I saw a hand specialist today who made a determination that I likely stretched the inside thumb tendon from practicing barre chords. He suggested physical therapy to build up the surrounding muscles so the muscles could take some of the burden off of the tendon while playing. He did say he didnât expect the tendon to shrink back down to itâs previous size.
Has anyone done this? Have you had good results with relieving pain from barre chords and improving strength by doing PT?
I realize just playing the guitar should build up the required muscles, but I worry about harming the tendon further by just keeping up with (even careful and gentle) practice until they get easier.
I do admit Iâd been squeezing the everloving $&^$ out of the neck trying to get barres to ring properly.
That sounds really frustrating, but itâs great that youâre getting professional guidance! PT can definitely help strengthen the surrounding muscles and take the strain off the tendonâIâve heard of guitarists having success with targeted exercises and grip adjustments. You might also try experimenting with lighter string gauges, adjusting your thumb placement, and using less pressure to get clean barre chords. Some players also find relief with hand stretches, warm-ups, and breaks to avoid overuse. Hope PT helps and youâre back to pain-free playing soon!
Stacy @artax_2, that sounds very frustrating. I donât have a guitar-related experience like yours, but do have a story about a possibly analogous injury. Iâd been going to a gym providing a personalized, progressive exercise routine. After about a year, one of my knees had so much pain that I could not walk without limping. Was fearful of a meniscus tear. MRI showed nothing but inflammation. PT was helpful, but what really helped was realizing that my form in a particular exercise at the gym, coupled with some weak complementary muscles, caused the problem. We backed off the weight, and basically went back to âbeginningâ level for my knee exercises. Now I can do those exercises well, and have progressed farther than Iâd ever thought possible.
So my thoughts are: yes, do the PT to recover from the acute issue. But more importantly, if at all possible work with a personal tutor/teacher to improve your approach to barre chords (of course telling them about your injury). Start over, as if youâve never played them before, and work up.
Hi Stacy,
Sorry to hear youâve injured your tendon from playing. Bodily wear and tear from playing guitar is something Iâm spending quite a bit of time on, so happy to jump in to this conversation!
The positive to take is that itâs got you thinking about how the physical side of playing, and how to deal with that long term.
Itâs a good idea to incorporate both strengthening and stretching into your general practice routine, not only when you are injured. Many guitar players only think about their hands, but all the upper body should gets involved.
I find that strengthening and stretching help me get into the right frame of mind to make music too, so itâs a win-win, not a chore.
Hereâs a couple of simple, but very effective general routines specifically for guitar that I hope you might enjoy having a go at https://youtu.be/yYP5nQ7qqWM?si=TTtzlifqBgGxrv63
I canât say that I have over stretched that tendon but I have over strained it a couple of time. Touching the tendon (side on so to speak) can be eye watering. I didnât do therapy but I did not use the guitar at all for a week, and I have done this twice now.
Thankfully, that was all i needed. I would let it rest for whatever time you feel is needed and take GP advice.
[quote=âartax_2, post:1, topic:395344â] the everloving $&^$ out of the neck trying to get barres to ring properly.
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So I totally get that. I think with time and some gentler strengthening, you will recover fine. Have long an in person coach for a little is a good idea too.
I do recall the pain from squeezing being a motivator to figure out how not to do that anymore. I started spending time practicing âminimal effective pressureâ for all fretting. I also worked a bit on the idea Justin mentions of pulling back a bit with the arm to apply pressure, rather than squeezing.
Eventually it somehow came together. The pain being my most effective motivator.
I wish I had better suggestions. It seems a common theme to go through the barre learning âsqueeze like heckâ stage, so that seems normal in a way, I guess. It sucks that you got injured in the process, though.
@netahnpaul86 Thatâs good to hear. I am going to have a chat with my pcp about it and I think I am going to go ahead with the therapy.
@judi Who knew exercising needed to be soâŚprecise?? It is frustrating to work a long time at something only to realize its not been the ârightâ way but I am glad you were able to adjust your routine, thankfully in time, too. I think I am going to do the pt, and will def be looking at playing barre chords differently. This âinjuryâ happened within the first week of the barre chord lesson in Gr 4, so quite a surprise, and hard to imagine that after 2.5 years of playing I wouldnât have the muscles built already to support the barre shapes. I suppose I do have the typical female hands, where I havenât spent many years doing heavy lifting or rough tasks to where my tendons are quite strong like compared to say, my dad or my husband who do lots of yard work, working on cars, etc. I also found that doing the hobby of indoor rock climbing would sometimes stress the tendons in my wrists and fingers, and I had a hard time justifying that activity, thinking at my age I could easily do some irreparable damage. So, after about 3 years or so I gave that hobby up.
@Eccleshall Thanks for those links! Iâll watch them and put them to good use.
@Libitina Thanks for chiming in! Yes, I am definitely taking it easy while still trying to pick up the guitar most days.
@Jamolay Definitely I agree that over time and practice I will learn the correct amount of grip (at least I think I will). But having said that, I have been paying attention since the beginning, and I do notice regularly that there is almost no area between buzzed notes and squeezing hard on all of my guitars. I have read a thousand times to do the exercise where you find that perfect pressure point, but its quite difficult because (#1) all the strings take a different amount of pressure, not to mention on different areas of the fretboard. And I have tried to use less pressure, what I think is probably the intended natural playstyle that doesnât hurt, but it sounds sloppy. So (#2) I just assume my hands and fingers are a little delicate and sensitive to pain, so the right amount of squeeze for clear ringing is simply painful for me. I honestly canât keep a callus built up to save my life (I am washing hands and using moisturizer so much that the skin simply gets softened all the time). Now, the pull back technique I think I am going to have to figure out. I honestly hate that technique, because it introduces so much tension into both shoulders and my fretting hand. But it looks like its going to be necessary with my little weak thumb tendons. And hopefully the PT will help.
Another bit I forgot to mention is I needed (and still need) to adjust and find where and how my finger sits on the strings as I fret the barre.
My âinstinctualâ finger placement landed strings under the joint creases and that would require a huge amount of pressure to fret them well.
Shifting the finger a little up or down and slightly rotated and eventually I find how to place the finger so it actually presses the strings. Helps a lot.
Yes, but it is taking a long time for me to make it a habit. I think I have about got it with the full barre, but partials are taking longer to land well.
Stacy,
Pulling the arm back with barre chords shouldnât be a strenuous technique that causes tension anywhere. Itâs a slight pull back which pulls the first finger into the treble strings. Itâs almost as if youâre twisting the neck, pulling the bottom of the neck and pushing the top with the thumb. Not a hard pull and push though.
Also, brace the body of the guitar with the strumming arm to counter the pull back on the neck. That sorta feels like youâre pushing the strings into the fretting fingers.
Non of this should be strenuous or cause tension.
I think just the activation of the muscles to create the pressure, transferring the pressure as coming from the arms as opposed to the fingers is what tension I am talking about. Iâm definitely not making any overly tense push or pull movements, but it just seems like in order to drop the thumb and still get the strings to contact on the frets takes a slight yet dedicated effort (as well as to counter any directional movement of the body with my strumming arm) and I can feel my both my shoulders tiring after just a few minutes. I havenât heard it described the way you did as sort of twisting the neck with the finger, so maybe that will make a difference. Iâll try that.
Before you start your guitar practise it would be wise to warm up muscles in your hands, fingers and wrists
Here are some links which might help you in future
There are many more that can be found on You Tube. Hope this helps
Hi there! This is actually my first post, but I absolutely had to reply to this subject thread.
I had something very similar happen, and I also assumed my problem was some sort of tendon issue. One day, after weeks of daily 5-10 minute barre chord practice, barre chords came together for me, it was like a superpower! I was flying all over the neck hitting barre chords at will! so of course I abused my superpower and played for hours a day, for days on end. I knew I was feeling some pain, but I ignored it. sigh.
Anyway - I went to a specialist, and he insisted on X-rays, and what we discovered was that in my case it wasnât the tendon, it was the ulna (the arm bone on the pinky-side) that was slamming into the cushioning material between the arm bones and the wrist bones (the TFCC - basically the meniscus of the wrist). It was exacerbated by the fact that the X-rays discovered I had âpositive ulnar varianceâ - a fancy way of saying that my ulna grew a few millimeters too long.
So, a cortisone shot into the wrist, daily anti-inflammatories, ice, and a brace - all of that for the last month. Itâs finally starting to feel better, but itâs not great.
The moral: Take care of your wrists! (I guess thatâs the lesson?)
My barre chord injury was a year of tennis elbow, resolved by trigger point therapy. Search here on the community site for âtrigger pointâ for more info, if you are interested.
A lot of people here are hurting themselves trying to learn barre chords. And I find it a little disturbing that so many people seem to think itâs a strength issue.
In my experience, itâs 80% technique and 20% strength. And having a properly set up guitar.
I know, the excitement of a difficult technique sounding good makes it hard not to go crazy with it. Interesting that it was bone related for you. The older I get the more I realize weâre all dealing with such minute differences as related to each other. When they say âeveryoneâs anatomy is differentâ, this is what they mean. Not that people have different shaped thumbs or a smaller body frame, but more like someoneâs ulna is slightly longer than someone elseâs. Or their thumb is attached slightly more rotated or their tendons attach closer to their joint so that the muscle has a harder time with leverage for that joint. Also brings to mind for someone like me (who can fall into the trap of focusing on the perceived and/or very real disadvantages I possess) how daunting it can be when I compare myself to the folks in whatever activity Iâve taken up or tried to do (climbing, guitar, bowling, axe throwing, you name it). Pretty much proves that when we start a hobby as a kid, our body and joints adapt to that activity and then the propensity for it is conditioned in as we grow. Starting as an adult is physically harder as well as mentally harder. I did start piano very early, so I appreciate that my parents gave me that route to travel but I wish theyâd kept me in lessons instead of switching me to cheerleading
Good point. In my case, I was/do squeeze the neck harder than I prob should, but I think I have sensitivities in my fingers and I canât seem to keep any substantial calluses. I have thin strings, I had my two main electric guitars set up professionally, and I bought the tools for at-home use to check the setups seasonally but I still buzz notes without some decent pressure. Maybe its a cop out but I think my tendons and ligaments are probably weak and not conditioned over my lifetime by tasks that would strengthen them. Especially now in midlife as compared to when I was 20. Another funny little habit I canât seem to break- the volume does not increase the harder you press the string! But it seems like it should because piano teaches that if you want it louder, you hit the key harder! Sigh.
Anyway. Yes you can bet Iâll be working in more attention to technique for barre chords, namely trying to figure out that pullback technique.
I hear you, but the words donât translate to my brain/arm coordination yet! It creates tension, which I try to avoid. I may eventually find the trick to it but it has eluded me thus far, leading to this tendon issue.
