Tendonitis for 3 months in violin player :( Please help me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by A.S.


I turned to this page since I play violin and I thought violin-caused tendonitis was similar to guitar-caused tendonitis. I know however that it is not exactly the same, but that we do use very similar parts of the hands.

I've had wrist tendonitis in both wrists since late Feb. do to overpracticing. Like you said, rest didn't help me; it just stayed the same.

It got to the point where I couldn't even fold clothes or pick up a glass. I came across your wrist tendonitis page and started icing like you said, for like 5 or 6 weeks, and it's gotten better, (I can do everyday activities now) but it hasn't totally fixed the problem so that I can play violin. :( I haven't played violin since late march.

This is REALLY frustrating. Do you recommend massage? I haven't tried that. The thing is I go to a boarding highschool that is an arts school (I'm female 17 yrs old) and so it's expected that we practice a lot; I was practicing 6 hours a day. I'm getting tired of icing... What should I do? (I've also been taking magnesium and calcium like you said...)

I'm sorry, I don't have money to buy the guitar tendonitis book... :(

Please, I'm desperate, It seems like you know SO much about tendonitis; any advice I would cherish! ( I really need to get my repertoire ready to get into college next year!) It feels as if my hands will never be normal again! Violin is my dream, please help me.

Also, today my left wrist muscles started twitching weirdly. What does that mean? I'm so scared...

And in case you're wondering, I HAVE told my parents and they've scheduled a ton of doctor appointments over the summer, but I feel it's useless since all of them say the same thing: to rest and to take it easy. There's really nothing they can do.

Thank you so much tendonitis expert,



Joshua Answers:

Hi A.S.

Violin is close enough to Guitar Tendonitis is close enough to Wrist Tendonitis to call it all the same (with slight variation).

If you're hurting this bad now,
it's great you're sticking with the Ice Dipping (do more). Ice Dipping is VERY helpful, but it's not necessarily a fix.

How much magnesium are you taking? (Take more.) And, I've never ever said to take Calcium.

The twitch is likely a function of A. your muscles and connective tissue being TOO TIGHT and B. Needing more Magnesium.

Other possible issues.

You REALLY CAN afford either the Reversing Guitar Tendonitis ebook or the Reversing Wrist Tendonitis ebook.

It's $19.99. If you're parents are scheduling doctors appoints, they're shelling out lots more than that.

And I suspect you're right, all you're going to get is prescriptions for Rest (including stopping playing your instruments), Anti-inflammatory drugs like Ibuprofen, Wrist splints and braces, and eventually Tendonitis surgery.

Your body is burning up magnesium and vitamin B6 (and probably B12), you're probably Vitamin D deficient, and protein and good fats deficient.

And....you can't afford not to fix this if you want to continue to play as much as you want to play.

It's going to take some time and some effort. You've seen how the exact amount of ice dipping (from the How To Reduce Inflammation page) that you're doing has allowed you to keep going.

But that's not good enough for everything that you have going on. Yes, you need some more activities like the right self massage, and nutrition.



Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert

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Jul 13, 2011
thank you so much -- Tendonitis for 3 months in violin player Please help me
by: A.S.

Dear Tendonitis Expert,

I really REALLY appreciate your response! It's amazing how kind you are to help so many with this problem.

1. Magnesium: Currently I'm taking 250 mg per day. I will try 325 mg per day now; do you think that is reasonable?

2. Calcium/ vitamin D: The type of Magnesium supplement that I bought also has calcium-- Is that alright? (one tablet has 125mg magnesium, and 250 mg calcium, and 25 IU Vitamin D; and the label reads 4 tablets per day for ADULTS) It is the only one that the store has; but my parents are arriving to my boarding school next week so if you recommend taking ONLY magnesium I'm sure they could bring me to other stores)

3. Twitching: "muscles and connective tissue being TOO TIGHT"-- is this caused by all the icing I'm doing? Like you said, I ice my hands for 10 sec. and then, 10- 15 min later I do the same thing for as many times as I can in a day. A lot of people have been telling me that ice will only stiffen my muscles and that it will damage my ability to play violin? Does it really stiffen your muscles?

4. "protein and good fats deficient"-- it's interesting that you mentioned this because at my boarding school I rarely eat meat now; mostly salad or dairy products. Thank you for the advice.

5. Aminos: At the vitamin store where I bought magnesium, they recommended liquid aminos supplement in addition to magnesium. Do you think this helps, or are they only wanting to sell?

6. Ebook: Since my parents are coming next week, I will definitely tell them about your books. Do you reccommend the reversing guitar tendonitis ebook or the reversing wrist tendonitis ebook for me? Are both similar, or which do you think would help most for a violinist?

Again, a million thanks. You are very kind. Sorry if I ask too many questions!



Joshua Comments:

You're welcome!

1. Take more. See Magnesium for Tendonitis

2. Get your Vit D level tested. And personally I'd not do the calcium. We tend to get enough Calcium from our diets. The problem is, we need Vit D and Magnesium to utilize the calcium, and we're short on those. So yes, I suggest getting just a mag supplement. Anything but oxide or citrate.

3. TOO TIGHT is caused by a lot of things. But not icing. You can tell those people that 'cold will make your muscles tight and hurt your playing' is stupid. (Sorry, that's mean of me.) Maybe just tell them it's not true.

Ice Dipping only does good things. Your body pushes blood there to warm things up.

4. More protein! And Good fats like Omega 3's and coconut oil/butter.

5. Amino's sure. They're protein components. Can't hurt.

6. Both ebooks are VERY similar, but I'd go with the guitar one, as there are a couple specifics in there for you.

Your pain dynamic is totally reversible. Get to it!


Jun 27, 2011
thank you
by: Anonymous


I've been doing everything you've told me and I'm happy to say that I'm starting violin up again; a short practice times but I'm slowly building up.
THANK YOU SO MUCH. Your help helped me so much! God bless you. My parents however don't like to see my name online for privacy (oops) I'm sorry! Is there any way to change it to anonymous? My mistake. Thanks Again.


Joshua Comments:

Hi A.S.

Name changed, no problem.

Keep doing the work, and you'll keep getting results!

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