Injuries from playing the uke?

Ga'ukulele

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Aloha everybody!
I'm trying to get a grasp on uke related injuries (or other instruments if you play any). One of our school projects this year is to create a small business and I decided to try something in the music genre. The main focus will be on injuries related to playing the uke.

Nothing is too stupid, and any advice is welcome! :eek:
 
I have treated the following injuries due to guitar, banjo, or uke players: neck pain (cervicalgia), shoulder pain (impingement syndrome) , medial epicondylalgia, carpal tunnel syndrome, cubical tunnel syndrome.
 
Poking your finger with a string end. Esp. if it's a metal string. Not too bad at first, but hurts like a SOB hours later.

Breaking a string while playing and it zips your arm on the way by.

Stage diving 10' down onto gravel (no crowd at the show). Easily avoidable if you keep "star power" turned off.

EDIT: Post above has useful info FTW!!! :D
 
You can read a bit about my flexor digitorum superficialis injury here and here. Short version: tiny hands, tried really hard to play tenor, injured myself and had to take a bit of a break. Interestingly enough, that was 4 years ago and remains the only time my hand has ever had any pain from playing.
 
There's a recent thread on here about finger nail wear through strumming that you might want to read.

Other than that, the bank balance suffers, UAS is a strong affliction. ;)
(UAS = Ukulele Aquisition Syndrome)
 
Cramp from gripping too hard when fretting. Literally had to pry the neck out of my hand on a few occasions (okay, most sane people would have taken a break before it got to that point, but I'm a little bit stubborn).
 
I experience some upper back cramps every once in awhile from practicing hunched over in bed. Just bad posture from longer sessions.
 
As a small business owner I wonder if you will be judged on the viability of such a business.

Will your business be treating "musical instrument related" injuries or simply identifying them and...?

First after the bruised wallet is the bruised ego when all your friends laugh seeing you hold such a tiny instrument. Funny I Googled ukulele related injuries expecting nothing but found an old article on this forum about a member whose music stand fell and cut their toes.

Good Luck
 
After playing a 3+ hour gig last Thanksgiving, basically standing in one spot, I bent over to start picking things up and **WHAM**!!!! severe lower back pain! So bad that the next morning I had dry heaves from the pain.

The diagnosis? Arthritis. I exacerbated it by not moving my feet around enough, and put pressure on the lumbar spine. Genius me, I still haven't gone for PT, but I now sit while playing, using an adjustable drum throne,and make a point of moving around a bit, placing my ukes far enough away that I have to stand and take a couple of steps to change which one I'm playing.

I still have chronic back pain, but I can get through the day at work without wanting to scream (about the pain, anyway), and plan on having my MD write me a new referral for PT when I see him in a couple of weeks.

-Kurt
 
After playing a 3+ hour gig last Thanksgiving, basically standing in one spot, I bent over to start picking things up and **WHAM**!!!! severe lower back pain! So bad that the next morning I had dry heaves from the pain.

The diagnosis? Arthritis. I exacerbated it by not moving my feet around enough, and put pressure on the lumbar spine. Genius me, I still haven't gone for PT, but I now sit while playing, using an adjustable drum throne,and make a point of moving around a bit, placing my ukes far enough away that I have to stand and take a couple of steps to change which one I'm playing.

I still have chronic back pain, but I can get through the day at work without wanting to scream (about the pain, anyway), and plan on having my MD write me a new referral for PT when I see him in a couple of weeks.

-Kurt

I totally get it about the nausea from pain. Sometimes I get such foot pain after leading a two hour jam session on a concrete floor that I must soak them upon arriving home.

Once I was trampled during a stampede of people rushing for the door when I announced I was gonna perform Tiptoe Through The Tulips.
JK
 
The bruised ego. I mostly play with other instruments in casual jams. Guitars tend to dominate but there can be fiddles mandolin accordion Etc. Often there are more men, and more often there are men who dominate the circle. How many times have I been passed over when it comes to choosing the next song? Too many times! Fortunately I've got big pipes so I speak up, and I can carry a tune. But it's annoying how I have to fight my way in, and sometimes I just don't bother.

On the upside of this equation is that I usually find one or two musicians who prefer playing in a smaller Circle and usually they've got cool instruments like clarinet or violin. I can hold Rhythm well and I can play chord progressions that the average guitar player can't. Melodic instruments appreciate a good Rhythm player so they can solo. "So there!" That's been my antidote to the ego bruising.

As for physical injuries. I had a teacher point out to me that I was bending my wrist on my fretting hand which would be putting me at risk for injury. You want to keep the hand aligned with the wrist. Sometimes the tip of my index finger on my strumming hand has sensitivity at the nail bed. At first I thought it was because I clipped my nail too short, so I changed my strumming pattern to another finger. But then I realized that same sensation was there for 3 weeks.
 
Once I was trampled during a stampede of people rushing for the door when I announced I was gonna perform Tiptoe Through The Tulips.
JK

When people used to ask me if I knew "tiptoe", I'd say no. They always seemed disappointed - I don't know if it was because I didn't know the song, or that they couldn't bust on me about it.

So I learned to play the song - not nearly as easy as it looked - and I play it straight. People start singing along, even with the guilty looks on their faces.

I actually have grown to like the song a lot, so it is a part of each gig I play - the only introduction I give is, "This is a song from 1929." Sometimes I say "Here's a song Nick Lucas did in 1929 - you might have heard of it..."
 
Tendonitis left wrist. It happened when I was taking classical guitar lessons, playing in a mandolin orchestra and working on the computer all day. Now the tendonitis has settled in as arthritis in the wrist.
 
When people used to ask me if I knew "tiptoe", I'd say no. They always seemed disappointed - I don't know if it was because I didn't know the song, or that they couldn't bust on me about it.

So I learned to play the song - not nearly as easy as it looked - and I play it straight. People start singing along, even with the guilty looks on their faces.

I actually have grown to like the song a lot, so it is a part of each gig I play - the only introduction I give is, "This is a song from 1929." Sometimes I say "Here's a song Nick Lucas did in 1929 - you might have heard of it..."

I love the song "Tiptoe". The group I play in has performed it several times. I preface it with pointing out that the younger generation don't know Tiny Tim, and they are merely showing their age if they persist in slandering the song.
 
I too, love to sing and play "Tiptoe".

it really is an old joke to keep referring to Tiny Tim in relation to "Tiptoe"... Oh well....

I still like to sing and play it solo, alone, or in a group. I think it's a great song! :)

keep uke'in' everyone!
 
I too, love to sing and play "Tiptoe".

it really is an old joke to keep referring to Tiny Tim in relation to "Tiptoe"... Oh well....

I still like to sing and play it solo, alone, or in a group. I think it's a great song! :)

keep uke'in' everyone!

I just wish I could do the string runs like Nick Lucas did, almost 90 years ago... (He also performed the song on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, around the time Tiny Tim and Miss Vickie got married...)
 
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