For you ARTISTS: how do you keep your hand relaxed?

[gunslinger_burrito]

I've googled high and low and can't seem to find advice anywhere.

The title may sound weird but I would like to be able to draw with my right hand consistently again. Since I got the tennis elbow (which actually has been getting better ) I've had to lay off using my right hand to draw or write. I can write again, but in writing, drawing, and playing guitar, my hand naturally wants to grasp pens, pencils, brushes, picks, etc really tightly. I think that's part of what led to the elbow injury. Every time I try to draw with the right, it tries to tense up, and when I make it relax, I can barely draw or write. My thinking is that I need to take a step back and re-train it, but I wondered if anyone on here has any thoughts. I guess the same question would apply to writing.

Thanks a buuuuuuuuuunch if any of y'all have any advice!

[D.o.S.]

I don't know if this will really help you, but I would think (not a doctor, etc.) that tendon gliding exercises would be a good thing to try.

[Jwar]

You and your tendons. Bro, you gotta go to the doc. You just have to. You have something going on there.

Maybe it's too much? Like you need a month off or something.

[tremulant]

everything is connected. old fashioned pushups or hindu pushups are great, but also shaking out vigorously like in this video at 22:52 is one of the best things for me when I have hand/wrist pain especially. Also a conscious effort in changing technique will probably help you long term. do you draw with really deep bold lines or really light ones?

and as far as band-aids go, get yourself this shit:

http://equusunlimited.com/first-aid-wou ... gel-12-oz/

it says it's for horses, but if you use it on horses you have to first apply it to your hands to apply it to them, anyways. The other guitar player in my band has two horses and she introduced me to it - whenever I have severe tendon/muscle pain a little of this goes a VERY long way. That one bottle should last you years. I try to use it as little as possible, and generally any time i use it I don't feel any tendon pain in the same spots for at least a week or two, assuming i'm slipping and doing things incorrectly.

[hbombgraphics]

not sure this would work but for golfers they recommend that you should wash your clubs if your grip is too tight
or wear a glove
lots of times they found people squeezing because they didn't trust the grip
so they compensate by choking the life out of clubs

if you take the same approach to writing or drawing, do something to improve the grip of what you are using.

I applied this to picking a few years back by always making sure pics felt grippy
if they feel slick I toss em
it's one less thing my hand has to worry about
keeps me relaxed

I have a ruptured disk in my neck so the way I grip things and fatigue become major issues

[alexa.]

everything is connected. old fashioned pushups or hindu pushups are great, but also shaking out vigorously like in this video at 22:52 is one of the best things for me when I have hand/wrist pain especially. Also a conscious effort in changing technique will probably help you long term.

Yep, shaking works for me to, but it should be a conscious movement, not a random throwing-your-hands-around event.
You know what they say, it's hard to unlearn a habit, or a bad technique, so one should be patient with it.

Glad to hear you getting better Gun

[gunslinger_burrito]

Wow thanks dudes!

jwar, yeah I have a doctor's appointment, but not until the 10th. I've been laying off a lot of the things that seem to aggravate it, and it has been feeling a bit better. It went from a sharper pain whenever I tried to do basically anything, to a dull ache only when I lock my arm out and pull my fingers back.

everything is connected. old fashioned pushups or hindu pushups are great, but also shaking out vigorously like in this video at 22:52 is one of the best things for me when I have hand/wrist pain especially. Also a conscious effort in changing technique will probably help you long term. do you draw with really deep bold lines or really light ones?

and as far as band-aids go, get yourself this shit:

http://equusunlimited.com/first-aid-wou ... gel-12-oz/

it says it's for horses, but if you use it on horses you have to first apply it to your hands to apply it to them, anyways. The other guitar player in my band has two horses and she introduced me to it - whenever I have severe tendon/muscle pain a little of this goes a VERY long way. That one bottle should last you years. I try to use it as little as possible, and generally any time i use it I don't feel any tendon pain in the same spots for at least a week or two, assuming i'm slipping and doing things incorrectly.

Whoa I never thought of an animal liniment. Good call. I should definitely do more shaking type stuff, I'm sure it does wonders for circulation, which I know is a problem with healing tendons (they get much less blood flow).

Lots of good ideas I think I've overlooked here. You guys rock.