carpal tunnel returns?

[farky22]

I've been doing fine the past couple years with my playing, not encountering
numbness in the hands while I sleep/lie in bed. I started playing tabla a few months ago and now I'm getting some numbness. However, I was doing some mildly uncomfortable stretching while playing my touch guitar. So I don't know what's going on. Any other tablaists out there who have experienced this problem?

[BCroad]

About five to seven years ago I encountered pretty much the same thing. All of the Doctors told me get surgery, I was hesitant. (The following will make sense, I'm not just rambling). I have been playing hard for the past 28 years, I play all kinds of stringed instruments, idioms, and techniques. I also lift weights, heavy weights, three years before I started playing and to this day. When I first noticed the numbness, I spoke to a friend of my mine who is probably the top jazz guitarist in my area, he told me the following. He observed I am tense, I do everything at 150%, when I'm standing on the train I don't just hold the bar, I grip it for dear life. That's just the way I'm wired, but as he told me, that's the problem. So even to this day I have to conciously not do that kind of thing, and it's very hard for me to do, but I do. Since I've started being less tense, the numbness has left and I lost nothing as far as playing abililty (whatever it is). I say all of this because should you have the same problem as myself, and should you get the surgery (which from what I've seen gets less that 50% full recovery) but let's say you get 100% recorvery, if you don't stop being tense like I was, in a year from surgery or whenever, you will end up in the same boat, but it will, be worse.

Good Luck,

Bryan

[3 dogs at night]

I'm not a Tablaist, however I do smack on an occasional Bongo, as well as guitar, bass, piano and plain old kit drums. Being a computer tech I type alot as well. I went through a period about 3 years ago where I was getting some numbness and the occasional lightning bolt of sharp pain through my left hand while playing guitar or bass. I was quite worried about carpal tunnel and had my physician check it out. He asked me about my daily routine and suggested I cut back on certain activities and alter other activities. He knows me pretty well and is aware that much like BCroad I am type A+++ and have a tendency to overdue it once in a while. I do exercise to reduce my overall stress levels but have added regular stretching and a bit of office yoga to my life. I also repeat my personal mantra which is ?You're going to die anyway, just relax.? all this and a little ibuprofen go along way, and if you can avoid having them cut on your hands and wrist, well, avoid it. Your hands evolved to handle a good deal of repetitive motion and tool use, however combined with stress, poor diet and inadequate rest and recovery time, you can prematurely destroy them (or any other part of your body). While not everything is curable just by maintaining a sensible lifestyle (and what is sensible is up for debate) many of the aches and pains we all suffer are a product of the pressures of modern living. I don't think this is news to anyone here though, most of the post I've read seem to be written by intelligent folks. Anyway, I don't know if this helps but I am a newbie and needed to post something. Now I order you to relax. ;)