Hand falling asleep while playing

[Dred]

Now, this finally pissed me off, so I decided to post this, and see if any one will know what the deal here is.

Some of my fretting hand, typically the index finger but it may spread to the other fingers, falls asleep/becomes numb with a tingle. This finally pissed me off just now, as about my entire hand began to tingle, got slightly numb and lost a moderate deal of sensitivity to touch, but recovered almost immediately after I stopped playing. I get the gist that this is purely neurological, but can't seem to find a mechanical cause, as neither my wrist angle or anything else of the sort is weird enough to cause this.

Anyone have any idea what this may be? My hand gets circulation into it as my fingers are constantly moving, but I get the sensation of having sat on your hand for 15 minutes? Any ideas guys?

[Jack Napalm]

My first guess is you're gripping the neck too hard.

[Dred]

Nope. I had to run back to check just how hard I grip the neck and how much tension in general I put into my hand. Everything seems normal. I keep my hand relatively loose, and I also dont hold my thumb way back behind the neck, so the wrist isn't tensed up either.:think:

[horns666]

Story of my life ..especially since my neck injury.

Years ago I developed carpal tunnel from playing "too much", I had a brace fitted for me. It was hard practicing with that brace on, but it keeps your hand from compressing that nerve at your wrist by your thumb. That did help!

That's prolly your prob..same symptoms.

[Dred]

Story of my life ..especially since my neck injury.

Years ago I developed carpal tunnel from playing "too much", I had a brace fitted for me. It was hard practicing with that brace on, but it keeps your hand from compressing that nerve at your wrist by your thumb. That did help!

That's prolly your prob..same symptoms.

Just after my first reply to this thread, I looked it up, and it's what you said. Honestly, I'm kinda scared.

[horns666]

Just after my first reply to this thread, I looked it up, and it's what you said. Honestly, I'm kinda scared.

Don't be scared..It's completely treatable. If you're playing alot, just back off a tad. It affects people that use their hands alot for shit..such as playing guitar, and typing.

I'm amazed I didn't get carpal tunnel when I was a kid.. with all that pud pullin'.

[Bengal65]

My brother just recently hand surgery for carpal tunnel. It was done by endoscopy. Pretty straight forward procedure. If it gets bad enough, you can have that done. Definitely backing off playing (if your playing too much) helps.
I have the same thing as you, I just practice so much these days

[broken_fusion]

Sounds like carpal tunnel if it tingles. I had tendinitis in my elbow real bad a few years ago when I was doing really intense picking exercises (thanks Frank Gambale!) That pretty much feels like a needle in your elbow(or whatever tendon it is) Occasionally I feel it coming on and I just back off the guitar for a while.

[Spivonious]

Sounds like carpal tunnel to me too. My buddy got it from playing bass too much. He had to wear a hard brace for a couple of weeks and couldn't play bass at all.

[Cygnus X1]

I ought to have it.
I type all day, use the mouse, used to use Autocad about 7 hours a day.
Then a steady 3-4 hours wanking on the guitar.

Now I enter training records in my job for hours at a stretch, still a lot of axe-wanking, and some actual synth/keyboard work.

I can't say.
No problems.
I make sure to take breaks and I reverse the mouse pad sometimes when I detect any issue at work.

Not about to let a work related issue become a problem in my "real life".

[nateb]

I had the same problem. You might want to get it checked out. It does sound a lot like CT. I had the surgery for it and the problem went away. You could start stretching a little before playing and wearing hand braces during the times you are not playing but, that only prolongs what needs to happen. Get it checked out and diagnosed.

-Nate

[Jacksons Shred]

I remember one time I was playing guitar for a long period, and I was working on Paganini's fifth caprice, and I kept repeating a bar over and over, it had a mean stretch at the low frets, and after about 2 hours of it, my thumb locked up and started burning insanely. I couldn't play for a week or two, after that I started stretching my hands and arms, and warming up SLOWLY before I started playing. I usually designate a good 30minutes to just warming up.

I haven't had a hand problem since, and I still play guitar at least 6-9 hours a day...Maybe less on some days, but still in the few hour zone.

Get it checked out, and don't read too much into it, because self diagnosing is fucking terrible if you're someone like me who dreads on shit forever and sketches themselves out.

[Dred]

Thanks guys! I decided to let it sit for a while, and see how persistent it is.

I sidestepped the problem by changing my left hand approach quite a bit. I rest the thumb on its outermost knuckle and back my palm off the neck at a slight distance away from it. I already had a foundation for such a method built, so it's not a problem for me, and it is almost identical to the problematic way, only I'm not compressing the palm where the tunnel meets the surface. I'll see how it goes now before I go to the doctor.

[heavy dupree]

I had the same symptoms for about 9 years, it started very gradually and became progressively worse. Gripping the clutch on the motorcycle became an ordeal, I finally went to a neurologist this past Novemeber to get checked out.

The Dr. performed a nerve conductivity test, which is a painless (although irritating) series of mild electrical shocks from tiny needles placed into opposing ends of different muscle groups (read: painless).

The speed at which the electrical current travels from point A to point B can be compared against established baseline numbers. The Dr. compares your results to these...

If there is compression in the nerves from the carpal tunnel, it will be very easy to diagnose. Turned out that I had severe Bi-lateral carpal tunnel syndrome.

My Neurologist then recommended a great orthopedic surgeon whom he has referred many patients to. The Ortho did a couple x-rays in his office, and had a grip strength testing device. His conclusions supported the Neurologist's diagnosis. Before I left his office, I scheduled surgery for the left wrist which was the worst. That was this past Novemeber...

Surgery was performed under local anesthetic, and was really no big deal at all. It was NOT painful, that night I had regained full sensation in all fingers of my left hand!

Stitches cam out two weeks later, and I had to wear and Ace bandage for a week or so. There was nothing else to it, seriously.

This was by far the smartest health-related thing I have ever done. I will have the other hand taken care of this Holiday season. This is one of those things which I could kick myself for not having looked at sooner, it is such a relief to not have perpetually numb fingers in my left hand. I even sleep better too!

Blue Cross/Blue Shield picked up the enitre tab, I had no out of pocket for the procedure...

[horns666]

HD, yeah man, I had that test paid for by workers comp. The needle by the thumb was the only one that hurt my ass..I didn't like that poke!