Time for me to bitch a little

[Bruce Urie]

Well, fellas, seems I've been playing my guitars a lot recently (well, all of the time I can, really) and maybe too much is TOO much!

My dearly beloved Shirley (my wife) got me a real nice bass guitar for Christmas, as I've always wanted one to learn to play....an acoustic/electric bass and it's just the greatest, sounds teriffic! Since Christmas I've been going to town on the thing, already have written 7 songs on it, with very distinctive phraising/note placement...plus playing the standard bass lines from old songs.......have just loved playing it all of the time I can get! A great stress reliever!

So....what am I bitching about? Seems this constant playing has led to me having Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, as I've been getting wierd feelings in my left hand, tingling, numbness, pain, annoying the hell out of me...sometimes I can't even feel the strings on the frets! And hurts like hell.

Due to a visit with my excellent doctor (Dr. Bendover, if you will) he said I have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in my left wrist....so he sent me out to buy this big wrist strap, with straps, velcro, buckles, threads, leather, stretch material, small scanmaster, and logos all over it....now I've got to wear the damn thing for the next three months, all because of my love of guitars......Sheesh! What a drag!

It HAS helped, believe it or not....but I'd like to ask this highly intelligent, deversified, fast Turbo Regal group of fellas here this question: Any of you guys had this problem? AND: Is Carpal Tunnel curable? Or did you have to have an operation of some kind, like chop off your hand? Or what?

I'd really not like to have my hand chopped off and replaced with an old meathook from Al Capones's vault, though it would make a hell of a slide tool like Duane Allman

From your own experiences with this (if you had it) did you beat this Carpal Tunnel Syndrome permanently? Or am I going to have to invest in a prostheses manufacturing company soon?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.....those with no hands need not reply

As always......thank you kindly in return.

Bruce '87 Grand National

 

[ttaowner]

are you sure this was from guitar playing and not self gratification? just kidding bruce i figured i would say it before someone else does. my ex has carpel tunnel and its no joke she dropped stuff all the time even after 3 operations . 2 on 1 hand and 1 on the other. its no joke do what the doctor says or your hands will fall asleep all the time. my buddy the tree man has the same problem and it doesnt get any better if you keep agravating it.

 

[Bruce Urie]

are you sure this was from guitar playing and not self gratification? just kidding bruce i figured i would say it before someone else does. my ex has carpel tunnel and its no joke she dropped stuff all the time even after 3 operations . 2 on 1 hand and 1 on the other. its no joke do what the doctor says or your hands will fall asleep all the time. my buddy the tree man has the same problem and it doesnt get any better if you keep agravating it.

Ha, ha, ha, ha!!!!!! That was a good one, there, James...but....it can't be.......I'm right handed

Ah, crap....this news from you is just what I didn't want to hear, but I sure appreciate it....so, I'll try and cut back on the events (no problem with the right hand on the gratification part ) and take it easy as per your suggestion....I WILL listen to you...thank you kindly....you're a good man.


Bruce '87 Grand National

 

[ttaowner]

no problem buddy just trying to get a chuckle out of you. seriously be careful with your hand/hands though. operations do help but who want to do that if you dont have to

 

[turbo39151]

repetitive motion will aggravate the issue. Ask the doc for alternatives to surgery. Surgery should be last resort. Surgery does not guarantee that you will be 100% again. Hope you can get away with some therapy instead. Good Luck

 

[TurboBuRick]

Your not alone. I bet allot of guys here have it. Been suffering from numbness in my hands for a years. Power tools mess me up. Hammer drill and angle grinder are real bad. I get it beatin the skin's too but can't blame that. Don't get to play much anymore.


RL

 

[Howling Mad]

Yea surgery should be last. People I played with had surgery for it and now they keep having it done. It sucks pretty hard.

 

[gmmuscle]

Bruce,
Don't have any words of wisdom on carpel tunnel, but where in central va are you located? I'm just north of Charlottesville. I would love to meet another local Turbo Buick guy.

Carl

 

[charlief1]

Had it since my late 20's Bruce. It isn't as bad as yours because I try not to do very repeditive things like the git box any more. I can't bowl more than 1 game or I'll be screwed. Also got arthritis and this cold weather really agrivates both of them. There is no permanent solution but you can alieve the pain most of the time by following the docs advice.

 

[DailyDrifter]

Good to see you posting Bruce, haven't heard from you in awhile.

 

[deezdad]

A long shot but mybe look into a regimen of good quality fish oil...may have other benefits even if it doesnt help ur situation directly..been taking it for awhile myself n just feel better all around..

 

[Bruce Urie]

I sure thank you guys for all of your suggestions.....I did take it easy on the wrist as a lot of you suggested.....amazingly it has helped greatly....as long as I wear this wrist brace and not overdo it, it's working better than I thought....ah....so great to be pain free for a while...wonderful....
Charlie, I used to LOVE bowling with a passion, so I guess I'm luckier than you in respect that I'm right handed and the affected wrist is the left one....problem here is I've outgrown the holes in my bowling ball (fingertips)...just no time to take and have it redrilled yet. Have you tried using a brace while bowling? Or would it screw it up? Don't know here, I only bowl with a lift pad on my right hand (you know,holds the ball out a little at the proper angle to get more spin out of the fingertip delivery) Does that sound important or not?

Dave! Nice to hear from you, as I haven't heard from you nor your expert help in a long time...what in hell have you been up to?

And maybe I'll try the fish oil...seems it helps the Japanese a lot, so no reason why it couldn't help me.......I just don't want to end up smelling like a bad date.... ooo, that was bad, sorry, I'm off my game tonight.

Again, I can always rely on my good buddies here for expert opinions/advice....and I sure need them every now and then.....as I subscribe to the old addendum: "If you don't know....just ask" and I can't think of a better place to get the correct answers......

Thank you kindly, guys.

Bruce '87 Grand National

 

[Bruce Urie]

Bruce,
Don't have any words of wisdom on carpel tunnel, but where in central va are you located? I'm just north of Charlottesville. I would love to meet another local Turbo Buick guy.

Carl

Sure thing, Carl.....I used to live in Charlottesville for 6 years....I'm about 30 miles southwest of Fredericksburg, Virginia....maybe when the weather warms up and it's nice outside we can get together and benchrace over here! Or I could show you how to drop tail lights for kicks! The expensive ones that go on our Grand Nationals and Turbo Buicks.....it's a nice lesson to learn.

Bruce '87 Grand National

 

[Tmizunocherry]

Physical therapist here in KY. With CTS along with wearing the brace and rest from the activity you did to aggreavate
it. I always tell patients to stretch the muscles in the forearm and on top of the arm. Ice it down tons as well.
The anatomy of it is the entrapment of the median nerve under the ligament just below your palm (most commonly).
So strengthening will help also to prevent future aggravation. The surgery is a mixed bag in results. Just stretch, ice, only do activity in short times. Hope this helps ya!!! Let me know if you have any questions!
Thanks

 

[charlief1]

I bowl side hand Bruce so I have to use a brace, but now I can't even bowl like a regular person any more. Used to be part of a leauge and everything. I do hope you wrist gets better but remember that you can't make it go away once you've got it, sorry.

 

[SCOOBY DOO]

It doesn't go away...sometines not even after surgery. I've got it in my right wrist from using power tools 8 hours a day for the past 27 years. Some have pain and numbness...or just numbness like I have. Trying to hold the throttle on my bike is a nightmare...and I have to change hands on the steering wheel every few minutes...or my whole right arm goes numb...it's that bad.

 

[Pat Adkins]

I have it in both hands ,right is worse than left. I wore the braces at night & the left hand is to the point where I only have to wear the brace once in a while, right hand is also much better I just have to watch not to aggrivate it too much. I refuse to have the surgery ,they could not guarantee it would work or how long the down time would be (timeline they gave me was up to a year).

 

[charlief1]

I have it in both hands ,right is worse than left. I wore the braces at night & the left hand is to the point where I only have to wear the brace once in a while, right hand is also much better I just have to watch not to aggrivate it too much. I refuse to have the surgery ,they could not guarantee it would work or how long the down time would be (timeline they gave me was up to a year).

Please Pat, that statement is soooo loaded I don't know where to begin. So you're a 2 hander? LOL

 

[Red C5]

A friend of mine just went through the surgery, took months for her to recover and she's still not 100%. Hers was pretty bad though, hopefully yours isn't.

Peter

 

[whitehot84]

Hey Bruce, another bass player here. I actually had to go back to an old bass I had not played for 20 years. You know how hard it is to let go of one. My new bass ( a Traben Array) was heavy and the strings were higher and it became a real burden on a four hour gig. My hand and shoulder were both becoming a problem. I pulled my old bass out (an SD Curley) cleaned it up and had the neck adjusted. The strings are now close enough to the frets that I don't have to use a lot of pressure. I've learned to relax and let the guitar and amp do the work. It's no longer a chore to play. Good luck man. I hope this doesn't stop you from playing.