Wrist Pain while drumming?

[Girlpants]

I have pain in my left wrist; the snare hitting one. Usually while drumming for like more than 2 hours.
My wrist flexibility is also reduced when the pain hits.
It's not really pain pain. It's more like aching-poking pain.

My doctor said it could be due to the vibrations and shock that my ligaments/soft tissues are absorbing causing fatigue and strain. And he advised me to like maybe hit softer or change to a much denser stick. O_O hahaha

But I'm now using Hickory sticks. It SHOULD absorb most of the shock right??
I haven't tried Oak stick btw. Heard they're heavy. I don't mind paying more for better and durable drumsticks.

Anyone of you here experienced this before?
And is there really a need to "hit softer"? O_O
Also, drumsticks reco?
Thanks!

 

[c.adl]

hey

i experienced it before. and not anymore after awhile.

try doing stretches and warm ups before you play. theres a few drum warmups vids on youtube.

for sticks id recommend Zildjian Anti Vibe.

Hope this help
Keep drumming and do update me! ciaoos

 

[ge3k]

i had tendonitis before. Basically u gotta stretch b4 and after you play. ad if tt doesnt help, you could try putting a warm towel on your wrist. kind of relieves the pain.

 

[deon]

remember to relax while your playing. A lot of this pain is due to over tense grips and awkward angles of your playing surface.

Hitting softer may not solve it if your grip is still tense, the energy that is supposed to be dissipated as vibrations of the drum skin will just travel to your body instead, be it the wrists or the elbows.

 

[Girlpants]

Thanks for the answers!

c.adl: I shall try doing warm ups!

ge3k: I'm now using a wrist brace while playing. Very uncomfortable. But it helps.

Deon:

A lot of this pain is due to over tense grips and awkward angles of your playing surface.

Now I think that's my main problem. I have a problem with grip. Cos there's a few times where the stick just fell off my hand, thus, i grip it pretty tightly, especially on rolls. And I really whack the snare. So that explains I guess.

Plus, I also tend to grip sticks with laquer tighter cos I will slip off my hands due to my sweaty palms. It's not easy to find sticks without the laquer finish nowadays.
I know there are some sticks with this rubber thing on it and it doesn't work for me, too much friction.

Hahaha. So fussy lah me!

be it the wrists or the elbows.

Elbows hurt too.

 

[Composer of Requiems]

[QUOTE=Girlpants

Oak is harder. Won't be helping you much there....

Anyway, try "throwing" the stick. I'll show you what I mean sometime.If that still doesn't help, maybe it's just fatigue from playing for too long? Like if you run for too long, no matter how good your technique is, you'll still hurt eventually...

 

[ilovegm]

Hmm, you might want to cut down on playing for awhile... Just in case...

I injured my wrist during bowling training before, it wouldn't heal for very long, my doc said it was cos I kept straining it cos i was bowling up to 4 times a week. Stopped bowling for a week and it got much better...
Oh, after that my wrists can 'crack' dam loud, quite cool, but less flexible T.T

 

[Girlpants]

Nic: Yeah. Maybe I played too long. Muscle fatigue. Ok, you can show me when we meet again. LOL

ilovegm: Hey you! You want me to cut down on playing???? hahaha. Cos I only get to drum mostly on weekends. So like I will really really drum for hours. Ok I will really rest my hand till Saturday and see.

 

[ge3k]

Nic: Yeah. Maybe I played too long. Muscle fatigue. Ok, you can show me when we meet again. LOL

ilovegm: Hey you! You want me to cut down on playing???? hahaha. Cos I only get to drum mostly on weekends. So like I will really really drum for hours. Ok I will really rest my hand till Saturday and see.

Dude, i took more than 2 months for my tendon to recover. And i didnt drum for two months. lol. dont mess with this tendonitis. if it recurs it will take longer and longer to recover. my first one was abt three weeks.

 

[Girlpants]

Okok, I shall rest it.
It's even hurting as I'm typing now. And I better have it check properly.
OK now it's scary.

 

[lummer]

Yo... Looks like you are injuring yourself prematurely... To improve on your drumming, needless to say you need to put in many many hours of practice. I believe your problem is gripping the sticks too tightly while whacking your drums away! This is a perfect recipe for damaging or in some cases permanent injury to your limbs - in this case your wrist.

By gripping your sticks too tightly, you are actually imparting tension on your wrist. By doing so, you are greatly and quickly endangering yourself of damaging the tendons around your wrist. Why would you want to grip it so tight? It doesn't help you at all. Firstly, it reduces the flexibility of your wrist, slows down your speed when you are executing your rudiments, reduces your efficiency when you do your fills around the drumkit, get tired faster and worst end your drumming career prematurely.

Try this simple experiment; Do a single stroke as fast as u can on either hand. Flexible grip and ur usual tight grip... which grip allows you to do it faster, last you longer, more comfortable and less pain?

Its easy for us drummers to get tense and excited while drumming so we must consciously remind ourselves to stay cool and relax. Otherwise, your drumming will not sound good but rather sound tense and uptight. Your tempo tends to run too...

This i would view it as more mental then physical. You have to overcome the fear of your sticks flying off your hands... otherwise you will keep gripping it too tightly... Constantly remind yourself to stay relax while drumming...

Try this few advice and i believe you can stay pain free in the rest of your drumming career! It will also prolong n make your practice sessions more enjoyable.

Cheers...

 

[Girlpants]

Why would you want to grip it so tight? It doesn't help you at all. Firstly, it reduces the flexibility of your wrist, slows down your speed when you are executing your rudiments, reduces your efficiency when you do your fills around the drumkit, get tired faster and worst end your drumming career prematurely.

When I start playing, it was fine. All cool.
But when the heat gets in and my palms starts sweating, then I'll increase the grip. Cos well, like I said, I don't want it to fly off. haha.
Especially with laquer sticks.
So yeah, I gotta work on that. The grip and the control of my wrist.

Otherwise, your drumming will not sound good but rather sound tense and uptight. Your tempo tends to run too...

Cos my right hand is more flexible than my left.
I tend to grip more tightly with my left-snare-hitting hand. My right is no problem at all, pain free.

I'll work on the grip and also the mental thinking of sticks flying off my hand.

Meanwhile, I'll run down to Swee Lee and Ranking later to check out the drumsticks. I remembered Swee Lee have all the laquered ones.

Thanks Lummer!

 

[underaged]

LOL i have the same problem too. Dont know what to do. Right hand perfectly fine. Left when my hands move over to high toms, thats when the pain comes. And it usually comes after 1hour of jamming.

 

[Girlpants]

Hey underaged, seriously, i thnk you should rest it. I am now.
I'd rather rest it for like 2 weeks than injuring it more and not getting to drum for 6 months.

 

[retardedrummer]

Hmm, you might want to cut down on playing for awhile... Just in case...

I injured my wrist during bowling training before, it wouldn't heal for very long, my doc said it was cos I kept straining it cos i was bowling up to 4 times a week. Stopped bowling for a week and it got much better...
Oh, after that my wrists can 'crack' dam loud, quite cool, but less flexible T.T

eh seriously? i got that wrist cracking thing too!!!!!!!!!!! from netball. badminton since primary two. netball since primary four. was practicall playing sports everyday. then keep cracking and cracking. we challenge ah . whose cracking louder

 

[weckl-x]

Beware of RSI... stretch plenty and often... don't forget to get your technique checked too.

 

[eyelezz]

actually i think the reason why urr wrist is pain because urr grip is too tight its not loose enough , u know if urr grip holding is perfect right , u can play extremely loud with very little energy usage , practise the moeller tech man ( : to losen urr grip