Sprains

[mattbass6]

Hello fellow BC’ers. This may be a little lengthy, so apologies in advance. I dearly like some advice, if you don’t mind? I have been playing so much over the past 12 months, and everything has been fine. I use Vigier Excess 5 basses which are pretty high tension, and no problems at all. Recently I bought a guitar for my current album, just to lay demo ideas down until the hotshots didn’t their bit.

I’m not the best guitarist, but I can play i.e. this is not my first rodeo recording guitar parts. Anyway, about 4 weeks ago my ring finger on my left hand started to ache. I didn’t think much about it, so just played through it. Last weekend I realised I might have sprained it. I realised that because I normally warm up on a bass, I don’t think about “playing”. However, when I play guitar, play chords, use a plectrum which is not natural to me, I have to concentrate more than usual and I may apply extra tension to the guitar to get it right. Since I figured it may be a sprain, I have strapped my fingers up, rested them, taken ibuprofen etc. They are definitely better, but it has woken me up.

Has anyone else ever had this? What did you do about it? Should I look at lower tension strings? Should I look at a bass that has relief in the neck? The Vigier’s have very, very little? Any advice, shared stories etc would be greatly appreciated.

This has genuinely worried me as I have so much to do, and I’m at the beginning of an album cycle, and one that is very important to me. Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance.

Cheers,

Matt

[mangotango]

I have this issue at the moment and hope that it's just a sprain. Had been playing a lot of EUB with the workshop band, plus guitar with one group and bass with another...and at the end of a bass group rehearsal, I could feel a distinct twinge at the base of the back of my hand where it joins the wrist.

It aches now. Hasn't gone away at all.  Have tried rest,painkillers (not ibuprofen because that swears with other medication that I'm taking), elevated the hand, put ice on it, self-massage (careful now!), the lot.  Still not sorted a couple of weeks later.

When playing, I have shortened my strap to be able to raise hand position, so the back of hand position is flatter, which has helped.  Other than that, not sure what to do but since the question has been asked by mattbass6, I'm piggybacking on this thread as I'm open to any thoughts that anyone has to offer.

Desperately hoping that it's not arthritis/rheumatism as I'm soon to retire and playing bass was to form a serious part of what I laughingly call my intended "retirement plan", so...….

[mattbass6]

Hey @mangotango, sorry to hear you are dealing with this. On my side, with rest (5 days so far) the pain is definitely easing but I am worried of a reoccurrence once I’m able to start playing again. I currently have the ring finger strapped to my middle finger, and at night I take that strapping off. The pain is definitely not there in the morning, but as I said, really worried about this happening again.

Have you strapped your hand up? Have you looked at the a wrist support? I think Steve Morse has an issue as he has his right hand strapped when playing. I really hope it sorts itself out soon. It is worrying, isn’t it, and I’ll be interested to see what others say in response to both our posts.

Thanks for the input, and please, keep me posted. Take care ⭐️🤞

 

[mattbass6]

Hi @hiram.k.hackenbacker, thanks for replying. It is definitely not trigger finger or, Viking’s finger. I have had friends who have had both, and spoke to them last week. Very sorry to hear that that is what you had/have. How is it now you’ve had the final surgery?

[mattbass6]

I know it’s not that because their symptoms were very different, and I have sought medical advice too. My post was go find out if anyone else has gone through this, how did it happen, how did they deal with it, and did they have to make adjustments when getting back to playing?

I am wishing you the very best with your surgery. Please keep me/us posted 🤞