Hand Cramping?

+1 for yoga. I am 57 and got back into exercising (bicycling, then going to gym) about 5 years ago. Big improvement in quality of life from that. Then I tried yoga about 6 months ago. It totally gets your blood and other circulatory systems flowing in new ways. You may be wiped for few hours if you try something difficult like Bikkram yoga (the hot one). But you will feel absolutely great the next day. Since I started, the occasional joint pain I had in my knees and elbows is gone.
 
@richb

A little background to my comments - I have a colleague who is a classical guitarist with a dual faculty appointment at the Johns Hopkins/Peabody Preparatory and JH Neurology. She came to us (I'm part of an engineering group) to collaborate on some new technology to study how guitar related injuries happen, particular risk factors, mitigating aspects, etc. While I'm no longer directly involved in the project, I picked up a reasonable amount of background info on this issue. Unfortunately normal orthopedic doctors are not necessarily equipped with all of the information they need to deal adequately with this type of problem, which is more akin to a sports medicine problem.

Long story short, the primary and most common cause of these problems is excessive fretting hand pressure, and possibly too much squeeze of the pick since you're having issues in both hands. Rx can help defer the symptoms, but they won't address the causes and without a course correction you're headed towards some bad repetitive stress injuries. Same goes for stretching and other exercises. That's not to say they should be ignored, as stretching is a great habit to have. But it won't actually do more than buy you some time.

Your playing days are not coming to an end if you deal with the underlying source now. But if you try to continue treating it with medication, you are eventually going to be told that you can't play anymore and there's no coming back once you've hit that point. Given your age and presumed playing experience, you're going to have to unlearn some very severely embedded habits.

For a guitarist the easiest way to do this is to make some equipment changes to help force the issue. Move to lighter strings and the largest frets you can find - ideally a fully scalloped guitar but at least X-Jumbos if not. We're talking 9s or 8s on top of railroad tracks here. The goal here is that too much fretting pressure is going to push the guitar out of tune, and it will be much easier for you to correct what your hand is doing if you can hear the problem.

To deal with the right hand, my suggestion is that you head over to V-Picks or Gravity picks and buy something really fat. 3mm is probably a reasonable starting point but even bigger might be better. (Dunlop Big Stubby is a good choice if you want to trial this before spending acrylic money, but they're not really fat enough.) It's going to be harder to squeeze the hell out of these tubby picks. After that it's going to be about discipline - enough pressure to keep the pick in your hand, and not more than that.

Hope that helps. I don't mean to discount the suggestions above as there is good stuff in there, but it's not sufficient without changes to how you're playing the instrument. Some of these classical players are doing 6+ hours a day, and hand health isn't a game.
 
I'm with Promit when it comes to analyzing your playing style, if you hold the pick to tightly, if your posture is poor, if your fretting hand holds too much tension. Look at it all.

I hit this once in a while during heavy playing runs with crampy hands (and I spend most of my day pounding away at code, so the fingers are always in use...) I still see many musicians 'shaking out hands' in between songs.

To avoid all the complications, I drink fluids copiously (mostly herbal tea...gallons of it.) Hydration is not a '2 hours before a gig' thing, it's something you have to do for days beforehand for it to be effective. Also, 2 minutes out of every hour I take a mental margarita by stretching/standing (not just hands, but legs, shoulders, etc....it's my opinion that it's an overall body thing that needs to remain limber; just concentrating on one part doesn't get it done. Another key for me is BE RESTED. Our lives sometimes don't allow us to get the downtime we need, but whenever possible add a few more hours of sleep a week. IMO it's cumulative...you can't operate on 4 hours of sleep a night, then night before a gig get 7 and expect that you'll be in top form.

Good luck, and no, it's not remotely close to over. Look around for all the older folks who are still throwing it (hell, head down to New Orleans and you see plenty of old blues guys who've been playing every day for hours at a time.)

Again, I take a 'whole body' approach to this. Pretty sure that if you figure out what you need to do to solve this, you have MANY more years to go.

R
 
Do you get numbness in your fingers?
I got trigger finger when C7 was off.
No numbness. I have had issues with C5 - C7 in the past, but this is different. And I was formally diagnosed with trigger finger on the left hand, middle finger.
 
I tried that, but the hens (used to be chicks) threw their false teeth and Depends at me so I found wearing my wedding ring was WAY better.:eek:

LOL! Hilarious images in my mind now, you poor dog.

I actually bought a Groove Ring (silicone) that is an awesome design. Now I don't worry about it:

https://groovelife.com/collections/mens-silicone-rings

Worth a look, I moved from one of my tungsten carbide rings that was causing some serious pre-arthritis due to weight and no flexibility.
 
No numbness. I have had issues with C5 - C7 in the past, but this is different. And I was formally diagnosed with trigger finger on the left hand, middle finger.

Middle, pointer fingers and thumb are related to C7!
Ring finger and pinky -> C6 !

Ice C7 for 10-20 mins, (not directly) and see if it eases it.
 
+1 for yoga. I am 57 and got back into exercising (bicycling, then going to gym) about 5 years ago. Big improvement in quality of life from that. Then I tried yoga about 6 months ago. It totally gets your blood and other circulatory systems flowing in new ways. You may be wiped for few hours if you try something difficult like Bikkram yoga (the hot one). But you will feel absolutely great the next day. Since I started, the occasional joint pain I had in my knees and elbows is gone.

Totally agree - I'm 48 and sit at a desk all day. About a year ago I started having pain in my hips, back, shoulders, and arms..
A friend recommended yoga - and the results are startling to me. Within two months of doing it twice a week, 90% of the pain was gone.
After around 10 months of doing it - I am now pain free and just generally feel better and have more energy. We're not getting any younger - they say you start losing muscle at around 35 - yoga is a great way to keep everything moving as we get older.
 
How heavy are your guitars? I thought I was having shoulder issues but turned out to be neck and back issues. I can no longer play Les Pauls and only play Ibanez RG series because most of them are under 7lbs. I use a wide Comfort Strapp ( https://comfortstrapp.com ) and I use a MBrace stand ( http://www.mbracestand.com ) when practicing by myself. I used to get cramps from my left shoulder all the way to my finger tips. Drinking lots of water helps. Stay away from alcohol.
 
Good info. I've just turned 49 and get spasms in my pick hand thumb and tired fingers. I've been using fat pics occasionally but now their my main pics (V pick Colossal-it's huge). Love coffee, trying to drink more water after last java of the day. Thinking about the hot yoga myself.
 
I don't recommend this but what permanently cured my picking hand from cramping was getting bit by my 130lb Cane Corso 6 years ago. I was playing tug of war with her rope toy and she accidentally bit my arm and hit a nerve. I lost all feeling in my hand for about a day but then it came back and my picking hand hasn't cramped since. WARNING!!! DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!! :eek:
 
I don't recommend this but what permanently cured my picking hand from cramping was getting bit by my 130lb Cane Corso 6 years ago. I was playing tug of war with her rope toy and she accidentally bit my arm and hit a nerve. I lost all feeling in my hand for about a day but then it came back and my picking hand hasn't cramped since. WARNING!!! DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!! :eek:
FYI - you have a typo in your signature:

The Axe-Fx II is a product of evolution. Firmware should be called Spermware bevause it impregnates the Axe-Fx II
 
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