Way back in the early days of StringDancer, I connected with Dr. Timothy Jameson, a chiropractic working in the CA bay area, who specializes in treating musicians suffering from repetitive motion injuries (RMI, carpal tunnel being the most widely known). Dr. J contributed several informative articles on the topic under the title “The Musicians’ Doctor”, which for many years featured prominently in StringDancer’s feature set as an online guitar community. At some point, as the site’s focus slowly morphed from ‘guitar community’ to ‘personal website’, Dr. J’s articles were mothballed.
A recent review of sidelined content brought Dr. J’s articles to my attention, and I decided to aggregate them all into a single downloadable PDF document, available to anyone (musicians in particular) looking for some good information on RMI.
Dr. Timothy Jameson is the owner and director of the Bayshore Chiropractic Holistic Health Center located in Castro Valley, California, specializing in the treatment of Repetitive Motion Injuries commonly suffered by musicians. The following PDF of his articles is published here with his kind permission.
My Own Experience With Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
I recovered from a bout with Carpal Tunnel back in the 90s via chiropractic treatment. My right wrist had gotten so bad I was cradling it in my left arm. For a guitar player, this was a major freak-out, to say the least. I was living in Bakersfield at the time, and was fortunate enough to find a chiro within a few minutes of home who specialized in RPI.
traction machine
On my first visit, he quickly diagnosed the problem, and proceeded to give me a combination of two treatments: light electric shock therapy via several electrodes attached to my hand, and arm traction. He had a pneumatic traction machine designed specifically for wrist issues.
The machine consisted of a chair next to a metal case with a solid support piece with wide velcro strap that secured my upper arm to keep it from moving, and a specially-shaped velcro cuff that surrounded my wrist, attached to a movable metal arm powered by precisely controlled compressed air. He could dial in the exact poundage of tension to be placed on my arm, and it would slowly pull on my wrist, hold for two seconds, then slowly release for two seconds, and repeat.
The cuff could swivel to first repeat this cycle with my wrist straight for about ten minutes, then at a 45° inward angle for ten minutes, then 45° outward angle for ten minutes.
To my amazement, I had walked into his office with my wrist sore and aching, but walked out about 45 minutes later feeling absolutely normal again! I went home and played guitar pain-free for the first time in weeks. I went back a few times for additional treatments, but *not* because the pain had returned, just as a safety precaution. It’s now two decades later, and I have yet to have a recurrence of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
So yeah, when it comes to Repetitive Motion Injuries, I swear by chiropractic treatment.
