Earlier I reported that I was struggling with a wrist pain.  Upon a little research and experimentation, I figured out what was going on.

First, the facts:

• It always happens when I’m cold: when the weather turns cold (I live in Minnesota, USA) and my body in general gets cold easily
• And I’m trying to play too fast without warming up
• Resting makes it better eventually
• Properly warming up prevents it from happening
• Bending my wrist while playing can cause the pain

Well, I dug up these excerpts from TrueFire’s Guitar Physiology course on YouTube:

I wasn’t holding my guitar that low — but I saw that I was definitely guilty of trying to stretch, bend my wrist and attempting (and failing) to play too fast.

I also learned that dehydration can contribute to muscle cramps.  Living in a constantly heated house, everyone in my family struggles to stay hydrated.  But when I do drink a lot of water, my wrist feels better.

So I’ve been working on changing my playing habit to reduce stretching (I’m not saying that stretching is bad for everyone — I know some players are fine doing it.  But not me, apparently), staying hydrated and stretching/massaging.  And my wrist has been feeling better.

Obviously I am not a medical professional or a healing practitioner — if your wrist is chronically bothering you from playing the guitar, do seek professional opinions.  I felt that I hadn’t quite reached that point yet, and I’m glad I did a little research.  Hopefully my story can shed some light to others who may be struggling with similar issues.