The not-so-surprising was that the injury was probably caused by too much tension - ie gripping the guitar in a "death grip." I don't think I'm that bad when playing normally (my guitar teacher might disagree) though I could definitely stand to lighten up a fair bit. The real culprit so far as this injury goes was practicing slurs (a lot) using way too much pressure - particularly multiple hammer-ons in sequence. I blame practicing "Oriental" for that. I think it's because my fingers are still confused about where the pressure needs to be quickly applied (and equally quickly removed) so they all just go for it at maximum force. So I guess I'll be working on it extremely slowly (as if I haven't heard that before!) to get that sorted out.
Also not surprising was that at my age (definitely not to be disclosed) I should not be practicing more than 45 mins in a row - evidently blood supply starts to become reduced after that, presumably resulting in less removal of toxic products of exertion etc etc. So uninterrupted 2 hr practice sessions are out... After the 45 mins, I'm to stop and ice the injury for 5 mins.
The surprising advice was to warm up the whole body for 5 mins before practicing - yes - large muscles, running, jumping jacks, stair walking, knee bends etc. Gosh I haven't done exercise like that in about 4 years (and jumping jacks are definitely out on a broken ankle). However I can manage sit ups and kneebends so I guess its not out of the question. I don't know if I was too horrified to ask why during the consult, but I suppose as a means to get the hands warmed up and blood flowing it's efficient. Also probably compensates somewhat for then sitting for 45 mins...
So the routine is -
Large muscle exercises 5 mins
Practice including guitar warm up 45 mins
Ice 5 mins
Rest 5 mins
And if you want to practice more, repeat the whole thing. Yikes! I can tell you that I'm not used to this amount of (admittedly limited) callisthenics but it does seem to shorten the overall time before my brain and fingers reconnect with the fretboard. That may be wishful thinking though. On the other hand, a 1.5 hour practice session now takes 2 hours. And I'm totally tempted to eliminate the second set of 'large muscle exercises' prior to the second 45 mins, or at least reduce it to a few situps and push ups. Though given that the arm has been cooled down by ice, probably I shouldn't be so tempted. Has anyone else had to adjust their practice schedule to prevent injury?
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