Re: Carpal Tunnel
good technique makes a difference too. Its amazing how much energy players waste, and how much work they do fighting against their own bodies. Even some really advanced players have got there with flawed technique. Eventually something has to give and it ends in tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, headaches etc etc.
The other thing that can be really helpful is flexibility training. Not just the hands and forearms, but the rest of the body as well. It creates an ease of motion as well as awareness of tension hidden in different parts of our body.
i know this is not for guitar, but below is a good video to watch just to show the detail, care and awareness of the body that musicians must apply to be free to express themselves. Ive deliberately not chosen a video on guitar technique because correct and efficient technique is of often context dependent re: genre etc. I think a lot of players both classically trained and self taught spend an enormous amount of energy practicing, but spend little or not time thinking about how they practice. If they did, they would gain a lot more benefit from their hours, weeks, months and years of dedicated practice, stay injury free and be freer to express themselves musically.
Of course, for guitar there are different techniques and body positions required to play classical, flatpicking, flamenco, blues, metal etc. However they all have one thing in common - we all use our whole bodies to play the guitar from our fingertips, our tendons, our ring pulleys, our wrists, forearm muscles, bones, elbows, shoulders, spines and the list goes on and on. Careful care and attention to learning how our body functions, we can avoid counterproductive techniques that cause stress, pain and eventually injury.
Anti imflammatories, circulatory aids, icing, athletic tape etc are all useful for treating the symptoms, but to get real long term benefit, it is important to be aware of the cause of an injury. Often these can be life long habits that have been there for 30 years or more, so removing these impedances can be a difficult and frustrating process. The answer of course is to keep an open mind and to not be afraid to start right at the beginning over and over again.
