How Do You Heal a Sore Wrist?

[jazzjunky]

I've recently sprained my wrist from carrying too many chairs (as a waiter), now I'm needing to urgently prepare for my jazz exams.

Have any of you seasoned players ever sprained your wrist, and have managed to find a quick & long-term solution? A pianist suggested to me that I get one of those velcro wrist straps which are used to athletes to help keep the joints in place. He's has used one, which has really helped him.

Is there any cream, tablets that I could take, that any of you would recommend? Or a specific medical specialist that you would recommend?

I would really appreciate anyone's advice in this regards...

Tuneful Regards,
jazzjunky

[Archie]

Rest it. I have braces for each wrist. When my arthritis flares up, they help a lot.

See a doctor and get a note. No school or teacher is going to force you to do an exam if you have a medical reason why you can't take it.

[jazzjunky]

Thanks for the feedback.

What do these braces look like exactly? I might need to invest in one of these. Do you have any idea how much they set you back?

[Archie]

I have three different kinds. One is made of leather, and has three velcro fasteners so you can adjust the tightness. One is made of neoprene, the kind of stuff that wet suits are made of, and also has three velcro fasteners. These two had aluminum bars to keep them stiff, but I removed them since I didn't need that much support. The third one is neoprene, but it is like a tube with a hole for your thumb to stick through. It doesn't have fasteners, but the material is stretchy, so you just pull it over your hand. They're not expensive. I've had them a while, but I seem to recall they cost about $15 each. You can get them at medical supply shops.

The leather one is the best, because it breathes. Your hand gets damp in the neoprene ones after a while, and you wouldn't want to wear them all day.

http://www.bledsoebrace.com/products/wrist_brace.asp

[Dirk]

The long term solution: your food.

Food that causes inflammations:

• Sugar (desserts, soda drinks, ...)
• Milk and cheese
• Alcohol (especially red wine is bad for your joints)
• Processed flour (cakes, white bread, white pasta, ...)
• Saturated fats (butter, soy oil, corn oil, ...)
• Fried food
• Red meat
• Coffee
• Too much potatoes and grains (pasta, bread, ...)
• Cigarettes

Food that actively prevents inflammations:

• Olive oil
• Fat fish, rich with omega 3 oil (salmon, mackerel, sardine)
• Vegetables (especially green vegetables and cabbages)
• Pulses
• Water
• Green tea (of good quality, like Japanese bancha tea)
• Turmeric (has to be used together with black pepper)
• Nuts
• Dark chocolate (just a little) that contains more than 70% cacao
• Ginger
• Garlic
• Parsley
• Oyster mushrooms, shiitake, ...
• Movement (weight lifting, but don't overdo)
• Sleep

[davidblair]

I play guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and also waiter, 5 days a week for the last 25 years. I use my left hand to carry/stack plates and to carry trays. I have learned that good posture is the key to avoiding injury. Keeping a straight wrist spreads the muscle work to your fingers and arm, and using a brace may help or remind you, but is not a long term solution.
I use tiger balm. Swimming is good too.

[cooledit]

hi, there

you could try deep heat or Tiger balm before you sleep..

Cooledit

[patskywriter]

be careful how you push off when you get out of bed in the morning. you can unintentionally reinjure your wrist every morning if you're not careful.

[fivebells]

As long as you don't have a lasting problem with a ligament or the carpal tunnel, a weak and painful wrist can be fixed up with exercises that stabilise the joint's operation by strengthening all the muscles that control its movements. I speak from experience

Our wrists move in four ways. Hold your hand out, palm facing down. You'll see you can tilt down, tilt up, and (less freely) swivel right and swivel left. To strengthen your wrist you need to apply resistance on the opposite side of all those four movements, and repeat them under load.

Physiotherapists use heavy rubber bands/ribbons (one commercial name is Theraband) for this kind of work. Wrap one of these bands around the palm of your weak hand. With a litte experimentation you'll be able to anchor the other end of the band with your other hand (or under your foot, or on a door handle or the edge of a table), for all four directions. Work your wrist through its full range of movement, doing 2 or 3 sets of 6 to 10 reps of each of the four movements, twice a day. Also, do reps of circular motions (with no load) in both directions.

If you can't find one of these rubber bands try doing your exercises with cans of food, a half-brick or any moderately heavy object that fits comfortably in your grip. An initial improvement should come quickly, but keep going for at least a month.

[tezzz]

Rest it

[fivebells]

That's not good advice. Rest eases pain, but wrist injuries are notorious for persisting and do not repair well without active rehab.

[tezzz]

Works for me

[Seahat]

My sore wrist has only occured today, I don't think it's anything major, I might have slept funny or might have knock my hand on something but my wrist is only faintly sore, I'm only wondering if rest would help, if it doesn't then perhaps exercising it might improve it, again it's nothing serious related to pulling a ligament as such, I just think it might be from sleeping funny, like sometimes you get a sore neck from sleeping funny.

[Jake Hanlon]

don't ask a guitar forum, ask a doctor.

[Marto]

Jake Hanlon
don't ask a guitar forum, ask a doctor.

I agree with that. See a good doctor as soon as you can and if you need to see a physiotherapist do some research and make sure they are the best in your area. I would not start doing rehab work till then just try to rest it.

[gingerjazz]

Good advice from Jake as usual.Dont ask for medical help on a jazz forum.HOPE YOU GET BETTER SOON.

[paynow]

Good advice from Jake as usual.Dont ask for medical help on a jazz forum.HOPE YOU GET BETTER SOON.

But by all means ask for jazz advice on a medical forum. Those doctors understand all kinds of theory.

My right wrist is always a mess; tendinitis, some arthritis. I wear a brace and take anti-inflammatories. You have to see someone in the medical profession to get the proper assessment.

[markf]

I hurt my wrist the other day, I used a brace for a few days, and

worked really well.