I didnt know where i should put this and i didnt want to put it under just guitar. i was wondering if anybody has gotten carpal tunnel from playing guitar, bass or, keyboard, ect. and have tips to keep from getting it.

I have already found some.

-When playing dont wear your guitar too low because you want to keep your left hand as straight as possible.

-sit up straight (posture has something to do with your entire body working right so it helps)

-before playing stretch your wrists and arms and warms your hands and wrist up.

I have heard of way more older people getting it but i assume if a person of any age plays guitar hours on hours a day could get carpal tunnel pretty easily.

good thread.i had a problem with this not long ago. icing my wrist and taking a regiment of advil did wonders for me. it was bad so i ended up not playing for a month or two, and its been much better since. boy did those two months suck though. i would definitely recommend you immediately stop playing if you start to experience pain. youre only going to drag out your injury longer if you ignore it. i learned that the hard way.

Good thread, but I'll move it over to the Guitar forum.

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my buddy was playing hardcore baseball for a while... he was the pitcher, and he always had arm problems, and his athletic therapy dude just said to ice his elbow every night. Sadly, on the game that was going to get him full ride in university, he tore out some tendons and cant pitch anymore. Just dont strain yourself i guess... and icing it and warming up will do wonders.

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Good thread!

I would also recommend using the classical position. I unrealisingly took it up when my playing started getting more technical, but its more comfortable and apparently helps the posture.

(For the unknowing - classical position is when the guitar is between the legs).

Improving your technique could help too. Mine involves almost bouncing off the string, or using its own tension as a means of keeping moving, which is also I suppose why I suck at sweeping.

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ive been scrweing around with the classical position with my bass playing ( after seeing alex webster do it in a video). it helps a ton in terms of economy of motion and difficult stretches on the fretboard.

i've been worried about this since i've been playing stupid amounts of time lately. basically i think about it the same way i think about playing fast, when i play i try to put minimum stress on my body. it's really hard to explain, pay attention to your wrist and lower arm when playing as soon as you feel any stress try to find a way to play it that feels less stressful on the body. remember that over bending your wrist and trying to play fast is going to do nothing but hurt.

Good! It helps a ton with stretches. One of my latest riffs includes a stretch from 9 to 16, which I have to pull the guitar closer momentarily closer to my body, I'll admit.



Strapping higher and using Classical position is not only better for you, it looks smarter in my opinion.

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Strapping guitars pretty low has a tremendous impact on your wrist as you're going to be tensing a lot more for certain chord shapes, and you're wrist is always gonna be 90 degrees upwards. Just looking at someone with that posture makes my wrists hurt. Sit or stand up straight, strap it at waste or higher level, always play in a position that allows you to play for hours with no need to take a break. If you find yourself needing a break every 20 minutes something is wrong with your posture and grip so work on that.

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im in total agreement here. ive been getting into alot of classical music the past year, and there are some stretches that could do some serious damage to your fret hand if youre not properly positioned.

soeru youre right on as well. whenever i see kids with their instruments hanging down at their knees i want to walk on stage and adjust it for them.

awesome thread! ive been playing a lot lately and have noticed my wrist being quite sore, but lately it doesnt even hold a candle to the pain and discomfort ive been feeling in my fretting arms albow. anyone else have this problem? well im not sure if its from my guitar anyways it maybe be my other hobbies that are causing this... so idk just wondering.

Relax. I've CTS for a year or so, pretty serious. I couldn't lift anything, so i had to be spoon-fed, pretty shitty. It began hurting just a little while playing guitar and then one day i was playing baseball, and when it was my strike and i hit the ball just *bang* and both my wrists went out the window. Crappy.

Start slow, do other things besides guitar to train your wrists (weight lifting, using a screwdriver, whatever, just a different motion), always relax in every part of your body while playing. Tension is bad for health, speed and accuracy and relaxing makes you look like playing that instrument is a walk in the park, which looks cool. Learn how to properly sit / hold your guitar / fret a string or chord etc. Think economy, you want to do as much as possible with the least motion. Everything should feel natural.

Text outlined in bold is often forgotten but vitally important.

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Does fisting a vagina count?

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THE most worthless post ive ever seen from you

yeah a while back i was having symptoms of carpal tunnel (pains shooting up my wrists and a bit of tingling in my index finger and thumb) so i have to take a break from playing bass for 2 months and i have to wear these splints all day to keep them straight.

I don't think it would, because the direction of force does not cause the wrist to turn, at least if it's a straight-on shot. There also isn't much use of the fingers.

Carpal Tunnel tends to come from force or motion perpendicular, or with a perpendicular component to the wrist.

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Would be better if you played it:

Nice...

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iv also heard that when your just sitting around your soposed to make an effort to keep your fingers straight with your hand but i have also heard you are soposed to curl them up or leave them in the state they would be in if you would just relax... which is true?

classical position is one reason why i HATE strats! the horn towards the low E gets a tad bit too close to your face. but it does help with posture and technicality a lot!

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That's odd... Mine doesn't, and mine is a bit bigger than a normal Strat body.

Crustcore, either's fine, so long as you don't do anything that causes pain, I suppose.

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