playing guitar has started to hurt?
so i've been playing guitar for... more than i year now, i guess (dunno the specific date, but about that long) and it's never *hurt* for me-- apart from, you know, the building of the calluses-- until about two days ago when my wrist started to *really* hurt. my mom's a nurse and she told me to lay off guitar for a while; and i did, but it was still hurting when i tried to carry anything or if i pressed down on something. she thinks it's probably either tendinitis or carpal tunnel and she told me not to play for a week or two. i haven't been doing anything a whole lot differently as far as playing goes, i play rhythm in a band so i haven't been doing any aggressive solos (or any at all), i've just been playing chords like normal. i have been practicing more, which is what i thought it was from originally, but because the pain has lasted so long, even when i've stopped playing altogether, stopped using pretty much my entire left arm and i've been taking ibuprofen (motrin) as an anti-inflammatory and wrapping my wrist at night. i know it's common to have wrist pain as a guitarist, but the nature of the pain is worrying me, i don't want to do any serious damage by just playing through this if it's something serious and not just normal pain. should i see a doctor or should i just stop playing for a week or two?
Pain & Pain Management - 1 Answers
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I have a friend who had the same problem as you. He is the head guitarist in his band and he couldn't go as fast as he normally wanted. He went to his doctor and they actually had to do surgery on his elbow (he had some sort of carpal tunnel in his elbows causing his wrists to hurt while playing. It would hurt in his thumb area too. Does yours? I would definitely go to a doctor and check it out. Ibuprofen is good (as you know for the inflammation). I work at a pain doctor that does injections (in the wrists and elbows). Maybe you should check out something like that if you don't want to go the extreme route. They could also refer you for physical therapy for your wrists. Good luck!
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