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Looper's Delight
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I am not a doctor but both my wife and i have had problems like you outline and some even more things. We are lucky enough to have our offices right down the street from one of the best hand surgeons in the world. We have learned a lot.
First thing we learned is that there really is no such thing as tendonitis, those symptoms are indicative of neurological irritation. Anything that involves tracking, burning or prickly pain requires a neurologist /hand specialist. We nearly had a disaster dealing with am orthopedist (bones ain't nerves) . You need the smartest MD's you can get your hands on for these sorts of problems.
One story: Wife goes to Sports Medicine physician (orthopod) for shoulder arm pain. He recommends Clavechtomy (sawing off tip of clavicle) She waits, devlops shooting pain in same area, MD says, "That's impossible, it's in your head". She goes to Neurologist and he finds hardly any voltage making it through the nerve in her neck, they delicately scrape off some scar tissue , pain gone.
It gets complicated. You have three nerves in your arm Radial (thumb and forefinger on up), Median(middle half of ring on up) and Ulna (pinky to back of arm on up) rough descriptions. Three tunnels : wrist (carpal), elbow and neck (brachialplexus). The last of which is common, most severe and hardest to diagnose. The nerves feed back from both ends. Just because you get your wrist done does not mean the neck nerve end wrong continue your pain.
Often scar tissue and nerves adhering to muscle are the culprits. Before you let anybody cut on you learn about the nerves and the structures around them. Get EMGs (nerve studies) and do not let them just snip your carpal tunel (you will lose the integrity of your hand). None of the surgeries on these nerves are simple, you need high end surgeons to do them (none of the good ones are ever eager to cut)
I have the same symptoms and play and compute like you. I wear a wrist brace (carpal) when I sleep, use an ergonomic keyboard at the right elevation with a long cable and a very good chair (most important). I have staved off surgery by doing this.
I wouldn't change strings. I tried that and found that I was raising my action to make up for the tone loss, same diff. I'm sure some of the technique hound out there can tell you better about straps and elevatio, posture etc...
I have no qualifications to give advice and I would not want you to do anything based on what i have written. Find out for yourself. It is important to do that.
This is scary stuff and it concerns any musician. This is an electronic disease, literally and figuratively and will probably afeect everyone on this list in one way or another. Sorry for the screed but I feel it is important.
Best
Fiveman
Hi all - Since this is the biggest bunch of technology-loving guitar players I can think of, I thought I might ask the following: I have been occasionally having some numbness on the back of my left hand, which goes up the back of my arm, is occasionally SLIGHTLY painful in the forearm, and other times feels like there is a breeze blowing on the back of my hand (sorta like that, anyway). I am a hardcore computer user, and as of the last 9 months, playing in every spare moment. I've looked around, and this sounds kinda like it might be some sorta tendonitis/RSI thing developing. So - here's what I'm thinking of doing: 1. switching from 11's to 10's on the guitar. 2. buying a wacom tablet (I use one at home, and never had a problem before) 3. looking into an alternate keyboard, like maybe a one-handed "chording" keyboard (something called the "BAT" looks interesting) Anybody have any experience/words of advice/product recommendations? I prefer something that is PC and Mac compatible as far as the keyboard is concerned, but am open to any suggestions. I don't want to become crippled just when I'm really starting to be able to play decently! Thanks,