Diki..
Bummer. The one thing none of us wants to do is take time off from playing to heal.

Even after a heart attack, I felt the necessity to play a gig a week later. I knew better than to lift anything and had a music buddy haul in and set up all my gear. But, truth me known, I really should have been home resting.

Sounds like your thumb needs a rest to help the splint help your thumb. Here I would suggest you do as I say..not as I do. But, who am I kidding? I know you will do what you think is necessary and what you hope you can get away with.

Good luck. Hope you heal soon.

Eddie

Just set your G70 to single finger chording & fire the band.

Diki good luck that's not good news. ditto to what Bachus and Chas mentioned. Careful with the cortisone. I heard that just 2 days ago from my wife's doctor who is going to have to operate on her rotator cuff. He reluctantly gave here a 2nd shot this year according to what he said with 3 or 4 shots a year that tissue damage is eminent.

Wishing and hoping for a speedy recovery.

Taike


ps. you might want to try accupuncture as an alternative

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Bo pen nyang.

[This message has been edited by Taike (edited 05-07-2010).]

Thanks for all the well wishes. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to take time off work, but I'm gigging four evenings with a five-piece, so at least my left hand is not tied up doing LH bass out of necessity. The cast makes my thumb completely out of the equation, but I can still use my four fingers, but it's difficult to spread them enough for a normal open voicing. I'm getting used to smaller, two note voicings in my left or closer three note chords. And I'm learning to play like I type (I'm a one or two finger typist!)

But I always try to look on the positive side... sometimes a handicap is what is needed to break you from familiar and possibly over-worn tricks and techniques. I am discovering that sometimes, two notes can do the work of four if they are the RIGHT two notes!

Thanks for the warning about the cortisone injections. I was tempted to try them as a 'quick fix', but I might try to simply stay in the cast a few more weeks and stick to the ibuprofen and see if it will heal naturally. At least, due to the economy (and my regular guitarist/partner/friend relocating to Oregon), I'm not on the insane schedule I had a couple of years ago. Mind you, I have a double tomorrow... full Latin band in the afternoon, and a wedding at night! A month ago, I would have loved this... now I'm just hoping my hand can take it

Diki,
I have had arthritis in my lower back for many years. Taking a minimal 100mg(blue) dose of Celebrex 3-4 times a week is so much safer than the knee-jerk 200mg(yellow)daily dose most doctors will prescribe, and no stomach problems as with Ibuprofen (that stuff KILLS my guts) and has completely ameliorated the problem. Without it I couldn't sit or stand in one place for more than 15 minutes..has also greatly helped the tendinitis in my hands. Try it.

But this may be even better: TURMERIC, an Indian spice that contains capsaicin(sp?), a natural anti-inflammatory. it's almost miraculous, but you have to get the concentrated caps, eating the spice will do little. they are available thru VITACOST.com,
not only the cheapest source for supplements but the best, especially their superb house brand called NSI. i had tennis elbow for months that no remedy incl Celebrex could help. I started with one capsule Turmeric a
day--after a week felt a little better. I bumped it to 2 caps a day..and voila! a week later the tennis elbow was gone. My hands had serious tendinitis after i practiced on my E60..took 2/3 Turmeric a day for a week..problem GONE. i now take it daily as a matter of course..it has other health benefits as well..great for digestion too.
The guy that gave me the heads-up on it was a guitarist whose thumb went KAPUT...nothing helped until he tried turmeric..in 2 months he was cured! He did tons of research on it and i'm grateful for all he told me. it works a lot more slowly than drugs..but it really works, and no side effects. Hope this advice helps! Lemmeknow

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Miami Mo

[This message has been edited by keysvocalssax (edited 05-09-2010).]

[This message has been edited by keysvocalssax (edited 05-09-2010).]

Hi Diki,
No Advise, But Hope all repairs quickly,I Can imagine how frustrated to a musician this must be, at lease you can still use your Mac.
Best Gilbert.

Mo.... A guitarist just turned me onto turmeric pills, too (small world!) and I started them today. Hopefully they can get the problem solved. Only problem is that, unlike ibuprofen, there's no pain management aspect to turmeric, and I played tonight just on the turmeric pills, and had to run out on a break and go and get some ibuprofen just to stop it hurting (like an idiot, I can't stop myself from pulling off the splint from time to time on more complex songs, but if I whack my thumb, watch out! ).

I'll let you know how it progresses.

Diki, if you can tolerate the Ibuprofen, fine, it works best-but if it becomes a problem, i recommend you get Rx for Celebrex, which doesn't upset the digestive tract.

Oh and I forgot this..there's something called VOLTAREN which was stronger than Ibu but had some bad side effects..now they have recently made it into a topical Gel..my doctor prescribed it for me for my elbow when i asked him for a cortisone shot..he refused and said try the Voltaren Gel first..i don't know how much it helped, but it can't hurt...

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Miami Mo

Diki,

Sorry to hear about your pain/problems. Anytime I hear about someone experiencing pain in joints or muscles during playing, I always go back to the foundation and rudiments of technique and style.

I had developed sever wrist pain whist playing alot on keyboards. I was in so much pain, I started compensating.

I decided to go see a VERY GOOD teacher to evaluate my playing technique and BINGO! He discovered bad habits and poor ergonomic position of my hands, fingers and more importantly my wrists. We went through the basics (which I always thought I knew!) and reinforced them through exercise, repetition, and stretching and today I am pain free.

You might want to get back to basics and see if there are underlying bad habits that are contributing to your pain.

Al