[albert]

I jammed my left middle finger yesterday, hurting the first joint which is now swollen and black. It isn't broken as I can still play guitar and in fact, it seems to have improved my left hand fingering. I'm no Django Rheinhardt but things are going more smoothly. I have to play with a lot less pressure as my finger hurts and this has resulted in less stress in my fretting hand overall. I guess I was pressing too hard before, adding tension in my hand. In this case I guess there is a silver lining under my cloud.

Has anyone else found an injury actually improved their playing in the long run?

 

[Dorian2]

Tim Pierce. Lesson #1! He mentions that it's always something you have to think about and its easy to forget. I concur. I constantly have to remind myself as well.

 

[Steadfastly]

I jammed my left middle finger yesterday, hurting the first joint which is now swollen and black. It isn't broken as I can still play guitar and in fact, it seems to have improved my left hand fingering. I'm no Django Rheinhardt but things are going more smoothly. I have to play with a lot less pressure as my finger hurts and this has resulted in less stress in my fretting hand overall. I guess I was pressing too hard before, adding tension in my hand. In this case I guess there is a silver lining under my cloud.

Has anyone else found an injury actually improved their playing in the long run?

I have the same problem which leads to premature tiredness in my fretting hand. I am working on it constantly. However, I think I will take a different route than you to correct it.

I hope the pain and swelling goes away quickly.

 

[albert]

I played a few times with the sore finger and though my playing was smooth, the pain in the finger continues. I think it might be smarter to rest the finger instead of playing through the pain in the long run. One step forward, two steps back ...

 

[mawmow]

I would believe you were putting too much strenght before you hurt your finger. In fact, I base my belief on the fact that it is fine tuning in movement (proprioceptive quality) that comes back last after an injury. So it would not be in the biomechanic logic to get better with any acute injury.
Acute injury does not necessarily precludes activity : do what you are able to do without too much pain with the objective to keep some easiness and strenght. Ice is a must after work to cool down.
When you will completely heal, you will struggle with fine tuning : bend, pull off, hammer on, and so on...
I once had to play golf with an acute injury to my left thumb (I am right handed) and I did play better : it made me realize that I was actually holding my club too tight before !
Hope, like I did, you will have learned something forever !
Cheer !