The importance of your hands

Hi Jets,

I used table saws, band saws, skill saws, and routers which can wreck havoc on your hands if
you not catious. Luckly after twenty or so years I still have all my digits. I really started to be
more careful when I started playing guitar, also handling lumber, splinters can do damage as well.

Badeye..         

jets,
next time yer in goal a bit of advice: dont try and save a fast ball by making yer hands and fingers as wide as you can thinking it will make a difference, punch the thing!
use you hands to pick it up when it is rolling softly,lol.

good on ye for playing though, I played last year in 5 a sides and felt like lying down and dying. 5 a side is more knackering than a full side. Ye dont get time to rest for a second.

ken

I row and paddle.  Usually there's no impact, but when there is it's an accident and the impact is unpleasant.  Plus, my very over 30 hands are beginning to swell at the knuckles and 14 miles in the kayak is beginning to hurt for longer than it takes to stretch a little at the ramp and dip my hands in the cooler water to get the swelling down.   I went out in my canoe last Friday and rowed against current for a short distance - probably no more than 1/2 hour worth of rowing (though it was very aggressive) and I'm still aching.  Just last night (Tuesday), I felt able to start playing again.  You aren't alone.  I'm not giving up picking, and I'm not giving up paddling.  I may just have to start coming to grips with getting Aspercreme or Ben Gay on the strings. 

It's getting to campfire season again.  We talked of getting together in the back yard last year and couldn't make it work out.  Now Detman is also close (about the same distance north of me as you are south).  Let's try and pick a Saturday evening early in June to have a little strummery and co-encouragement where we can all get together and pick around my back yard campfire.  I am eager to hear how you do that bicycle song.  I keep trying to get it, but I must hear timing different from you and can't get it to work out in a pleasing manner.  I love the lyrics.  I'm an old cyclist myself.  Used to do 40 miles a day at training speed and up to 100 miles per day on more moderately paced tours.  I was skinny then.  Now I'm fat and don't ride.  There may be a connection if only I could find it...

- Zurf

Yes. drywall screws will leave little shards of metal in your finger tips. I drywalled an apartment
building and my fingers were peppered with metal.

badeye     

Why do they make drywall screws so sharp?   

I remember doing framing in Pennsylvania in late November back in the 80's and had the misfortune of missing the nail and hitting my index finger instead ... I was glad it was in the 40's and my fingers were numb ... if not I would have sat in the corner, curled up in a ball, and balled my eyes out 

Do you start moon walking when you wear it?

Now that's just plain old burst a gut, laugh out loud, funny. That's the last two posts I've read have had me guffawing, with the result of my wife wanting to know what I'm up to. Ach, she wouldny understand.

Good luck Russell.  Keep the mutant fire alive!

- Zurf

jets60, Congrats playing soccer. I used to run like that.             This weekend I stopped a line drive baseball with my shin.
With ice on it, the half-baseball sized knot went down by the next morning but the soreness is slow to go at my age.
Playing guitar six nights a week, I had a problem with my left index finger getting stiff and painful to bend. Try to play an open string C with that going on.
My guitar was heavy and a wider guitar strap cured the problem. The blood vessels in the top or your shoulder are pinched off with a narrow guitar strap and arthritis in the fingers is the result.

That stinks NELA.  I hope the surgery brings you some relief.

Tell me more about this trigger finger.  I have an odd thing happening with the middle finger of my left hand.  After an hour or so in my kayak, the middle finger won't let go of the paddle.  I have pry it off with my right hand.  It doesn't hurt, and it has come in handy (pun unintended) from time to time when the paddle has slipped, but it's fairly annoying.  Happens with the steering wheel sometimes too, if I'm on a long trip and don't move my hands around.  Is that similar to this "trigger finger" you mention?  As long as things are moving, it's fine, but when I hold something for a while, it's locked. 

- Zurf

Had that same problem with my old Silverburst LP that I recently sold. That thing weighed a metric ton.
Fender for life from here on out!!!

Dm

I haven't been shooting Longbow that long and last year it was playing havoc with my right hand fingers (I mostly fingerpick). I have a friend who works in leather who gave me a piece 3 - 4 times thicker than normal to make my own "Tab" (the bit of leather that goes between fingers and Bowstring).

I didn't stop shooting or playing and the new tab spread the load enough so the pain was gone in a week.

It boils down to - Can you find a way of practicing Archery or putting up dry wall without damaging your hands. If the answer is "No!" how serious are you about playing guitar/bass/mandolin/uke/banjo, etc ?

To all who have had or are due surgery best of luck and bright blessings to you.