Great subject for list discussion. My wrists are fine (for now) but I have suffered from epicondylitis in my right arm for years, and bit on the left as well. Caused by very stiff, rigid classical guitar training in my youth, very tough to undue. Habits of tension built into the arm-mind connection, even the change to thumb-under on Renaissance lute did not address the basic condition, just masked it for years.
I got all three sizes of the rubber twisting "flexbar", and tried the power ball years ago. Not one bit of relief or improvement from them. What seems to help me is a device called the "Perfect Pushup" - http://www.perfectonline.com/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=PerfectFitness/prodbrws.html?lvl1=Perfect.PUSHUP&src=PerfectPushup&gclid=CMru9_-v4awCFQN-hwodHB-WnA My son got it for me as a birthday present; the twist of the forearms at the top of the movement (under the stress of a bodyweight pushup) gives my forearms a more therapeutic feel than the other devices. Other than that, physical therapy and relaxation techniques. WHILE PRACTICING- go slowly, quietly in playing- mentally "pull" the stress out of the right hand- flex the fingers in a limp, loose way- stop now and then in one's practice to do the various stretches for lengthening the muscle fibers in all directions, let gravity help with finger movements. Don't overdo the practice sessions- we are no longer 18 year old conservatory competitive world-conquering virtuosi in training anymore. Also, as an old martial arts teacher of mine once instructed me, "A change is as good as a rest"- if you've been obsessively jamming on the Terzi duets, switch to Denis Gaultier for a while. Too many Weiss gigues? Back off and pull out the vihuela. Maybe lightly work out on a bowed instrument if you own or have access to one. That can really help. More ideas? Dan On Dec 1, 2011, at 7:20 AM, [email protected] wrote: > > There is a fairly 'new' approach to elbow pain from epicondylitis (tennis > elbow), involving using a stiff but flexible bar. This, like several new > approaches, works by 'turning off' reflexes through antagonistic muscle > action and a combination of concentric and eccentric motion muscle > contraction. Anyone suffering from tennis elbow-like complaints ought to > download this little article - it has easy to follow instructions that one > can do at home ( sorry, nothing available specifically for wrist pains yet, > but this exercise could potentially help the wrist too): > > > http://www.optp.com/userfiles/file/PDF%20Storage/NY%20Times%20article_flexbar.pdf > > > > > (Original article from NewYork Times, PDF from www.OPTP.com website) > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: William Samson <[email protected]> > To: Anthony Hind <[email protected]> > Cc: lute <[email protected]> > Sent: Thu, Dec 1, 2011 1:17 am > Subject: [LUTE] Re: injury prevention > > > Hi Anthony, > Interesting that you should mention the NSD Powerball. For UK readers > info, I was shopping in Sainsbury's yesterday and they had Powerball > copies at -L-5 among their 'scientific toys'. If I remember right, > there was a three-for-the-price-of-two or similar offer so they > could work out even cheaper. > Certainly as I age old injuries are coming back to haunt me - mostly > intermittent tendonitis and painful joints. Still, I believe that lute > playing is very good for helping me deal with these and keeps things > moving. > Bill > From: Anthony Hind <[email protected]> > To: David van Ooijen <[email protected]>; > "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > Sent: Thursday, 1 December 2011, 10:19 > Subject: [LUTE] Re: injury prevention > David > I sympathise as suffering myself from capsulitis (computer > induced?); and the effect is far worse using my 70cm lute, in > particular when the piece demands that LH stay on the lower frets. I > try to adop a position which minimizes the extension of the left arm, > but I am never quite free of these effects. I have used Chinese > balls, > exercises with Gripmansters of various strngths, and also Condo > digiextend hand. > I do find that five minutes with a medium gripmaster followed by a > digiextend gets me over most hand pains, and the Grip master also > seems > to improve finger tip touch. It has a rough surface, and after a few > minutes the surface and contact area seems to change. I have better > contact with the strings. I do not use any of these to get stronger, > but to warm up before playing. Clearly, it is not strength but > economical use of it which helps avoid RSI. > Now I just saw an extreme machine for strenthening wrists, the Marcy > wedge, and some wrist and carpal damaged people seem to have some > success with it, but others not. It seems that an early model made of > metal was better than the present plastic one, but it does look as > though it might do as much damage itself, as good. > It makes me think about Schumann, although apparently that his injury > was due to a machine, might be more myth than reality (even flutists > suffer from RSI) > [1]http://www.lunnflutes.com/ho6.htm > Nevertheless, I am ready to try the NSD Power ball hoping it may > help, > but I notice on Amazon that the NSD version has few write-ups, while > two others Dynaflex Digital Speed meter and Dynaflex extreme steel do > have a number of good reviews. > Which one are you using David? I am willing to give it a whirl to try > to undo a few year's damage. > Regards > Anthony > __________________________________________________________________ > De : David van Ooijen <[2][email protected]> > A : lutelist Net <[3][email protected]> > Envoye le : Jeudi 1 Decembre 2011 9h49 > Objet : [LUTE] injury prevention > Tendinitis in arms and hands comes up once in a while on this list. > The woman from our local Thai take away suffers from a similar form > as > I do: inflamed tendons at the wrist. In her case it comes from doing > too much fancy vegetable carving. She found relief (notice the > spelling!) in a 'power ball'. Her husband runs a shop in (Thai) > sports' articles across the street, so she got me a 'Nsd Power Ball'. > Strong stuff, like her food! Perhaps approached with care when you > are > suffering now, but it is supposed to be a good injury prevention, > used > e.g. by people spending many hours behind a computer keyboard. > David > -- > ******************************* > David van Ooijen > [1][4][email protected] > www.davidvanooijen.nl > ******************************* > To get on or off this list see list information at > [2][5]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > -- > References > Visible links > 1. mailto:[6][email protected] > 2. [7]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html > Hidden links: > 3. > [8]http://www.amazon.com/Dynaflex-SM-01-Speedometer-Power-Balls/dp/B000 > W1OMRO/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1322733497&sr=1-1 > 4. > [9]http://www.amazon.com/Dynaflex-SM-01-Speedometer-Power-Balls/dp/B000 > W1OMRO/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1322733497&sr=1-1 > > -- > > References > > 1. http://www.lunnflutes.com/ho6.htm > 2. mailto:[email protected] > 3. mailto:[email protected] > 4. mailto:[email protected] > 5. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > 6. mailto:[email protected] > 7. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > 8. > http://www.amazon.com/Dynaflex-SM-01-Speedometer-Power-Balls/dp/B000W1OMRO/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1322733497&sr=1-1 > 9. > http://www.amazon.com/Dynaflex-SM-01-Speedometer-Power-Balls/dp/B000W1OMRO/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1322733497&sr=1-1 > > > > > > > --
