Anyone dealing with a wrist injury or pain?

[thiswaythatway]

My right wrist is screwed up. Back in 1994-95 I remember I was half drunk in my friends garage watching the first UFC on PPV and, like idiots, we were punching a heavy bag he had. I remember hitting it wrong and my right wrist hurt for about a month. Eventually I guess it healed and didn't have any issue for years. Then in 2002 I was riding an ATV and I remember my front tire hit a stump and stopped me going from about 15mph to ZERO and it felt like a hammer hit my wrist. Ever since then I've dealt with pain there, and there's a noticeable bump on my right wrist.

Over the past few years pain will come and go, it's there for a few days, goes away for a month, comes back, etc. Now, I'm on a few weeks and it hurts and it's not going away. I can't throw a football or a dart without pain. I can play guitar but I've have to adjust my right hand and arm position. Using my whole arm instead of my wrist would be a good thing for me. I can't do a regular pushup where you would place your palm flat on the ground, but I'm fine using my knuckles so my wrist is straight, which is the correct way to do a pushup actually.

I'm actually going to go to my doctor for a checkup, get fingered and all, but I think I will ask to get an Xray and maybe see a specialist. I've asked a few people and some thought I may have broken something and it never healed correctly and not it's arthritic. I guess I'll find out.

Basically, it sucks. Anyone else dealing with a wrist issue? What was the outcome? Pills? Meds? Under the knife?

 

[Enjolras56]

First of all, sorry to hear your wrist is hurting.

I'm not intending to diagnose you here, just giving you some potentially helpful info.
Sounds like you may have what's known as a triangular fibrocartilage complex tear. (TFCC tear)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tfcc (wikipedia… I know, but this entry is actually quite good)
It's a pretty common injury with trauma to your wrist like yours along with the difficulty bearing weight on your wrist (like pushups)

btw… Do you notice any popping or clicking in your wrist?

Most primary care physicians won't be able to diagnose it (musculoskeletal injuries tend to not be their strength) nor will an X-ray pick it up.
An orthopedic hand specialist is much better equipped to diagnose you and give you your best options.

X-ray might show some signs of arthritis if this has been going on a long time (due to excessive wear and tear from the extra 'play' in your wrist), but may not.

Sounds like a pretty simplistic solution, but generally people have at least some relief with wearing a wrist brace to immobilize the area. Wear it at night and whenever you don't actively need your wrist to bend.

As for personal experience, I went 'under the knife' for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome last year. My outcome was very good. I still have some residual weakness and altered sensation, but overall I'm happy and can play guitar.

I hope you get some relief man!

 

[LowDesertSludge]

Broke my left wrist skateboarding with friends in the early 90's. 20 years later, still don't have full range of motion and arthritic at times. Best therapy within the last few years were 2 Aleve an hour before I play, and in my downtime I hook up STEM/EMS (electrical muscle stimulation) pads on my forearm and top of my hand. Best $60 ever spent. Hope that helps if you haven't already exhausted that venue. Good luck.

 

[benduncan]

That's tough man

I had some small, second and third degree burns on my wrist and the back of my hand, about two years ago. I was told to abstain from playing but couldn't. I just had to grin a bear it, pretty pointless since I couldn't play very well.

 

[JackBootedThug]

no wrist problems here, but.......my back is jacked and both knees need replaced, as well as severe arthritis in my right shoulder. i'm only 42 but some days i feel like i'm 72. seven more years till retirement if i can make it.

 

[apophis]

I had...but i got much better....i have used a dynaflex powerball to gently exercise,curcumin supplements/ or turmeric,ginger and pineapple juice(strong antiinflammatory properties) and also a dmso based cream....there is one called sunfood old fashion peppermint liniment that helps feel better fast, i could not play even 5 minutes without pain and after this little regime i feel about 95% better.....also B complex vitamins might help.....skip the doctors,if they want to perform surgery ..it has not helped some people i asked, in fact some got worse

 

[cardinal]

I had some pain, but it might have been from a different cause from yours. Anyway, I got over it my taking significant amounts of Advil, resting the wrist, and stretching it (almost literally every chance I had: I'd carefully stretch the wrist and fingers in various ways when ever I could). The stretching seemed to help big time; and I let it rest until the pain was gone (not just better: gone).

It's flared up twice over the last five or six years, and I've beaten it back both times. I'm not nearly as clean or fast a picker as I use to be, though. But that's probably as much from the wrist problem as it is from lack if quality practice time.

Good luck!

 

[blackba]

Been dealing with trigger thumb and some wrist issues too. My advice is ice it. I ice every night. It will cut down on inflammation and dull the pain. I ice for 20 minutes using a frozen gel pack.

Hope you get better soon, I have had lots of hand issues in the past year and know the frustration.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm dealing with musician's focal dystonia, which I was just diagnosed with. It's a rare, incurable neurological disorder that (for me) now makes my middle and ring fingers on my fretting hand uncontrollably curl in and under the neck when I try to play guitar. I cannot play at all right now - haven't been able to for a several months. As I mentioned in another thread, my guitar playing has been going downhill for a few years, but now I can't play at all. It's tight and uncomfortable and the uncontrollable curling of those two fingers makes me sound like I just picked up a guitar if I try to play anything...

The only thing that may help is botox shots straight into the muscles that control those fingers - it is a fucked up process though... They have to get the right muscles and the right amount of botox to kill the curling response while not making the fingers not work at all. It's trial and error and the shots only last three months or so before they have to be done again. It's my only chance to play guitar again though, so I'm gonna try it and se what happens. Hoping for the best...

If that doesn't work, normal guitar playing is pretty much over for me because there is no other therapy or cure... I've started playing slide on my resonator guitar just to make some music - it's the one thing I can still do with my left hand...

I had a good run though - at least I have some clips and stuff that shows that I used to be able to play...

Steve

 

[War Admiral]

Man getting old sucks...not only my left index finger is fucked but my right knee is also fucked up and is really starting to show since highschool basketball fucked that up. I need glasses now because I cant focus anymore...this all fucking sucks! Im tellin ya if this keeps up I wont be able to do anything anymore lol...Ill play slide with my cock if I have to!!! Least we got pills for that

 

[Progbusters]

Yes I've had tendinitis and pinched nerve. Pinched nerve from growing too much muscles from boxing so I just stopped and it went away along with my macho-ness. Lol

For the tendinitis, I went to get it seen and had various treatments, the only thing that worked is not playing guitar and letting it rest. Now I'm back to playing guitar.

 

[thiswaythatway]

First of all, sorry to hear your wrist is hurting.

I'm not intending to diagnose you here, just giving you some potentially helpful info.
Sounds like you may have what's known as a triangular fibrocartilage complex tear. (TFCC tear)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tfcc (wikipedia… I know, but this entry is actually quite good)
It's a pretty common injury with trauma to your wrist like yours along with the difficulty bearing weight on your wrist (like pushups)

btw… Do you notice any popping or clicking in your wrist?

Most primary care physicians won't be able to diagnose it (musculoskeletal injuries tend to not be their strength) nor will an X-ray pick it up.
An orthopedic hand specialist is much better equipped to diagnose you and give you your best options.

X-ray might show some signs of arthritis if this has been going on a long time (due to excessive wear and tear from the extra 'play' in your wrist), but may not.

Sounds like a pretty simplistic solution, but generally people have at least some relief with wearing a wrist brace to immobilize the area. Wear it at night and whenever you don't actively need your wrist to bend.

As for personal experience, I went 'under the knife' for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome last year. My outcome was very good. I still have some residual weakness and altered sensation, but overall I'm happy and can play guitar.

I hope you get some relief man!

This actually looks like what I have. It's the exact spot but right now the bump I have is not that big and not that noticeable, but sometimes it is.

 

[Anonymous]

First of all, sorry to hear your wrist is hurting.

I'm not intending to diagnose you here, just giving you some potentially helpful info.
Sounds like you may have what's known as a triangular fibrocartilage complex tear. (TFCC tear)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tfcc (wikipedia… I know, but this entry is actually quite good)
It's a pretty common injury with trauma to your wrist like yours along with the difficulty bearing weight on your wrist (like pushups)

btw… Do you notice any popping or clicking in your wrist?

Most primary care physicians won't be able to diagnose it (musculoskeletal injuries tend to not be their strength) nor will an X-ray pick it up.
An orthopedic hand specialist is much better equipped to diagnose you and give you your best options.

X-ray might show some signs of arthritis if this has been going on a long time (due to excessive wear and tear from the extra 'play' in your wrist), but may not.

Sounds like a pretty simplistic solution, but generally people have at least some relief with wearing a wrist brace to immobilize the area. Wear it at night and whenever you don't actively need your wrist to bend.

As for personal experience, I went 'under the knife' for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome last year. My outcome was very good. I still have some residual weakness and altered sensation, but overall I'm happy and can play guitar.

I hope you get some relief man!

This actually looks like what I have. It's the exact spot but right now the bump I have is not that big and not that noticeable, but sometimes it is.

Hey bro - I had a large one of these (ganglion cyst) removed from my wrist back in 1985. Never came back. I suffered with it for about a year before doing anything and by that time I could no longer play standing up because I couldn't bend my wrist. After it was removed, I was fine in a month and returned to playing. Get it out if you have one! The doctors tell me it is totally unrelated to my current issues...

Steve

 

[Enjolras56]

Yeah dude- if that's what it is, not much else other than to live with it or cut that sh*t out!
I think an old folk remedy is to slam it with a book. Not that I'd ever recommend that...

 

[SFW]

I was just diagnosed with joint damage on my left index finger. It makes playing painful. I'm on some anti inflammatory meds at the moment to see if that may help. I'm currently trying to cope with the fact that my guitar playing days may be coming to and end. For the past 30 years, the guitar has just been a part of who I was. Not sure what I'll do if I can't play. Getting old sucks. Lol.

 

[glassjaw7]

I've suffered with a ganglion cyst since '03. Doctors couldn't drain it so I e had many cortisone shots over the years. Now it's permanent and literally rock hard. A surgeon recently told me not to get any more shots, as it makes removal much more difficult and the recovery more painful and lengthy.

Same as you Danyeo, I've had to do push-ups on my knuckles for several years and my playing has suffered.. Oh, and don't try smashing it with a book.

 

[scriptphase]

This actually looks like what I have. It's the exact spot but right now the bump I have is not that big and not that noticeable, but sometimes it is.

Best of luck! Like others have said, surgery is going to be your best long-term option.

I have the same thing and mine happened in a similar way: heavy bag, wanted to get out a little aggression, but I was too impatient to tape my wrists and my left wrist rolled during a punch.

There's a great hand specialist here locally and I'm having it removed late summer. Mine doesn't hurt yet and is only starting to effect my range of motion, so the doctor is against draining it...saying it will only come back because it's forming due to structural damage within the wrist. As if on cue, it popped while exercising about 6 months ago and came back within a month. I'm ready for this thing to come out tomorrow, but I'm a schoolteacher and I plan to use the summer to revamp the curriculum for my after-school guitar club and create some video lessons.

 

[Motorpud]

You had me at get fingered.

 

[roccster]

After I got my Les Paul with a fatter neck I started to experience pain in my thumb and wrist. It got so bad that I started to think I would have to stop playing it (i probably just overworked the wrist since I played ALOT). So with pills in my body and stuff smeared on my wrist (and the pain not getting any better) I finally found this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWtvCGC ... 54&list=WL
I did these excersises several times a day for two weeks before it started to get better. I still played the guitar, but shorter sesions. Now my wrist and thumb is almost healed. I still do the excercises 1-2 times a day, and especially before a reharsal/practice.
Even if you don´t have issues with your wrist at the moment, I believe doing some sort of underarm/wrist training is crucial to avoid injury. This will probably not work if you have been in an accident, but it´s worth a try.