Wrist Injuries

I recently injured my wrist by over extending it in a football game. There is still pain in it especially in the mornings. I had a similar injury in my other wrist and I went to a chinese doctor. He said it was ligaments and fixed it after just 3 sessions. I wonder does anyone here know any good exercises to prevent this from happening in the future or any stretches that could help?

There is also a small clicking in my wrists sometimes. It's very slight. Is this normal?

From what I've been told (i pretty much have permanent wrist injuries that are minor, but can be annoying at times) just play and play and play- focusing on working your wrists to get them accustomed to the motion of playing. I'm sure there are better excercises out there, and I would love to hear of them too, but for now, thats my 2 cents

i hurt my wrist in a football game a couple of weeks ago. Just rest it. Thats what i did and it was better in a matter of weeks.

Hmmm...

Well I have injured my wrists and probably got tendonitis. Stretching always provides help against injuries. Just stretch whatever muscle you have previously injured. Make sure it's better before you stretch.

What's the deal with these Chinese remedies? I would be interested in that as I have tried almost everything to get better.

Spence said:

What's the deal with these Chinese remedies? I would be interested in that as I have tried almost everything to get better.

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He didn't use herbs or anything but I know he does. He physically assaulted my wrist and really got in at the ligaments to loosen them up. The problem is that they were slightly twisted. He was able to heal it. Of course i can't speak for all Chinese doctors but this one has a great reputation around town.

Interesting. I will give that a go. Thanks.

Hi all,

I owe everything to Bernard for reinvigorating my passion for drumming! The vids he posts are amazing and I've been following this board for quite some time.

Over extension of my left wrist could be my problem too. I was lifting heavy boxes that rested on my forearm and bending my wrist in order to cup and secure the box with my hand. It was awkward enough (and dumb enough) to permanently tweak my left wrist.

I've had this for several months now and tried a multitude of wrist exercises to no improvement. I used to play match, but switched to trad and still my wrist wants to spasm and bend inward. It's like I have no muscle control of my left wrist. There's no pain, just no muscle control.

Anyone know if this could be tendonitis or a ligament tweak? I don't think it's CTS, because I don't have any noticeable pain in the hands and fingers while playing. Just no control of the stick in the left hand since my wrist wants to spasm and bend all the time. Really bizarre. I can however play bongo style with just my left hand and no stick for now. But can't quite get the same volume as with the stick in my right hand.

Thanks in advance,
Parker

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Stitch Kaboodle said:

I wonder does anyone here know any good exercises to prevent this from happening in the future or any stretches that could help?

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I had to choose between football and drums, I had messed up my right hand a few times, just minor things, but they kept me off the set, and then I got a severe sprain in my left ankle, thank god it was my hi-hat foot. Well, I chose drums because the satisfaction I got from the drumset was so much more than on the football field, but that might be a drastic decision for you to make. You could always do the other thing thatll end you up on the football field, marching band.

Parker said:

Hi all,

I owe everything to Bernard for reinvigorating my passion for drumming! The vids he posts are amazing and I've been following this board for quite some time.

Over extension of my left wrist could be my problem too. I was lifting heavy boxes that rested on my forearm and bending my wrist in order to cup and secure the box with my hand. It was awkward enough (and dumb enough) to permanently tweak my left wrist.

I've had this for several months now and tried a multitude of wrist exercises to no improvement. I used to play match, but switched to trad and still my wrist wants to spasm and bend inward. It's like I have no muscle control of my left wrist. There's no pain, just no muscle control.

Anyone know if this could be tendonitis or a ligament tweak? I don't think it's CTS, because I don't have any noticeable pain in the hands and fingers while playing. Just no control of the stick in the left hand since my wrist wants to spasm and bend all the time. Really bizarre. I can however play bongo style with just my left hand and no stick for now. But can't quite get the same volume as with the stick in my right hand.

Thanks in advance,
Parker

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I can tell you of one thing which bothered me and it wasn't an injury. I was practicing on the black side of a Real Feel Practice pad and it was causing some pain. I switched to the yellow part and the pain was gone.


Mike

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Another possible source of agrivation is drum set up. That whole action / equal reaction thing. If your drums are angled severely, all of the impact/force of your hit will bounce back at that angle. Ex: Angled -/ = force comes right back at you. If your drums are flatter Ex: -_ force goes up instead of back into your wrists.

Try dropping your stick onto your head and watch where the stick bounces. That is where all of your energy is reacting.

Stretching is crucial.
Good luck you.....

Skitch said:

I can tell you of one thing which bothered me and it wasn't an injury. I was practicing on the black side of a Real Feel Practice pad and it was causing some pain. I switched to the yellow part and the pain was gone.

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This is why I love this site! I was searching around for info on this. Since Monday I've had some fairly serious pain on the left side of my right wrist, on the top of my forearm. It feels part muscular, part tendon - I've never experienced this before. I may have to refrain from playing for a couple of days to let it relax.

Since getting my Real Feel practice pad, I've felt like it's fatigued my wrists and hands more than I normally would w/ my Roland v-Pad (mesh head). I used the RF pad quite a bit on vacation last week and I'm beginning to think that it was definitely the culprit. Thanks for the info!

Great feedback here. It just so happens I was banging around an acoustic kit recently and suddenly my dystonia was not as noticeable. I too use rubber pads regularly, but the DW Practice pad kind. Regardless, me thinks it could be a culprit for me too.

I tagged along a lesson recently and this drum teacher used just the drum head and rim fastened to a stand for practicing chops. No drum shell, just the head and rim. I thought that was a clever idea, but never got the brand name of this contraption. If anyone happens to know here where I can find this setup, lemme know.

Dystonia; sounds like you already sought medical advice. That spasm should go away with rest. Most people that overwork muscles can have spasms that move the joint(s) the muscles cross. I had the same wrist flexion spasm too and it is freaky.

Zumba_Zumba said:

Most people that overwork muscles can have spasms that move the joint(s) the muscles cross. I had the same wrist flexion spasm too and it is freaky.

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ZZ - Interesting. What were some exercises you did to recover from your wrist flexion? And were you diagnosed with dystonia?

Just curious, since I was diagnosed several months ago with focal hand dystonia. Mostly in the wrist and it's a condition where essentially the push and pull muscles compete with one another involuntarily. It's like I have no control over the spasms sometimes in my left wrist. I've now switched to traditional grip which makes it a tad more tolerable.

How long should practising on bouncy practice pads be limited to? I've had a lot of wrist joint aching for practising around 3 times of 1 hour a day on Promark's Blue Rubber Pad. I don't think it's so much of my technique problem, it can't be. I'm doing everything so relaxed. It's really frustrating.

I've heard about stretching and I do it. What are the proper ways to stretch before practice?

One of the most beneficial things you can do as a drummer for any type of wrist injury is let it rest. Whether you hurt it in a football game or hurt it while you were practicing, be sure to stay off of the sticks for a couple of days or weeks depending on how serious the condition is.

If you hurt your wrist or arm, drumming on it before it is healed will only make the situation worse. If you give it plenty of rest, take some anti-inflammatory medicine, and reduce its range of motion for a couple of days, it will typically start to heal.

Obviously, if you have a more severe injury you should see a doctor immediately. But if you assess the situation and believe it is not a serious condition, these guidelines should certainly help you out. Even if the condition turns out being more severe than you anticipated, giving your wrist rest, taking anti-inflammatory medicine, and reducing your wrists range of motion will still be beneficial and in no way detrimental to the condition.

A few people suggested stretching as well. Stretching is great and should definitely be utilized. However, you will want to wait a couple of days after the injury occurs to let the tendons and muscles heal a little bit before you start stretching. An athlete doesn’t tear their ACL and then start stretching it hardcore the next day, right? Same rule applies to drummers. Give it time to heal a little bit with the above guidelines and when you have verified that it is feeling better and healing after a couple days of rest, you should stretch lightly.

You can actually do damage to your wrists if you stretch them too heavily by over extending them, etc. Be sure that any stretch you do is light and slow. Fast and intense motions can cause damage when stretching because they often lead to over extension of the tendons and muscles.

As latzanimal mentioned – the way your kit is set up is also crucial. Analyze your set up and make sure that you’re not forcing your body to make awkward motions just because you want your mounted tom at a certain angle, etc.

Hope this information is helpful!

In all honesty you should go to an Orthopedic Doc or a Hand specialist and more than likely a qualified Hand Therapist to get proper exercises for your particular injury. Every injury is different and requires a different approach to heal it. What may have worked for others my not be the best thing for you.

I suffered a really bad wrist injury in June this summer broke my radius bone completely off at the wrist, that bone went through a muscle, dislocated a wrist bone, chipped my ulna and dislocated my hand back into my wrist. have a plate and 7 screws to put it back together.

Did 20 hand/wrist therapy sessions and was told I'm at 90% the last 10% is up to me on my own. I was told drumming is good exercise for wrist injuries. A good buddy of mine is a Physical Therapist and said it will probably be a year before I feel 100% which is pretty normal he said.

konaboy said:

I suffered a really bad wrist injury in June this summer broke my radius bone completely off at the wrist, that bone went through a muscle, dislocated a wrist bone, chipped my ulna and dislocated my hand back into my wrist. have a plate and 7 screws to put it back together.

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OOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!! This makes my wrists hurt just reading it.

Glad to hear that you are getting back to 100% though!