The health of my hands has been at the forefront of my thoughts. It is my hope that this article will help you avoid some of the perils I have faced in the recent months and ensure many years of pain free hand use for those of you who love to play music. First I will briefly tell you my own story then break things down into two categories. Things that help and things that hurt.

I am a prime candidate for repetitive motion injury. I have played very hard and very often for a very long time. I began playing professionally at sixteen and became a music teacher at eighteen. I am now 37 years old. Several months ago I lifted a piece of musical equipment improperly resulting in a ganglion cyst on the tendon sheath of my left hand. With the help of my doctor I got that under control, rested my hands for 2 weeks, and prepared for my next playing job. Once on the job and realizing I was fine I then proceeded to play so hard that I wrecked both my arms from fingertips to elbow's. Then I continued to work at my usual pace as if nothing was wrong. To quote the little girl in the Pepsi commercial, "duh"! The following conclusions can be drawn from my story.

1. Be careful when loading equipment.

2. Things tend to wear out when used hard for a long time.

3. Even if you are highly skilled with your hands you should not forget to use your brain.

4. Even though my abilities were not in question, I almost lost everything in one blast of testosterone trying to prove them.

5. In the heat of battle it's easy to overlook important things like hand position, relaxing, pacing yourself etc...

Remember, your hand and arms are a complex system of bones, tendons, tendon sheaths, nerves and blood which carry oxygen nutrients and warmth.

The things that are most likely to hurt you are:

1. Not warming up before you play.

2. Playing too long without a break.

3. Playing too hard.

4. Playing with incorrect form-i.e. a deviated wrist, or hyper-extending your fingers.

5. The adrenaline generated during live performances. Its covering up the pain that's telling you it's time to pull back.

6. Not maintaining even breathing will rob your muscles of oxygen and instantly cause them to tighten up.

One of the most common causes of pain is playing with your wrist bent so here are some pictures of correct form.

Correct classical guitar form consists of sitting straight on the front edge of your chair with you knees slightly further apart than your shoulders. Once in this position you take a deep breath and exhale, letting your shoulders relax. This is your center of balance. Once you find it, put your guitar on your left leg if you’re right handed and let the neck point upward. This does away with the need to bend your wrist so much to reach the strings. Instead, your thumb should rest in the middle of the neck and you should play on your fingertips with your fingers curved.

Correct form for playing electric guitar is similar but you're usually standing up and using a strap. Even though it may look cool to wear your guitar low this forces you to deviate your wrist to reach the strings. This is not cool and will ultimately lead to wrist pain. Set the strap at a comfortable height and point the neck upwards a bit.

Bad Form

On the electric guitar you are likely to want to bend the strings. This is the time to hang your thumb over the neck to support the fingers during the bend. You will typically use the ring finger to bend a string and support it with the middle finger on the string behind the ring finger.

Between the support of the thumb and middle finger you can bend the string further and have a lot more control. The index finger will hang across the strings behind the other fingers keeping out unwanted string noise. As always you should avoid bending your wrist.

1.The most obvious thing is to look at the list of things that hurt and do the opposite.

2. Learn to recognize good and bad pain. Good pain signals the end of a successful work out. It is natural for the body's cells to communicate in this way. Bad pain happens when you play past the point that you should have stopped. It's more of sudden, sharp and aching pain. It is the body's clear signal to you that you have blown it and need to regroup, mentally and physically.

3. Always avoid heat on the carpal tunnel area of your wrist. If you hurt there it means that your tendons are swollen from over use and bad hand position. This swelling causes pressure on the median nerve and makes the tendon rub against the bone of the carpal tunnel. Not surprisingly, this causes pain. Heat or ice is fine for any other area. Use ice only on the carpal tunnel to reduce swelling, and avoid icing just before you play.

4. Bring blood into your hands and arm muscles before you play or practice. The hands do not receive a great deal of blood flow on their own because they are at the end of your arms away from your heart. I have found that dipping my hands in reasonably hot water will instantly fill them up with blood. Also wrapping your arms in warm towels helps the flexor and extensor muscles in your forearms to relax and receive blood.

5. If you have carpal tunnel syndrome brace your hands at night when you unconsciously deviate your wrist and use the dosage of anti-inflammatory your physician recommends.

This article was necessarily long because it is so very important that you understand how to avoid this problem. Stay tuned for more information on hand strength, dexterity, physical nature of the hands and arms, the prevention diagnosis and treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Long may you run,