I have been developing pain in my right wrist over the past few months. I am right handed. It is now to the point that I must now use my computer mouse on the left side to give my right hand a rest.

The last gig we did, I noticed I had a troubling tendency to curve my hand to the right in order to finger chords correctly. This arching of the wrist has caused severe pain to develop on the right side of the wrist where the hand and the wrist meet.

I also noticed with horror a very, very, bad technique: I am currently playing chords 1-3-5 with 1 being the thumb, and 3 being my index finger, and 5 being my pinkie. I don't when I developed this very bad habit, but now I find myself in a position to have to re-train myself for the proper technique.

This got me to thinking; Maybe it's time to re-evaluate my complete technique and style.

How may people in this forum still use a teacher? Do you think I need a teacher to examine my playing and make corrections? Can an old dog like myself learn new tricks?

I must say at 46, it takes me an awefull lot of practice to learn new riffs, runs, and techniques.

Al G

Al,
I had a similar problem a few years ago, due to my incorrect position when working at my computer (the keyboard and the mouse were too high for my forearm and wrist to extend properly). Another big culpit was my old Microsoft mouse, with his "arched" back. Everything disappeared moving the computer to a lower stand and replacing the Microsoft with a "flat" Logitech mouse. A lot of computer addicts seem to have the same problem; so, at least this time, I don't think that you have to blame your Tyros for this.
Andrea
(the italian in Italy )

I had to change the position height of both my chair and keyboard because of a growing discomfort in the wrists.....so as the Italion Stallion points out ergomonmics on anything we do alot of is very important to comfort. And if necessary get a physical therapist to watch what you are doing and they can guide you to correct positionung to relieve the stress on the joints.

I have also seen a few things about ergonomics on the net and PC's and so if you do a search for it, they will tell you about correct positioning and it will translate to keyboards as they both are similar repetitive functions with similar arm and hand positions.
jam on,
Terry

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http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

Terry,

It's amazing the stuff you can find on the net. Sometimes I forget the huge resources available believe it or not. Thanks for the tip.

Al

Terry,
I signed as "the italian in Italy" because, if I am not mistaken, on another forum Al signs as "the italian in NY" (or am I totally wrong here?)

I had CT syndrom a few years back and had it COMPLETELY cured with chiropractic intervention. It took about a year and a half, but no knives, no pain and no more trouble !

Due to that situation tried many things. The height is very important. But even at the correct hight, the mouse is still not a correct interface for prolongued use. Have switched to a pen-and tablet interface, AIPTEK brand. I click the pen buttons with the thumb. Scrolling with the wheel mouse looked nice, but it brought pain to the index finger. Now the pen does the scrolling up and down with a minimum of effort, and it is very natural. The logical interface would have been a pen. But they designed the interface with old electronics inside a small wood box simply because of space and so the mouse was born. It was not meant for so much use as now we give it, but luckily the pen and tablets are now affordable. Eventually, the laptop screen will be the tablet. A wrist brace will help heal the problem. The skate-board protection gloves kids use are a good substitute. Careful, if prolonged, surgery is almost the only way to remove fibrosis there. Good luck.

I aslo change the height and angle of my gear from time to time ...... mostly because i change my gear ALL the time, but it still gives a break to the monotony of a particular setup. At the first sign of fatigue .... change something ! Excersise the muscles in a different manner ... take up sewing, tennis .... ANYthing to work the muscles in a contrary motion. This business is LOADED with traps that are bad for your health. Be on the lookout and you'll enjoy the longevity you desire !

I've been programming computers for the past 25 years, and never suffered any discomfort. I attribute this to using the same basic handshape for pressing PC keyboards as I do for playing keyboards (ie. forearms level, wrist straight, handshape as in holding a squashed apple).

However, during a period of intensive gigging some years ago I began to suffer middle back pain and a repeated ache in my right thumb. The back was a posture problem (i.e. stooping - solution? raise microphone stand); but I couldn't isolate the thumb problem and just changed my technique to play some 3 finder chords using the index finger instead (to give the thumb a rest). This has been successful; but equally I'm not doing as many gigs so maybe it was an overuse problem.