Community Question Results: Any of you dealing with wrist pain and/or carpal tunnel issues when playing guitar/bass?

A few days ago @pelossus asked me – “@effectsbay i can’t remember if i asked, but i can’t be the only guitarist who is dealing with carpal tunnel. any solutions from you/others?“.

I thought this would be a great community question. A long time ago, when I was cooking, I definitely had wrist issues when playing guitar. I was playing a Les Paul then and I can’t remember if changing professions was the fix.. or raising the guitar. I jacked up the guitar a few notches (and that’s my current height today). I think keeping the wrist in a neutral position is a big part of the solution.  I also tried to stretch before and after playing (but I rarely do that today).

So I created the following community question – Community Question: Any of you dealing with wrist pain and/or carpal tunnel issues when playing guitar/bass? If so, how do you manage it? – and posted that to Twitter and Facebook. Here are the results. If you have more to add, please comment below!

Telephants @effectsbay I realized i was playing with a wrong technique.
dantemilo @effectsbay I stopped playing for a while.
Telephants @effectsbay also wrists bands are helpful to keep your wrists warm and are good to avoid excesive moves.
johlogric @effectsbay I shoot a little heroin to manage the pain
noisenik @effectsbay I have wrist pain from doing any repetitive music stuff.. I learned some yoga stretches for it when I was in college that help

Derek Owen Doss Yes. Acupuncuncture, massage, proper form and rest.
Sam Binder Back pain caused by slouching for feedback and a heavy guitar. I cope by remembering to lower myself with my knees to get the guitar level with the speaker and by taking breaks.
Jeffrey Bailey Yeah on the repetitive quick stuff on the bass. I have started stretching my hand muscles for about 10 minutes before I play and drinking a lot of h2o. That seems to help.
Gato Pardo del Monte Go to a specialist
Doug Osborne Fresh fruit/veggies/lean protein/whole grain diet. Yoga. Rest. Wear supportive gloves when not playing. Quit smoking. Alcohol in moderation.
Lou Remondelli Aleve aspirin Tylenol ! day by day !
Angelo Bovara For carpal tunnel, I did massage therapy 3 times a week for three weeks. This included rubbing, stretching, strange ambient music, and fountains that made me need to pee. Then i did constant stretching for another week.

All the while not even touching my bass.

Then I started back playing, easy stuff at first and paying extra attention to my form.

Still stretching all the time while not playing.

I stopped as soon as I felt something was wrong and it still took a month to get back on the neck.
Luca Notari I stopped playing for a while ‘, but the pain does not pass, next month I will work to cut the median nerve of the right wrist
Daniel Hogan I have had both hands operated on for CT and trigger finger on the right hand. Nerve pain sucks.
Mark Stears I also ended up having both hands / wrists operated on. No fun, but no problems since either. (Knocking on wood)
Jeffrey Gordon Operations, and Advil, but pain is diminished by the thrill of playing so no big deal yet.
Mike Freed I have rheumatoid arthritis in my wrists and hands. Low dose chemo, a tight paracord bracelet and the thrill of having the guitar in my hands helps me.
Jade Masque Amputation
Greg Papakostas For me playing drums.the tendon that goes to my thumbs tightens up and i cant hold the sticks.also playing bass