim, and possibly true: fear of a greater pain should put things into a more pragmatic perspective lol.

Thank you, Stu. The pegs on my GV Rubio were rather stiff but i obviously could not resist playin' and tuning it regardless, before anyone could adjust them. It was the pressure i applied by holding the peg between LH's thumb and index, which caused repeated stress and then injury on the latter finger.

Tom, suggested Planetary Pegs as a possible solution, before i have the guitar converted to machines... does anyone have any experience with those.

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gj Michelob

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 12 2009 4:40:02

n85ae

Posts: 877
Joined: Sep. 7 2006

RE: A dumb injury, a great remedy (in reply to gj Michelob)

quote:

God bless Chinese medicine… and my Chinese mother in law who introduced me to it and fried rice.

Oh, my wife is Chinese as well, keep both of those away from me! Chinese
mother-in-law, and medicine that is ...

Jeff

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 12 2009 8:02:46

gj Michelob

Posts: 1531
Joined: Nov. 7 2008
From: New York City/San Francisco

RE: A dumb injury, a great remedy (in reply to n85ae)

quote:

keep both of those away from me! Chinese
mother-in-law, and medicine that is ...

Jeff

I would agree with you generally, Jeff, but this time both performed a little miracle.

_____________________________

gj Michelob

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 12 2009 17:40:58

Pgh_flamenco

Posts: 1506
Joined: Dec. 5 2007
From: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

RE: A dumb injury, a great remedy (in reply to gj Michelob)

About a month ago I practiced picado a bit too hard and the next day my m finger was so sore it hurt every time I bent it. I was lifting weights with the hurt finger—doing shrugs for my traps—and for the first three times I did the exercise with 315 lbs. I could feel and hear the tendon on my m finger snap. When I was done I noticed there was no pain when I moved my m finger. The pain was completely gone and it didn’t come back!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 12 2009 21:57:56

gj Michelob

Posts: 1531
Joined: Nov. 7 2008
From: New York City/San Francisco

RE: A dumb injury, a great remedy (in reply to Pgh_flamenco)

quote:

was lifting weights with the hurt finger—doing shrugs for my traps—and for the first three times I did the exercise with 315 lbs.

Pitt, you weren't lifting 315 lbs. with your finger, were you?
But I am serious, please tell me more about what you did. This is very interesting because I, on the other hand and maybe based on a judgment error, determined it was best to quit exercising in order to avoid further injury.

By the way, I am getting my GV Rubio converted from pegs to tuning machines.

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gj Michelob

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 13 2009 3:52:15

Pgh_flamenco

Posts: 1506
Joined: Dec. 5 2007
From: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

RE: A dumb injury, a great remedy (in reply to gj Michelob)

quote:

But I am serious, please tell me more about what you did. This is very interesting because I, on the other hand and maybe based on a judgment error, determined it was best to quit exercising in order to avoid further injury.

It’s difficult to describe an exercise in written form but I’ll try. You could ask someone who lifts weights to show you how to do this. It’s called a shoulder shrug but it hits the traps more than the shoulders. Also, I think what happened here was the type of outcome associated with the procedures chiropractors use.

The weight for this particular exercise starts out on a stand a few feet off the ground. I had wrist straps with a loop that went around my wrist above the hand (one for each hand) and a length of material longer than the palm of my hand which I wrapped tightly around the bar. This transfers some of the weight away from the fingers and to the arms directly above the wrist. With both hands on the bar the weight is lifted a few inches from the stand by shrugging the shoulders. This movement puts most of the tension in the trapezius muscle—a muscle group behind the neck and between the shoulders.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 13 2009 11:27:25

gj Michelob

Posts: 1531
Joined: Nov. 7 2008
From: New York City/San Francisco

RE: A dumb injury, a great remedy (in reply to Pgh_flamenco)

very clear, thank you Pgh. However, and may be i misunderstood the purpose altogether, but how is this going to benefit one's finger(s)?

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gj Michelob

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 14 2009 4:36:28

Pgh_flamenco

Posts: 1506
Joined: Dec. 5 2007
From: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

RE: A dumb injury, a great remedy (in reply to gj Michelob)

quote:

may be i misunderstood the purpose altogether, but how is this going to benefit one's finger(s)?

This exercise had nothing to do with specifically treating my hurt finger. That it healed my finger was a completely serendipitous event. The tendon on my m finger must have been thrown out of adjustment by the picado practice the night before--hence the pain. The heavy weight re-aligned the tendon and instantly relieved the pain. It seems to me that it did so in a manner similar to the procedures chiropractors use to treat some injuries.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 14 2009 8:41:06

at_leo_87

Posts: 3055
Joined: Aug. 30 2008
From: Boston, MA, U.S.A

RE: A dumb injury, a great remedy (in reply to gj Michelob)

you can try one of these.

it's guaranteed to give your fingers a six pack.
http://www.stringsbymail.com/catalog/accessories/details/handmaster.asp

is acupuncture that painful? i thought it was supposed to be relaxing.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 14 2009 17:43:15

gj Michelob

Posts: 1531
Joined: Nov. 7 2008
From: New York City/San Francisco

RE: A dumb injury, a great remedy (in reply to at_leo_87)

Ola' Greetings from Madrid.
Thank you at_leo, i was really thinking to pick up one of those.

Finger is much much better now but, yes, Acupuncture on fingers can be seriously painful... as in "stop i will confess" kind of pain.

hasta luego

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gj Michelob

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 15 2009 4:43:35

Guest

[Deleted] (in reply to gj Michelob)

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 15 2009 8:18:31

gj Michelob

Posts: 1531
Joined: Nov. 7 2008
From: New York City/San Francisco

RE: A dumb injury, a great remedy (in reply to Guest)

You are absolutely right, I once had back treatment and it was indeed most relaxing. On your hand/fingers... trust me... it is a miraculous torture.

Madrid is great.

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gj Michelob

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 15 2009 13:01:29