Comments on: How to avoid RSI for guitar players – part 2

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 09:23:13 +0000

Thanks for writing this, I was searching for someone who had the same symptoms as me, and was a guitarist, and your article is articulate and very helpful! Cheers mate!

By: hexacorde

hexacorde — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 03:21:11 +0000

Hi Pete,

Have you ever tried speech recognition software on the computer?

Personally I use a software called Voice Finger (http://voicefinger.cozendey.com ) for my RSI.

By: daniel elber

daniel elber — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 05:16:51 +0000

hours of guitar playing daily for years. no finger pain but pains in neck and shoulder. by relaxing thumb and fingers in pattern of 1 3/2 4/3 5 / 1 4, 2 5, letting them float down like tai chi hand floating cured me completely.

i also do this when i jog and surf.

By: Pete

Pete — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 09:03:52 +0000

Sometime around 1995 I experienced RSI due to overuse on the computer and I give up playing guitar for a few years. I also had bad experiences with doctors and solved the problem on my own after reading an excellent book on this topic.. Repetitive Strain Injury : A Computer User’s Guide by Emil Pascarelli, Deborah Quilter

I had tendinitis of the hands (fingers starting to curl inward) and the beginnings of carpal tunnel. Tapping the keys on the keyboard would send shooting pains up my arm.

To cure myself I did certain exercises outlined in the book and adopted my own unique technique of deep tissue massage using a men’s hair brush on my hands. I eased up on my computer use and stopped playing guitar because computer use is my livelyhood. It took about a year for me to recover.

Now some 15 years later I have a renewed interest in guitar playing and I’ve been practicing for 1 to 3 hours per day and I’m having RSI problems again. I first started noticing pain in my left forearm (top side) when lifting a large bottle of water from lower rack in my refrig. If I rest my left arm on the armrest of my computer chair, I get a sharp pain in my forearm (bottom side) and my hand goes numb. Today I’m googling “guitar RSI” in hopes of finding info on how to treat my condition. Are there any books specific to RSI and guitar playing?

By: the art of war

the art of war — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 01:44:24 +0000

the art of war…

…He wrote that . . ….

By: Marius Vosloo

Marius Vosloo — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:55:20 +0000

I’m an ezinearticles author and guitar enthusiast. For good advice to improve your guitar playing, feel free to visit my Squidoo lens. I’m handing out free tips, and also my recommendation on the best interactive guitar lessons on the internet.

Your blog is very informative and entertaining. Keep up the good work!

By: Ingo

Ingo — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:31:02 +0000

You’re welcome

By: keil

keil — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:15:25 +0000

Thanks, this was precisely the type of information for which I was looking. I knew that it was an imbalance of some type, and I felt the top of my forearm when you mentioned it and I could feel a knot right there.

thanks again!

By: Linda

Linda — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:00:58 +0000

I have exactly the same problem (muscle contraction) as written on your article and doing exactly as you did, computer 7 hrs in the office, night time guitar excersising. I am curius about the excersise you are doing. Is it possible to see all the exercise through you tube tohelp me out of this muscles aching ?I will buy yu a beer next time.
Thanks

By: Jakehadlee

Jakehadlee — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:00:48 +0000

I think there’s definitely something in the Qigong ball approach – or least in ensuring you regularly exercise you fingers in a different way to playing the guitar. In my day job, I used to be a journalist and spent a lot of time at the keyboard by day and the fretboard by night. I found nearly all of my colleagues in work, and my fellow musicians, had some form of RSI in their arms or hands – but I (touch wood) never have. I always put it down to the fact that I used my hands in two very different ways, so they got all round exercise instead of just one repetitive exercise.

Great blog btw – I will buy you a beer next time I’m on (honest!)