Wrist supports for guitarists/musicians

Spicy Lauren

Hey All,

It's been a while since I was on here but where's the best place to get advice on stuff when you need it

I've been suffering from tendonitis in the left arm for 6 months and been going through a lot of physio to ease the pain as well as a complete break from playing to give the arm a rest. Lately I've seen great improvement though and the doctor has advised I was able to go back to playing guitar on my own time (at the moment, about 10-15 minutes a day... I'm afraid I'll strain the arm again if I play more) and suggested I wear a wrist support when I play.

I was wondering if some of you had ideas on where I could purchase a good musician wrist support and if you had advice on which brand to get etc. I don't mind paying a bit of money for it as anything that will help my tendonitis go away would be a god-send

Thanks very much!

Lauren x

Exmnk

Look in your sports shops, think tennis and golf, same problems.

Denalihighway

came across this place in another forum re sports injuries etc...they're based in ringsend. just did a quick search on arm/elbow supports and came up with below but dont know exactly you need obviously...

http://physioneeds.biz/BrowseProducts.aspx?type=/5/86/

raindog.promo

Read in a guitar mag a long time ago some exercises to reduce effects of tendonitis et al.

1) stretch fingers out straight (as if giving a nazi salute) .
2) stretch bend fingers to 90 degrees in the direction of your palm.
3) stretch/bend fingers down to wrist/bottom of palm.
4) stretch/bend fingers into middle of palm.
5) stretch/bend fingers to where knuckles are on your palm.

repeat ad nauseum

place left hand thumb on the back of your right hand and pull the right hand fingers upwards (not too severely) with left hand fingers for 30 seconds 5 times on each hand.

rotate hand (basically doing the "you're a wanker" hand gesture) in both directions.

Too drunk at the moment but I'll send you a youtube video of the motions tomorrow.

Spicy Lauren

raindog.promo wrote: »

Read in a guitar mag a long time ago some exercises to reduce effects of tendonitis et al.

1) stretch fingers out straight (as if giving a nazi salute) .
2) stretch bend fingers to 90 degrees in the direction of your palm.
3) stretch/bend fingers down to wrist/bottom of palm.
4) stretch/bend fingers into middle of palm.
5) stretch/bend fingers to where knuckles are on your palm.

repeat ad nauseum

place left hand thumb on the back of your right hand and pull the right hand fingers upwards (not too severely) with left hand fingers for 30 seconds 5 times on each hand.

rotate hand (basically doing the "you're a wanker" hand gesture) in both directions.

Too drunk at the moment but I'll send you a youtube video of the motions tomorrow.

this is not what i was asking, but thanks... i guess.

raindog.promo

You could try going and ****eing then..., i guess.

Just ****ing google it if you're not going to be exact

Rigsby

Yep ! Google is your friend alright.

http://www.google.ie/search?sourceid=navclient&hl=en-GB&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4DAIE_en-GBIE266IE266&q=musician+wrist+support

groovemerchant7

Hi,

Seriously, I wouldnt take any advice from anyone but a GP regards this..I would recommend you speak to a GP that specialise in musical injuries.Sorry to anyone who has posted with suggestions as, I'm sure they are just trying to be helpful...

I know some guys who have suffered from this, and often the only thing prescribed is complete rest...months...maybe a year in some cases. I know one guy who had surgery but, has never really recovered so, if you aim to play professionally you should take this seriously and talk to a specialist.

I don't think wearing a wrist band when playing will help. It is most likely you have been over playing or just playing with bad technique that's led to strain. If you continue you could do serious damage and be not play again at the level you may want. Go to a good qualified teacher and let him/her check out your technique and see where there maybe issues. My rule is if it is painful... stop! Analyse what your hands are doing and adjust...look in a mirror or video yourself when playing and check out where your hands are at..again a good teacher will help you out here.

You can still practice in other ways if you need to rest. You can do ear training..singing..solfa. rhythmic/metronome work..sight reading..intense listening...books...writing tunes..singing along to solos/pieces of music you like. A friend of mine had tendonitis and had not played for about a year but, was still working on stuff like the above. He arrived on the gig and totally slayed it, I couldn't believe how got despite not playing. I guess the moral of the story is practice is not just instrument based.


This is a useful link to info regards eliminating bad posture/technique that can be applied to most cases. It's basically using economy of motion i.e using as little physical effort as possible when playing...by that I dont mean stopping doing power slides etc:) just over straining your hands, back whatever... They do seminars from time to time in Ireland. This is useful for all musicians..

http://www.alexandertechnique.com/

Hope this was someway useful...

F5MWG

I have that myself, I got an Adidas wrist support in Argos there, only €6.99. It only helps a little though.