Fretting hand joint pain


twowrunkles
Registered User
Joined: 03/21/20
Posts: 4
twowrunkles
Registered User
Joined: 03/21/20
Posts: 4
04/25/2020 6:03 pm

Good evening.

I started playing guitar when I was 16, played in a band and had a lot of fun. Since I was 20 I haven't really played apart from 6 months as bass player for a band in 2006. Now I am 42 and my wife rekindled my interest in playing at Christmas when she bought me a DIY guitar kit. When quarantine started here in Italy I decided to , for the first time in my life, try and study guitar methodically and bought the guitar tricks course.

To avoid missing anything I went through guitar fundamentals 1 and 2. From a technique point of view these were not challenging for me although it was great to finally understand scales keys and basic notation.

I was practicing about 2-4 hours a day (normally split I two sessions never in a single session,).

Anyway, after 3 weeks I started developing some discomfort in my fretting hand. And stopped practicing for a couple of days, and started taking omega 3 and stretching my fingers. Returned to practicing for 5 days but pain became worse do I've now not touched my guitar for a week. Problem is I still feel pain. This is focused on the top of the knuckles between second and third phalanxes only of my fretting hand; when I try and bend my fingers it feels as though it's pulling over the top of the knuckles. I've been using ice, anti-inflammatory creams , omega 3 pills and glucosamine chondroitin, but still hurts....I'm wondering if anyone has had this problem?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated..

Mat.


# 1
Guitar Tricks Admin
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Joined: 09/28/05
Posts: 3,483
Guitar Tricks Admin
Full Access
Joined: 09/28/05
Posts: 3,483
04/29/2020 8:45 pm

Hi tworunkles,

Thanks for writing in and telling us your story. We're glad you're taking up guitar again. I'm really sorry about your hand pain, and I have to say that 2-4 hours a day is a lot of practice time.

We aren't medical physicians here, so I can't really give you advice, but I do recommend cutting your practice to about an hour a day in the future. It's also really important hold your guitar with a relaxed grip, relaxing your shoulders and wrist, etc.

Personally, I have not felt this pain before.

I hope you get better soon!

-Billy


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# 2

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