What to Practice with Tennis Elbow?

camoflamingo

I've had an injection for tennis elbow and yesterday I picked up a guitar for the first time in 6 weeks. I'm probably still benefitting from the injection. Before the injection I couldn't move my arm and had acute pain. Arm is currently only a bit sore but I don't want to aggrave it.

All I'm doing is touching (not pressing down) the strings to learn and practice where notes are. This is frustrating of course and I don't get to hear the  notes, so it's a big compromise, but I get to feel I'm doing some guitar.

I could work on my right hand techniques but that's probably not going to sound very good, I can mute with my left though.

Could really use serious suggestions about what I could be learning/practicing (I'm kind of an advanced beginner about to move to intermediate). I'm very likely still needing to rest my left arm as  much as possible.

Freebird

The Wombles of Wimbledon?

camoflamingo

Thanks for being a prick about my misfortune. Tells us a lot about your character, such as your lacking empathy.

Freebird

camoflamingo said:

Thanks for being a prick about my misfortune. Tells us a lot about your character, such as your lacking empathy.

It was just a friendly tennis related thread bump to move the topic up to the top   I'm quite interested in guitar related injuries, especially tendinitis and such stuff.

camoflamingo

Bumping? 20 mins after posting on a quiet thread in the afternoon on a working day?

Plus you bypassed this bit:

serious suggestions about what I could be learning/practicing 

I would also point out this is a community where people support each other.

camoflamingo

camoflamingo said:

I've had an injection for tennis elbow and yesterday I picked up a guitar for the first time in 6 weeks. I'm probably still benefitting from the injection. Before the injection I couldn't move my arm and had acute pain. Arm is currently only a bit sore but I don't want to aggrave it.

All I'm doing is touching (not pressing down) the strings to learn and practice where notes are. This is frustrating of course and I don't get to hear the  notes, so it's a big compromise, but I get to feel I'm doing some guitar.

I could work on my right hand techniques but that's probably not going to sound very good, I can mute with my left though.

Could really use serious suggestions about what I could be learning/practicing (I'm kind of an advanced beginner about to move to intermediate). I'm very likely still needing to rest my left arm as  much as possible.

Can't think of anything much I could be doing with my arm as it is. At least I get to wear my recently acquired Tele and look fairly cool.

ToneControl

I assume it's your fretting arm
The problem is when you are gripping - that can make tennis elbow worse

How about getting a nut riser, and practising lap steel for a few weeks until you recover, or normal bottleneck slide if you prefer that sound?

camf

I wouldn't beat yourself up, @Freebird. It's a place where people generally help each other with a lot of humour and generosity. I think it was a pretty snarky response to a pretty innocuous reply. If the original poster doesn't like some friendly banter, I'd have thought they'd be better discussing their issues with a physiotherapist rather than posting on a guitar forum.

camoflamingo

Yeah it's my fretting arm.

Thanks for the prompt about slide, it crossed my mind, and if over-gripping caused/worsened the issue, slice should be safe enough. Worth a try.

CarpeDiem

Whilst it may not sound too musical, it's probably worth doing some right hand exercises such as alternate picking, alternate string skipping, and tremelo picking. Right hand technique can sometimes be overlooked whilst focussing on the fretting hand, or vice versa if left handed. Hope you recover soon.

camoflamingo

CarpeDiem said:

Whilst it may not sound too musical, it's probably worth doing some right hand exercises such as alternate picking, alternate string skipping, and tremelo picking. Right hand technique can sometimes be overlooked whilst focussing on the fretting hand, or vice versa if left handed. Hope you recover soon.

That gives me more to go at. It's useful that someone very likely more experienced than myself thinks it's viable and worthwhile. Cheers.

viz

Not sure if this will hurt your left arm but there are loads of finger-independence exercises you can do with your left hand withough the guitar - finger-drumming on the table, or in the bus when holding the handrail, or wherever. The one that has been higely helpful to me is to go through the following 6 cycles:

1) 1234 2341 3412 4123

2) 1243 2431 4312 3124

3) 1324 3241 2413 3124

4) 1342 3421 4213 2134

5) 1423 4231 2314 3142

6) 1432 4321 3214 2143



they are a bit of a tonguetwister but quite amazing for independence and articulation. Not sure if they might still be too much for the elbow though; I had it in my right arm a few years ago and just rested it till it was completely cured which was a few months. 

FelineGuitars

Would an open tuning on the tele let you both do slide and simple chord playing and work on picking hand technique ease the pressure on your injured hand. As it's a tele you get all Rolling stones-y

MatthewShreddery

Just rest up. Guitar can wait.

camoflamingo

viz said:

Not sure if this will hurt your left arm but there are loads of finger-independence exercises you can do with your left hand withough the guitar - finger-drumming on the table, or in the bus when holding the handrail, or wherever. The one that has been higely helpful to me is to go through the following 6 cycles:

1) 1234 2341 3412 4123

2) 1243 2431 4312 3124

3) 1324 3241 2413 3124

4) 1342 3421 4213 2134

5) 1423 4231 2314 3142

6) 1432 4321 3214 2143



they are a bit of a tonguetwister but quite amazing for independence and articulation. Not sure if they might still be too much for the elbow though; I had it in my right arm a few years ago and just rested it till it was completely cured which was a few months. 

Going to have a word with an Osteopath, see if this is do-able or not. If not, I'll save for when I'm pain free and during train journeys- trains being as they are, I'll be getting in some serious practice.

camoflamingo

FelineGuitars said:

Would an open tuning on the tele let you both do slide and simple chord playing and work on picking hand technique ease the pressure on your injured hand. As it's a tele you get all Rolling stones-y

I'm really tempted to get hold of a slide tomorrow but I fear I'll be pushing it too far. Definately one for later though. Love the sound of slide.

MatthewShreddery said:

Just rest up. Guitar can wait.

That's actually good advice to someone who used to just neck down painkillers and carry on regardless of the pain. I do need to rest more. Think it's the right hand techniques for now as suggested by CarpeDiem.

Thank you all for your input, I feel a lot less despondent about it now.

koneguitarist

Freebird said:

The Wombles of Wimbledon?

I was gonna say "your backhand" but no sense of humour,  ;-)