Newsgroups: rec.music.classical.guitar Subject: Lamenting on my Finger Injury. Date: 25 Jul 1997 14:47:01 GMT Last week I cut my "2" finger very deep at the middle joint, palm side. It required 4 stitches, and I've lost some sensation around the tip. Needless to say, I am quite distraught facing the prospect of not playing CG anymore. Please take care of your hands and fingers! Adam Subject: Re: Lamenting on my Finger Injury. Date: Fri, 25 Jul 1997 10:48:53 -0500 Organization: University of Nebraska--Lincoln Adam, 15 years ago, I had a compound fracture of the index and middle fingers of my left hand. It was an effort, but within a year or so I was playing again. I still don't have full flexibility in the middle finger but it doesn't seem to limit me much. Best of luck to you. Newsgroups: rec.music.classical.guitar Subject: Re: Lamenting on my Finger Injury. Date: 25 Jul 1997 16:35:58 GMT Hello Adam, Have faith! I had an injury from which I returned that you and other list readers might like to know about. In 1979, after I had been playing the classical guitar and flute for about 13 years, I reenlisted in the US Army on a lark. I joined the 82d Airborne Division, Infantry. Became a survival instructor, the whole 9 (plus) yards of intensive training. It was just something I had to do. I put my music on hold. After 3.5 years into my tour of duty, I started to practice again. About 30 days before I was to leave the service, I had an accident where my left index, middle and ring fingers were caught in a fanbelt of a big, complicated diesel engine. The tip segment of my index finger was almost completely severed. The other two fingers were badly sprained. I lost all three fingernails, however temporarily. The whole fingertip was successfully reattached, to include reattachment of the extensor tendon, but required three pins to be placed in the joint. Two pins were removed after 4 weeks. The last pin, which passed down the length of the finger through the joint and into the second segment, was not removed until the sixth week. You might say that I was on pins and needles to find out whether or not I was going to have movement or sensation in the tip segment. I went home on leave and bought a hammered dulcimer to have something to practice just in case my small muscles were not going to be of service any more in my left fingertips. Happily, I regained my playing ability. After a year or so I was accepting professional playing engagements on both instruments and practicing regularly. The biggest obstacle was the pain of the rehabilitation process. In the first ten days after the last pin was removed, I was required to "remold" (my term) the soft tissues in the joint in order to form some sort of smooth surfaces on which the joint was to move. It required a lot of tears, mental strength, persistence and will to make myself hurt every hour. The happy ending is that I returned to school in 1987 to finish my Bachelor of Music degree which was on the back burner of my life for a number of years. Then in 1994 I completed a Master of Arts on the classical guitar. I was the first classical guitarist to earn an MA at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. I did it at the age of 47. I memorized 48 pages of music, about 1/3 or it during the same semester that I gave my recital program. I used yoga and meditation to help me with recuperation from the injury. Also, during my studies meditation was enormously valuable in helping me focus on memorization, concentration and control of performance anxiety. The experiece helped me to write my workshop materials, "Yoga For Musicians", two magazine articles, and is the basis of a course I give at the Levine School of Music in Washington, DC. So have faith: the human body is a resilient, wondrous machine in its own right. You will be able to heal and move beyond your temporary injury to triumph in unpredictable ways!! Newsgroups: rec.music.classical.guitar Subject: Re: Lamenting on my Finger Injury. Date: 25 Jul 1997 16:43:47 GMT About 1 1/2 years ago I cut my left index finger on the tip, across the finger-tip calous where the strings land. I told the emergency room staff immediately that I was a guitarist and they took good care of me. I got 7 stitches in the 1.2cm cut. I have a slight loss of sensation but it does not affect my playing. Do take care of your fingers, but accidents happen, and when they do be sure to tell the physician that you are a musician. Don't be shy. You are your best advocate! -- Newsgroups: rec.music.classical.guitar Subject: Re: Lamenting on my Finger Injury. Date: 25 Jul 1997 18:49:19 GMT about six years ago, i saw a student from the University of Cincinnati guitar ensemble play without half his "m" finger. It looked like all he had was the part up to the middle joint. He had the strongest sounding i-a scales i've ever heard!! Newsgroups: rec.music.classical.guitar Subject: Re: Lamenting on my Finger Injury. Date: Fri, 25 Jul 1997 13:33:55 -0700 Interesting how many stories on this. I'm primarily a pianist. When I was 12, I cut my 4th finger right hand clear off with a skill saw just above the top knuckle. In healing and after some additional surgery for some reason the knuckle ended up being wider and I could no longer get between the black keys with it. Also, it was sensitized for a long time so that it hurt to use. With practice, I figured how to revise fingerings and eventually got productive use from it again. Luckily I had the advantage of youth, as well as blessed with long fingers so that it was more manageable, although there are a few difficult things it prevents me from playing. I took up classical guitar and quickly I figured out the relative shortness made it an unusable finger. I learned to substitue the pinky for it, with ok results for easy material, but overall made techniques like repetitive patterns undoable. I guess when your young it just becomes the norm and you work around it. Newsgroups: rec.music.classical.guitar Subject: Re: Lamenting on my Finger Injury. Date: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 08:24:05 -0700 Adam, please forgive me if I break any protocol but this is the first time I have ever replied to a thread. When I was 5 I cut off the tip of my middle left finger in a push bike accident, years before micro surgery was fashionable. When I was 18 I wanted to learn to finger pick guitar after teaching myself to play left handed with a pick. My teacher immediately turned me around and said I needed all the fingers on my right hand to play. This is when I fell in love with classical guitar. I have been playing for 16 years now and while no professional need worry about their jobs I play well enough to do grade 6-7 pieces and am now working on more advanced pieces. The trick is to have an understanding teacher and to learn what part of the music is important because you need to either change or omit notes sometimes. In short what I am saying is there is always a way to do something that's important to you so don't give up. I'm always happy to discuss any issues. Newsgroups: rec.music.classical.guitar Subject: Re: Lamenting on my Finger Injury. Date: Sun, 27 Jul 1997 11:29:29 +0900 Give it time. I once cut off the tip of my index finger--took off about 1/4 inch of the right side. The piece was reattached and after about 6 months a scar had essentially "regrown" and filled in the damage. Now I have a scar-callous that never goes away. It's perfect for me because I play steel strings and electrics--point is that your body will heal itself as long as you exercise you finger as soon as you can to let it know it can't get away with not playing the guitar. Good luck. Cheers, JBH Newsgroups: rec.music.classical.guitar Subject: Re: Lamenting on my Finger Injury. Date: Sun, 27 Jul 97 17:29:11 GMT Dear Adam, Have hope, your finger will heal with time. In the past I have injured my fingers by lifting heavy objects without adequate protection. The veins under the first and second joints of fingers on my left and right hands ruptured and my fingers swelled up with blood. The swelling went away after a few days but nodules remained where the veins broke and then healed. A small one under my left index finger made barring painful for about 2 months but it finally healed. A larger one on my right hand remained painful for several months and I thought surgery would be necessary but amazingly it disappeared on its own. I now use heavy gloves when lifting anything that could injure my fingers such as boat batteries, etc. Even heavy supermarket shopping bags can injure. Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic Subject: Re: Swollen knuckle advice? Date: Tue, 7 Jul 1998 22:48:09 -0400 Three years ago, while in Washington, DC I dislocated my left pinkie rather badly--the upper two thirds of the finger were at a ninety degree angle to the bottom third. (By the way, you-know-who: it WAS a foul!). Anyway, I went to the ER, explaining to everybody I met along the way, from the check-in desk to the attending in orthopedics, that my livelihood depended on that digit's complete recovery. They were incredibly caring, understanding, and gentle. By some miracle, it was only a dislocation--no break or tear in the tendons, ligaments, or their attendant sheathings. When I got back to Winchester, I visited an orthopedic specialist familiar with injuries detrimental to musicians. I followed his advice to the letter: don't play at all until he removed the splint (believe it or not, I actually could do some playing, even with the splint), about three weeks hence; soak the hand in as-hot-as-I-could-stand-it water, gently flexing but not extending the finger; (he was very specific about no extension, but this may or may not apply to your injury--check first) and most important of all: visit a physical therapist. The PT also had some background in musical injuries. He gave me a simple schedule of exercises that had my full range and mobility back within three months. In addition, I treated myself like one of my beginning students: I carefully monitored my technique of both hands, did everything SLOWLY, scale exercises and the like. These last two points are vital: let a qualified PT help you, and work yourself back gradually. It takes an incredible amount of discipline, but I wouldn't do it any other way. I'm sure others have, and you'll hear from them, too! No offense intended at all to your doctor, but he may or may not understand the gravity of the situation as it differs from others involving less dependence on the small constructs of the hands. It is VITAL that you see a professional with that depth of understanding. Don't try to do this one by yourself--this isn't the time to be "self-taught". Best of luck to you,