Prevent Wrist Injuries focus on Guitar Players

As a guitar player you've got to be careful with your hands. You won't see an injury coming. There's no indicator, you just feel it when its to late (Thats what happened to me).
The stretches that I show will help you prevent getting stressed muscles, tendonitis [inflammation of the tendons], carpal tunnel syndrome, and will increase stamina.

I never cared about stretching and kept on playing after I was well aware of the tendonitis, eventually causing swellings and fluids to settle in my wrist joint.
So be careful and stretch, even though this vid is showed in a 'fun' way, you should take it serious!

Except for your flexibility and muscle strength, technique is also very important in preventing injuries. Be sure to view my vid on the right wrist position while playing guitar.



And be prepared for an update vid where I'll talk about what you can do when its already to late and you developed an injury.

Last of all I would like to quote Brad Hartoin, who wrote an excellent post on this subject and even goes deeper into details. The deep tissue massage is something a want to talk about at a later time.

"Muscles work in antagonistic pairs. In the forearm we have flexors and extensors. When one is shortened, the other must stretch. The stretched muscle is in eccentric contraction; it must checkrein or hold back against its partner. With the extreme bent wrist position of playing a guitar, the extensors (top or front of forearm) are fighting against flexion, trying to maintain anatomical position. Over time, this lengthens and weakens the extensors while tightening and shortening the flexors. Eventually Imbalances in muscle length and tension produce pain, weakness, and dysfunction. By performing deep tissue massage on the forearm flexors, we can decrease their tension and the load they put on the extensors. By putting some slack back in the flexors, we make it easier and less fatiguing (less pain) for the extensors to support the flexed-wrist position." - BradHartoin, 6 July 2009