I did not know this thread was out here until a few minutes ago or I would have posted this sooner. I have been too deep trying to figure out how to use my AxeFX and play the guitar.
Long story short, I first started having problems with my left hand and particularity my ring finger in the late 1980s. For over 30 years I could never play more than 30 minutes a day with out pain. I have been through, steroids, ansaids, hand exercises, ...doctors including a couple of excellent ortho hand surgeons with no relief. Since about April 2015 I have been pain free and my playing hand is the best its every been and I am now 64.
I don't know if this will help any of you. All I can say is it works for me.
In early 2015 I took an internet guitar lesson from "The Commander in Chief" who some of you might know from her YouTube videos. She told me that she used a hand gyro exercise ball and that was how she built up her playing strength and suggested I try this. I purchased one for about $100 in March 2015 and after a week or so have been able to play as much as I have time for with no limitations.
This ball generates about 50 lbs of random pressure in your hand and thoroughly exercises every muscle in your hand, lower arm up to your shoulder. It has a heavy steel ball that is lopsided that spins inside the steel cover. Building strength in my hand allowed the muscles to reduce the pressure on my finger joints and solves my problem plus made bending... a lot easier. I tried to attached a video showing how it works but it was too large so i attached a clip of an Amazon ad. There are several companies that make these out of plastic but they dont make but about 20/25 lbs of resistance and dont last more than a few months. That is not enough resistance to build the strength you need and you will be wasting your money. I believe this one is still the best one available. I have been using mine for about 5 minutes a week since 2015 and it still works great. I hope this will help one of you like it has me. My playing would be a whole lot better if I had found this years ago.
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