RSI/Carpal Tunnel

[AussieRoger]

What is the most effective way to not get RSI or carpal tunnel? I heard Chris Thile say he had a battle with "scar tissue" in his wrist when he was 16 or 17... is it unavoidable?

I already do stretches (ones that feel right, not learned ones).

[Jon Hall]

I had CT surgery on my left wrist, two years ago. My suggestions are:

Stretching and warming up with scales at a moderate tempo

Keeping the wrist you fret with, as straight as possible while playing. Try playing with your thumb in a position that is generally opposing your ring finger and not your first finger.

Be conscious of tension in any part of your body while playing and make yourself relax. Don't press the strings any harder than you need to. You might need to have your action lowered.

Your wrist isn't the only part of your body needing attention. It's possible to injure any part from your hand to your neck.

Always maintain good posture whether you're standing or sitting. Collapsed on the couch, playing along with a video is bad for your health.

If you angle the mando approx. 45 degrees to your body it allows your upper arm to hang straight down relieving stress in your arm, shoulder and neck. Your mando will have more volume with the back not touching your body.

I hope this helps.

[John Flynn]

I have some pre-CTS symptoms and I play a lot. Here is what I do that has helped.

Strecthes are good. I especially like the wrist and finger stretches at: http://www.musicianshealth.com/stretches.htm
Those stretches really help me with my symptoms. Sometimes I have even gotten immediate relief for some intense pain using them.

I try to concentrate on keeping my wrist straight or even bent forward slightly. I try to avoid bending the wrist back, because I have a tendency to do that and it leads to problems for me.

I try to concentrate on using less tension. A lighter touch is not only healthier, but allows me to play better.

I never play through pain. If it is hurting, I will sit out until I can get the pain to go away. Fortunately, that has not happened in performance, and even if it did, my band could cover for me.


Good luck with it! Wrist pain is no fun.

[SandyBarRanch]

I'm dealing with some tendon problems. I highly recommend the advice of a good physical therapist and/or accupuncturist. I've been shown some excersizes to tone the muscle in the sore tendon area, they seem to e helping. If tendons flair up, lay off playing for a few days, use alternate heat and cold on sore area.

[jasona]

Try playing with your thumb in a position that is generally opposing your ring finger and not your first finger.
Why do you say this? I thought that CT was caused by working the tendons over the wrist bones (inside the carpal tunnel), so one should avoid any sort of strain on these ligaments. What I do is hold the mando between the thumb and first finger using a natural, sideways (towards the edge of the hand) pressure of the thumb. to do as you suggest causes much greater strain on the tendons to me. Obviously I am missing something (or am wired differently ;) )

(Also, the "thumb in to edge of hand" technique shouldn't cause any movement in the carpal tunnal as far as I can tell...but I'm no occupational therapist! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif )

[mrbook]

Stretching helped me some, but I wanted to avoid surgery (the computer is probably a bigger problem than the mandolin). Someone told me about vitamin B-6, which I've never heard mentioned here. 800 mg/day for a month was their sugestion, with half that amount after. I tried it for about 3 weeks and had no more problems, although I take 400 mg once in a while. Problems have held off for a year and a half, but I'm noticing a slight problem again - mainly from the computer mouse - and will try it again. You can continue to play the mandolin while taking it. It worked for my daughter, too.

[AussieRoger]

Interesting about the vitamin B6, I might try it. I agree that the computer is at least as bad as the mando. One seems to exacerbate the problems caused by the other!

[John S]

For you folks experiencing CT problems from using a mouse, try the
3M ergonomic mouse (http://www.3m.com/ergonomics/ergonomicmouse.jhtml). I was experiencing numbness and tingling in my wrist, and my index finger was even twitching on its own as if I were pressing on a mouse button. I switched to the 3M mouse and those symptoms have all gone away. The wrist feels good.

[John Flynn]

Another way to help avoid CT, IMHO, is the very ergonomic neck and compund radius fretboard on the Rigel. It is not a panacea, by any means, but comparing it to the more traditional neck profile and flat fretboard I played for 10 years, I do think it helps.

[AussieRoger]

I use a trackpad, which I think is far more ergonomic than a mouse ;)

I haven't tried a Rigel, but I really want to. Curse my geographical location!