House of Drumming.com

Hey all.

A quick question - recently, i've been unfortunate enough to have a nasty case of tendonitis arise in my left arm :/ Began about 7 years ago as a niggling pain in my wrist which would arise every once in a while, mainly when trying to learn traditional grip. Would usually die down within a day or two. Recently - after a year long hiatus from playing - i joined a drum group, and got stuck right back in to practising on the pad daily. After a few weeks, the pain returned pretty sharp, and refused to go away. At the stage it is at now, I've abstained for 3 weeks, am on anti-inflammatories, and have just started wearing a splint at night time and when possible during the day.

Anybody on here had to alter aspects of their drumming due to similar issues? Any advice much appreciated!

I would suggest not playing traditional grip ever again.

Look up myofascial release. There is a great tool called the accupoint massager. Gets in there and deeply massages tightness and releases. Our guitarist had some problems in his forearm, he got one and it helped tremendously. I use it whenever I feel tightness.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008ERUSV2/ref=rr_xsim_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1438432837&sr=0

Grip should't really matter if you do things correctly IMO. This obviously is related to that though, as you don't experience any issues with the other hand.

I've only played for about 6 years, but I never really have problems with my hands.

Though it's generally not recommended for drumming in and of itself, I do train my hands in other ways to avoid repetitive stress injuries.

In addition to some hand gripper work and general grip exercises I learned in MA class, I do all the typical things to alleviate stress and get things flowing:

-balls
-newspaper rolling
-different sorts of rubber thingies
-massages
-stretching

It's just like any other situation, sitting in a chair or doing repetetive motions in a factory, or whatever... We stretch and work out, but don't necessarily give our hands, wrists and arms the special care the should.

It can be a little more involved than what's in a cyber book. It also helps to know more about what you may be dealing with

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3312643/

Also, look for other things possibly working in tandem with drumming to create issues. Things like computer ergonomics and the positioning of your limbs when you sleep. And don't neglect general conditioning, substance issues and diet. Good luck.

Awesome. Thanks a mil for the replies folks. Surprisingly, the biggest difference so far seems to have been made from short daily exercises with a Powerball gyroscope. After 2/3 days of doing short exercises daily the stinging had completely died down and has remained that way.

I'm going to wait another while before sitting down at the pad again, and I think I'm just going to have to rule traditional grip out at this point. I'd say it's probably it's exacerbating a pre-existing injury in my left wrist. I have zero problem playing it with my right hand, but with my left as soon as I turn my hand palm-upward everything feels quite taut and within one or two pad sessions the feeling is back.

More importantly though, very glad to be on the mend. Thanks for the help folks

If the gyroscope exercise is helping, I'd hazard a guess that it is because the movements are loosening up the shoulder. If that's the case, then hoe is your playing posture? Might be the major factor in developing (and curing) tendonitis.

Cool little vid...

They didn't talk about shoulder too much, I've been having some minor issues with mine after drumming. Specifically the left shoulder.