I suspect that some factors may not have been disclosed or perhaps even identified yet may be contributing to your tendonitis. Identification and subsequent treatment may not be adequate to eradicate the problem but when I went through a similar experience 15 years ago it took a year of medical visits, tests, and analysis of what and how I did things to get to a point where I could get the problem under control and avoid recurrence.
* Do you play other instruments?
* Which string-spacings are more or less problematic for you?
* Do you play standing or seated?
* What neck angle(s) do you primarily use while you are playing?
* Do you make adjustments to the controls on your instruments frequently or do you primarily set-it-and-leave-it.
* Would a shorter distance between the high-string and the edge of the body where it rest upon your leg while you are sitting allow you to have a better (healthier) neck angle?
* How much pressure does the edge of the body apply to your forearm on you picking hand?
* Do you keyboard, garden, or use hand tools much?
* Do you use a PDA & stylus much?
* Do you angle the body away from you when you play seated? This reduces the pressure on your forearm from the body.
* Do you write or take notes by hand much/often?
* Do you play tennis, golf, ski, skate, or shoot rifle/pistol?
* Do you do physical warm-ups immediately prior to playing your Bass?
* Do you stretch, flex, or otherwise loosen up your wrists & arms between tunes?
* Do you use heat and/or cold prophylactically to reduce inflamation and/or improve circulation?
* Do you utilize an ergonomic keyboard?
* Do you use a wrist rest in conjunction with your mouse.
* Do you use large or heavy frying pans when you cook?
* Do your vehicles have power-steering?
All of the above things are factors which can influence tendonitis and similar disorders.
I suggest that you do a web search for hot or heat, and mitten, and without the word oven. They make mittens which can be heated in a microwave which you can heat and put on which will increase dramatically the circulation to you hands and wrists. These helped me a great deal while I was working toward a causal diagnosis.
It turns out that the specific cause of my wrist problem means that I need to utilize ergonomic keyboards and that I NEED to elevate the rear of these keyboards (which raises my wrists and lowers my finger-tips a bit) and use wrist rests. This might be contraindicated for your particular problem; but my point is that if you can identify which bio-mechanical activities are the the most problematic you can (and will be highly motivated to) make adjsutments.
There are specialists that specialize in wrist & hand problems and a consultation with such a person was for me an invaluable and life-changing experience. I grant you that at that time I had health insurance and was better-employed than I am now. I should mention that by the time I visited with the specialist I had made sure that his office had recieved all of the xray, bone-scan, and other test results so that he would have ALL of the data that was required to make a diagnosis.
Regards
-- Eugene
