R.s.I??????

[mitchseek]

help!!!!!
ok i was at bad practice yesterday,jamed for a good 5 hours with breaks,at the end of the night i start getting these sharp pains in my right hand/arm,(right handed)half way through songs,i dont think much of it at first but then it comes back a few songs later,so we call it a night and i am packing up my leads when this time i get it again rolling up my lead,very sharp pain almost like an electric shock,goes right up my arm,happens a few time while im packing up and again when im driveing home,hasnt happend since.
has anyone had this before??????
does it sound like R.S.I????
i bloody well hope not,does anyone know how 2 prevent this or how 2 help this,
any help would be wonderful,thanks guys!

[Spazzout22]

Are you used to playing for 5 hours? if not, i'd say that's what did it. Take big breaks and use that time to relax your arm. I don't think it's anything serious.

[dubbeatscb]

five hours is a long time...especially if you're going hard......i'd say youjust over did it a little......

[mitchseek]

yeah,new drummer so we had 2 show him the ropes,try and find the grove
turns out he does a mean machine gun dubble kick!!!!!!!!
ratatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatat!i was just worried dont wana crap out this early!

[Akira]

If it hasn't hurt since you are probably fine. Just don't overdo it.

[gaslight]

You may need to rest your arm sometimes. Muscles in your arms get tired the same as any other ones, like your legs get tired from running far too much.

Generally:

Sharp pains/cramps mean stop and rest, you're overdoing it.
Dull ache means the muscle is tired but you aren't hurting it too much.

If it hasn't troubled you since then I doubt it's an RSI, those are pretty nasty.

Just take care of your arms. It can be a good idea to do stretches and generally try to keep the muscles warm.

Some easy stretches:

1. Make a fist, then open and spread your fingers as far as you can. Then back to a fist, open, fist, open, etc.
2. Holding your arm straight/flat, bend your wrist slowly down to point at the floor, then slowly up to point at the ceiling.
3. Press your hands together in front of your chest, palms together, fingers/knuckles pointing up. Lower your arms a bit to feel the stretch in your forearm.
4. For upper arms, extend your arms in front of you with the palms facing away. Link up your fingers and extend your arms/push with your hands gently to feel a stretch, keeping your arms like this, lower them down to your waist, and then back up around/over your chest, keeping your arms extended.

Hopefully those make sense, you don't have to do them all the time, but they can be a good warm-up if you know you're going to be playing hard and for extended periods of time. Warming up the rest of your arms is just as important as warming up your fingers. If you take a break for a few minutes you can do those, 30 seconds each is all it really takes to get some benefit from it. Have something to drink handy, like water, I use water, playing bass for a long time really works the arm/hand muscles and you don't want them doing it without some liquid.

[mitchseek]

wicked,thanks 4 that