Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: BeenDown139 on October 07, 2022, 03:02:30 PM
-
no i didn't just buy another bass, but with me ya never know.
i'm a "traditional" fingerstyle player, almost exclusively using my first two right hand fingers to pick my notes - walking (sometimes runnning) across the strings. in 2019 i was becoming increasingly unable to open my right hand from a closed position because those two fingers would lock up. turns out this is a medical condition called "trigger finger". got it fixed by a really good hand surgeon. i guess i shouldn't have been surprised after 48 years of pretty aggressive bass playing that something in my hands wouldn't crap out eventually. two full careers as a software engineer and commercial electrician probably didn't help. since i only use those two fingers to play, i figured that would've been the end of it. alas, 'twas not to be, homie.
a couple of months ago i noticed the 3rd (ring) right hand finger was starting to act up and now it's progressed to the point that i can't play bass without major hand pain. i guess it kinda makes sense, i've watched videos of my playing and that finger shadows my middle (strong) finger's every move, even though it doesn't actually hit the strings. having to unlock that stuck finger is not pleasant i'm here to tell ya. i'm going in on monday to get it fixed, so i'll be sidelined on the bass for about a month. it's gonna suck but i'll make it, i usually almost always do. who knows, maybe some smokin' deal on a long scale series I fretless will pop up and that'll be my recovery present. yay!
-
My wife was having a problem with trigger finger. She used a CBD roll-on tincture. It worked for her.
Bill, tgo
-
I feel your pain! I also suffer from trigger finger. It is on both hands, and on the 2nd and 3rd finger. Sometimes my left hand will lock so hard and tight I have to use the other hand to open in. VERY painful.
I have been getting the steroid shots in the knuckles. My doctor says that it may go away after the 2nd or 3rd round of injections. Let me tell you, those shots are rough! They joog the needle in and kind of move it around as they are injecting. Lovely. I got my 3rd set of injections in June. So far, my hands no longer lock up and are pain free. That is what over 40 years of playing gigs 2 to 3 times a week will get you.
I am pre-approved for the surgery and if this round of shots does not knock it out, I too will be under the knife.
-
Good luck! I just had tendon surgery on my right hand by a surgeon who specializes in hand surgery for musicians. Two weeks later, I'm playing - for a brief amount of time and being very careful, but playing.
I'm sure you'll be playing soon and pain-free again!
-
Hoping the best outcomes for everyone.
-
The ills we're willing to endure for this music thing...
I'm actually looking forward to another surgery. That can't be right.
-
My wife was having a problem with trigger finger. She used a CBD roll-on tincture. It worked for her.
well im a big fan of self medication as you probably know by now. i do a hot CBD with max THC content rubdown on my shoulders and knees which have taken a beating from climbing up and down and working on top of a ladder as is the commercial electrician's fate. it works pretty well for a topical and i highly recommend it. however, if drug screening is a hazard in your professional (or provate) life, i can guarantee you'll drop a hot UA as a result. OTOH, it makes a convenient screen for your rampant daily pot use, should you find yourself living that lifestyle. unfortunately, this has progressed past pain relief so surgery is the next step. i've already been through this once so i pretty much know waht to expect.
I have been getting the steroid shots in the knuckles. My doctor says that it may go away after the 2nd or 3rd round of injections. Let me tell you, those shots are rough!
IMHO this sounds like some sort of midieval torture. i went straight from diagnosis to surgery the first time. the surgery took about 20 minutes, it was a local anasthetic, i could've watched if wanted to. had to drive myself home with in my stick shft car last time. which seems a whole lot less traumatic that having someone rooting around under the skin of my hands with a needle. i'm just sayin'.
i did about a 5 song workout playing the mighty MK deluxe last night, woke up feeling it in my right hand but it wasn't crippling like it's been lately. that probably is the easiest, most comfortable bass for my right hand as it has that balance K body and 5-lane-highway wide neck and string spacing. lefty perfers the series II with the slightly narrower neck, but it ain't his rodeo this time around. sorry homie!
-
I opted for the shots for now. Being that I have gigs booked for the next 8 months or so, I didn't want to take the time off. So with the shot, I was able to play that night. This is what my hand looked like after rooting around in there with a needle.
It is good to know that the surgery is that easy. But how long after were you able to play successfully for a 3 hour gig?
Thanks,
Michael
-
It is good to know that the surgery is that easy. But how long after were you able to play successfully for a 3 hour gig?
permit me to bloviate for a minute to give you some context:
<bloviate mode start>
{
i started gigging in bars in the mid-70's and the rule back then was pack yer gear in, do 4 - 45 minute sets 9 - 01:30 pack yer ger out by 02:30 2 or 3 nights a week plus rehersal once a week not to mention wookshedding. for decades that's how i guaged my performing level and my playing stamina. i retired from performing 4 years ago, up until that point i was still doing 2 3-hour gigs a week plus woodshedding in between.
when i had my first surgery, i was able to hold onto a pick well enough to keep my left hand limber, probably a hour a day. i used to be better playing with a pick, but that's when i was a youngster. it was kinda frustrating, but i did learn that my fretless sounds very retro when played with a pick, so it wasn't time wasted by any means. after i had my stitches out (i think it was 2 weeks) i was back at my normal level. before my finger started acting up about a month ago, i was practicing at a pretty intense level for about 2 hours a day. i was still working full time and driving the delivery truck at the time IIRC. bear in mind that now i'm getting a leg up on 67 and so i'm not the young stud that i used to be. i'm not sure that i could do a 3-hour show anymore, trigger finger notwithstanding. but i'm pretty sure given the chance i'd probably kill myself trying. happily, i might add.
so this comes with a huge YMMV. when ya go this route, ya probably oughta make sure yer calendar's clear for 2 weeks + some margin. i tolerated it pretty well, you may not.
the other thing that makes this a relatively easy procedure is that they're removing nodules on the tendons. most of the recovery is waiting for the incisions to heal.
} <end bloviate mode>
good luck with your treatment, sir. i'll post an update on this here and agin, maybe. probably. i dunno
<edit> i just re-read my own crap and noticed it's fulla typos. this finger is really starting to affect my keyboarding. couldn't have been that 37% THC (fully legal, i might add) post-breakfast-pick-me-up. that's just crazy talk!
-
I was supposed to have carpal tunnel release on my left hand just before everything shut down. Somewhere in the next year, my left middle finger started locking. May '20 I was finally able to get to schedule the CTR, so I told the surgeon about the finger; "Oh, that's trigger finger, I can fix it at the same time."
"And what time would that be?" "Day after tomorrow." "Oh - OK."
This was not sans a bit of trepidation, as I recalled clearly the right-side CTR; opened up from mid-palm to wrist, 3-month recovery. But it was 2 stiches in the wrist for the CT & one in the palm for the TF; I was playing in few days, and within a week had no residual effects.
Peter (who will stipulate that he only plays at home, so neither gigging nor playing time was an issue beyond the mental health aspects)
-
Hey Tim... hope you can get your finger back in the proper groove ASAP!
-
Something to look at is Ozone therapy. My friend who is a bassist and drummer was diagnosed with a chronic untreatable arthritis in both hands. He also had a bulged disc and bad sciatica .. He had Ozone treatments via injection and infusion. He's been gigging on drums and he and I have been doing sound gigs for 6 months. Last Friday he played to 50,000 in Sacramento supporting KISS.https://aftershockfestival.com His recovery was amazing.
I have just had 3 O3 infusion treatment to improve health and address a few issues.
Just something to look into if it is available near you.
-
had to have my sister at the airport at 0500 this morning, when i got home i gave the hands a good CBD rubdown, fired up the SII (it was sounding especially hairy this morning for some reason), got good and baked and tried to post a coupla videos as my last hurrah for a while. just couldn't get a good take despite my best efforts so it was ultimately a futile effort. reviewing the video was kind of a painful reminder of just how much my playing has deteriorated, especially in the last month. now i can't let my right hand close without having lefty help get it back open. so i'm definitely ready for this tomorrow. i probably set myself up for a day of hand pain with this stunt. but it's pretty hard to look at the wall of alembics that graces my living room as just an expensive hanging exotic wood collection. gonna be tough to leave 'em alone for a while.
so it's a beautiful fall day here in the mile high. my house makeover that started the day i retired in april that has gone on pretty much non-stop every day until yesterday when i ran outta paint is at a good stopping point. gonna get on the bike when it warms up a little more, get good and baked (again) and enjoy the fall canopy at city park. i won't be able to work the brakes on the bicycle again for a little while, so this is also my last day riding for a while. hopefully we have a better outcome than the music effort yielded. guess we'll find out.
-
Good luck.
-
jsut got back from teh doctor's. took longer to drive there than the surgery took. including time to check in and get numbed up i think i might've been there 20 minutes. the relief was immediate. i can't believe how much this hand pain was putting me on edge. my jaws have been clinched and my mood surly (oh wait. i'm like that all the time dontcha know). so - wait for the incisions to heal, see what happens next.
-
(entering mom mode here) Make sure you follow the post op instructions! The procedure is always the focus, but you're not really done until you're fully healed. so heed your doctors orders.
-
What Mica said.
-
<typing one-handed here so bear with me>
thanks for all the well wishes folks. gonna keep this brief. slept all night for a change. hand's pretty sore this morning but no locking up. i prepared the house for one-handed operation all last week, so i all gotta worry about is not going crazy from the inactivity. i'm used to being locked down (long story - it's where my stage name comes from ;-) ) so i'm gonna choke down some ibuprofen, get good and baked and watche the sun come up. got deals to work and schemes to hatch in the meantime.
-
i was looking for something else entirely when i spied this on google maps in the nieghborhood next to my destination. coincidence? makes me wonder...
https://elevationists.org/
-
after surgery, the doctor wound my hand with a ton of gauze, told me to keep it dry. taking a shower last night, apparently the bag i had my hand in had a leak, so i stepped outta the shower with a soaking wad of wet cloth in a ziplock bag. out come the scissors and the first aid kit. dressed it with something a little more practical. took a picture of my stictches for those of you thinking of this procedure. it was much less traumatic this time around, i think mostly because it was only the ring finger and i still have most of the use of my thumb and index finger. my right hand was totally incapacitated for about 3 days the last time, it was a week before i could use it minimally.
much less painful this morning, still can't really grip with it yet, but at least i can close my hand without worrying about a painful unlocking procedure afterwards. up to typing with 7 fingers now. yay!
-
Take it slow man!
-
a quick update on this. i've been on enforced bass and bicycle abstinence for almost two weeks now. getting ready to lose my mind, but i planned for this - pre-made a bunch of meals that i can eat one-handed, laid in a good variety of high-octane dope, etc. also managed to sell a bass, buy a hot tub, pull the electrical and upgrade the yard privacy. one of the tasks on the list was to flip the bass corner around so that i faced out and had enough room so i wouldn't bonk anything with a headstock. this is where i plan to spend my winter hours so it's gotta meet standard. this precipitated a merry side-trip down down a DS-5 rabbit-hole. finally tonight i was able to light everything up, let my fingers dance over the last 15 strings that i have left and count the hours until monday when i get my stitches out and i can get back to "normal" again. sheesh!
-
My trigger finger is back! I opted for the shots. While there was some relief after the shots, it came back again. Back is also the pain, and my finesse in those fingers has suffered greatly.
I am scheduled for the surgery on March 6th. They wanted to do it sooner, but I am booked solid with gigs through February. Mardi Gras, so lots of gigs. Being that I play with 6 different bands don't help either. They tell me that I should be back to playing bass right after the stitches come out which is 10 days after the procedure. Surgery on the 6th, first booked gig after that is the 18th.
They only want to do one hand at a time. Getting the left one done first as the triggering is happening on my ring and middle finger. I wanted to get them to do both hands done at the same time, but they refused.
Michael
-
My wife was having trouble with trigger finger. She took both oral CBD oil and rubbed CBD oil on the joints. It’s an effective anti-inflammatory. FWIW, it worked for her.
Bill, tgo
-
I had trigger finger release on fretting hand (left) middle and ring fingers 8 days ago. Ring finger works ok but a little sore. Middle finger won't close all the way (the opposite of trigger finger). There is still a fair amount of swelling on that finger and on the palm near the incision. I'm going back tomorrow to get stitches out and will ask how much longer till I can play again. It's a real drag. But the surgery needed to be done.
-
a little late to the party. i've been involved in a total immersion 24/7 pot and hot tub therapy study and they only let me out of the facility for sanitation and debris removal dontcha know.
I'm going back tomorrow to get stitches out and will ask how much longer till I can play again. It's a real drag. But the surgery needed to be done.
so it's been almost 4 months since i had mine done. i don't know your health situation but i'm 67. this was a difficult recovery this time around. i went on 2 weeks of total bass palying abstinence after surgery. i worked up slowly from a couple of songs every other day to the point where i can play a pretty strenuous 45 minute set. my range of motion is back, i don't cringe anymore when i reach passages where i know i'm gonna tax my right hand. my chops feel good for the first time in a long while.
but...
i have a hot tub that i'm for 45 minutes a time in 4 - 6 times a day. a good part of that time is with my fingers (both hands) over the therapy jets, plus i do a whole stretch and flex routine every session.
i'm retired and don't drive a computer or construction tools any more. i really don't do much more than sit around, play bass, smoke pot and sit in a hot tub all day.
i have access to all the CBD and high-potency pot i can handle.
even with that zero-stress lifestyle for my hands, i still have pain after i play. my staminia is nowhere near where it was even a year ago. i just recently joined a band that's strictly weekends, 1 or 2 1-hour sets once we're gigging. i'm hoping that i've got myself rehabbed to the point that i can actually do that by spring.
my advice: don't push it. i got impatient and pushed harder than i should have and payed the price with enforced abstinence until it stopped hurting again. listen to your body. when it hurts, stop. now.
good luck with your recovery, sir.
-
since my surgery i always do a warm-up and stretch before and after bass practice (something i never used to do. i'm thinging that probably didn't help me any). i'be been filming them to asses my recovery. i was warming up on hte ebony amazon last night, here's a little jam i named "pressed ham and eggs". i think my mobility nad strength are back, but my stamina is definitely not waht it used to be. pretty sure the arthritis has something to do with that. the subject finger of this thread still hurts after practice but it's going away. slowly.
there are days when i wonder if the cure wasn't worse than the affliction.
-
That tone is delicious.
Curious if there are specific finger stretches that you do prior to playing?
(Knock on wood) fingers are holding up well, but did recognize an abbynormal discomfort when playing with a pick the other day.
-
That tone is delicious.
Thanks! That’s pure series II with rotosound rounds direct thru a stereo rig. I’ve never had a bass that just flat out howls like this one does. On all 5 strings. Anywhere on the neck. Has to be experienced in person at high volume to be appreciated. I put the tablet in selfie mode in a napkin holder on the music stand in front of the amps and let it rip. Seems to record fairly well that way.
Curious if there are specific finger stretches that you do prior to playing?
So I’ve found a regimen that works pretty well. Bear in mind my fingers have been at this almost 50 years now. Concurrently with 35 years as a software engineer and another 15 after that as a commercial electrician. Not to mention 3 hand surgeries on the right hand and a mangled thumb (metal shop accident, another 4 surgeries to put it back together. It’s ghastly!) and middle finger tip on the left hand. got some pretty good arthritis going in all my joints. Pretty sure if I wasn’t following this program I wouldn’t be able to play at all. As it is, with all this help, it makes me able to play in a part-time band again and play the music I want for about 45 minutes a day. I call it a blessing.
Medication:
Diclofenac (I think you can get this as voltarin? Over the counter) and CBD nanosalve (450 mg THC, 50mg THCa, 50mg CBD) hand/finger/joint rubdown coupla times a day, PRN, before practice, whenever. Kinda stinky but it sure takes the edge off!
Asprin: 2 x 325mg tabs washed down with a cup of strong coffee after breakfast.
A vape pen chamber load (~0.5mg) of high potency (>30% THC) pot 10 – 12 times /day or as required.
Alcohol use is prohibited.
It should be noted that I’m retired and really have nothing better to do all day except collect social security, get high, play bass, ride a bicycle and work on my 75-year-old house. I only drive my car once a week. This program may not work for all lifestyles. I self-medicate so that you don’t have to.
Stretching:
I use a variation of a martial arts stretch I learned long ago called “gasho”(?): put both hands palm together in front of face. Splay fingers and thumbs of both hands together as wide as you can. Keeping your fingers pointing vertical, pull hands down towards your heart. When you feel tension in your thumbs, stop. Hold for a minute or so, release slowly. Do not bounce. If it hurts, stop. It’s not a contest to see how far you can go. It helps loosen things up if you rotate your hands together towards your body.
I do this as often as I can, especially if my hands start feeling stiff. I used to do a bunch of other fancy stretches but this is the only one that gives me that clickthese days.
Therapy:
I have a hot tub and I’m in it 4-6 times a day, 30-45 minutes/session. I do a whole body and joint stretch and flex at least 3 times a day out there. Every session has a full hand stretch and flex (making fists, etc) over a therapy jet.
Hope that helps. Good luck, sir!
-
I had my surgery just this past Monday. This is a serious surgery! There's still a good bit of pain, but it's MUCH better. When I booked this, I asked them specifically about the recovery time. They said as soon as the stiches come out, I can get back to my regular activity!!!!
I must admit, my daily driver Alembic plays with no effort. So, maybe I can do it after all. The way I feel right now, there's no way.
My stitches come out on 3/17, at 10am. My next gig is 3/17, at 8pm, just 10 hours later!
Honestly, if I feel as though I can't make it I do have a sub lined up already. But I will try, and then and let everyone know how it went. Oh, and another gig on the books for the very next day.
Once this is healed up, I am going to schedule getting the other hand done. The other hand isn't as bad, but it still hurts. The second surgery I may do better because it's my right hand. I guess I could use a pick if i had to.
Michael
-
Michael, healing thoughts floating your way.
You got this, your gig will be smooth.
-
once again late to the party. been busy with the new puppy and band and getting high and soaking in hte hot tub and laying in the sun and stuff and didn't realize this thread had somehow lurched back to life.
Once this is healed up, I am going to schedule getting the other hand done. The other hand isn't as bad, but it still hurts. The second surgery I may do better because it's my right hand. I guess I could use a pick if i had to.
glad to heaR it went well for you. it's been almost 6 months for me and when i practised on of my more difficults sets last night it finally occured to me that i can do a pretty vigorous set for an hour or so and not feel like my playing was sub-par or being on the edge of tears because my freaking hand hurts so bad after doing something that i love and used to could do day in and day out.
still got the arthritis to deal with but that's what the hot tub, massive amounts of hourly high-potency pot vaping and the voltarin/CBD/THC hand cream is for.
my surgery was on my picking hand. i'm old-school fingerstyle but i can do it Mel Schacher style with my fingernail when my hand hurts but not sure if i'm skilled enuff do do a whole show in front of a paying audience like that. can't hold on to a pick anymore.