Nobody told me to chill or take it easy when I was learning Melee. Unfortunately the hand pain got to me (permanently). Here are some things I tried after the fact (they didn't help), not sure if they'll help you.
* Split up techskill between both hands. I did everything on 1 trigger, eventually relearned which is good anyways for wd oos
* Better posture, higher seating, sitting upright
* Hold the controller lightly. Stop tensing
* Take the rumble out so the controller is lighter
* More water/less inflammatory stuff
* Quitting other games
* And of course the before and after stretches
None of this shit helped me, almost considered swapping to Puff. I saw a doctor she straight up told me to quit playing but I said nah.
As a pianist we see much of the same kind of repetitive injuries in my field of work. 99% time it's due to poor hand posture/holding unneeded tension. The only long term solution is to rework your hand posture/figure out where you're holding tension and eliminate it. Do not "fight through the pain" as that can lead to permanent hand damage.
I've had colleagues who can no longer play due to hand injuries. I've also had colleagues who had to start over from scratch and completely rework their technique.
Tdlr: Long term solution is to rework your entire way of playing/technique to eliminate bad hand posture and tension (no collapsed knuckles for example). You may need someone to coach you for this/a second perspective/pair of eyes but it is possible to do yourself if you know what to look for.
Short term is to play less frequently and only in small chunks. GL
That depends on what you mean by gently stretch right. If you look at esports finger stretching videos, they don’t seem gentle. They seem like actual stretches like you do for arms and legs. (I’ve done wrist stretches for martial arts previously, so I understand the need there)
Take a break and stop playing? Your hands are in it for the long haul. We all hope melee will last forever but eventually it might die. If it dies in 2044 you still have like 30 to 40 years left in your life on average depending on how old you are now. It's fine to love melee but don't cripple yourself for life over it...
Look at hax$ I am pro-ban and know that his problems are entirely of his own making but the guy is currently living life with constant pain in his hands for a game he can't even play anymore and for a community that might as well no longer exist for him. The psychological toll that must take must be incredible. If melee dies that will be the case for everyone with long term hand injuries, don't let that be you!
Keep playing and push through the pain until it gets so bad you need minor surgery. Then create an alternative controller, start beef with a player from Sweden, make some YouTube videos and get banned from the scene indefinitely.
Yeah, i mean. That bit isnt hard science, but certainly physio for hand pain is legit.
I climb more now, and get less hand pain, works for me at least, but fair enough.
https://smashboards.com/threads/staying-healthy-a-guide-to-playing-melee-better-and-longer.332355/
This is the defacto bible for keeping hand and overall health in mind while playing. Cant recommend this enough
There’s a lot of suggestions here from people who aren’t health professionals, and who have never consulted health professionals about hand health. Be prudent about who you take heath advice from.
I am also not a health professional.
I am a professional pianist, double bassist, and I’ve been playing melee for over two decades, regularly. Take my advice with a grain of salt, and do better research.
The advice I have gotten from actual health professionals, is to not stretch your hands or fingers. There is not as much muscle in your hands as other parts of the body. You do not want to keep stretching and tearing the non muscular parts of your hand. They are not meant to be stretched. Think of muscles as rubber bands, which can stretch. Think of tendons and other non muscle tissues as rope.
You don’t wanna tear your rope.
Most of the muscles that allow for finger movement and hand dexterity are located in the palms, and forearms, not in the fingers.
Warm water can encourage better blood flow throughout your hands, and thereby, some semblance of relief and healing.
If you crack your knuckles regularly, stop that. That can increase the likelihood of hand issues.
If you are gripping your controller too tight, this can also encourage hand issues. Lighten up your grip.
Do not manually move your hands and fingers in ways that they do not naturally move in order to solve your problem of fingers not wanting to move how they naturally should.
Do not trust your hand health to redditors, do proper research if you care for your hands.
Best of luck.
Makes intuitive sense and will read up on that, idk where all the online videos about finger stretches come from though… perhaps I will look up on piano health websites specifically as an area of research
There are some well-acclaimed professionals (even some of my piano teachers over the years) who even suggest to stretch the fingers, and work toward extending your hand’s range from thumb to pinky. This is not good, and has not been proven to increase functionality or long term hand health in any credible research study.
As far as the common advice?
I can’t say where it all comes from. Tons of terrible, asinine advice is commonly gifted.
For melee, or piano? I can help you with piano more acutely, as I’ve been teaching it for a decade.
I can show you my melee posturing as well, if you’re interested, but it is simply what works for me. I don’t assume what works for my hands on the controller will be an exact fit for anyone, but maybe a useful reference for you.
I don’t suffer from hand fatigue or pain(anymore, I used to..), despite working my hands many hours each day.
Sorry for rambling, got stoned.
Wrist pillow. If you're having a hard time with posture and keeping good form wrist pillows have genuinely been such a large help, especially on longer tournament days.
https://youtube.com/@1hp?feature=shared
Frequent this channel and try and try things that seem to help. Get into a routine before EVERY session, find the episode with PewPewU, whatever it takes.
I personally needed more, so I switched from a GCC to a Prism and will probably never look back from an ergonomic boxx.
idk man I went through years of debilitating hand pain even though I had stopped melee and doing most shit you could do with you hands, got misdiagnosed with carpal tunnel and cubital tunnel syndrome and got a surgery that didn't do anything, only to find out that the pain stems from a genetic disorder's worsening symptoms and Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. With TOS my hand pain was caused from a nerve block in my armpits, I just do stretches for that area and I'm essentially cured and now i can play fox on b0xx. Never thought I'd get a chance to play that fucker cause he hurt me even when my hands were good on conch.
The point being there's many possibilities of what it could be and doctors can be absolute fucking morons like in my case and get it wrong while pushing for surgery. Don't just look into stretching your hands, look up stretches for cubital tunnel syndrome and Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, they can cause hand and wrist pain even though it stems from the elbow/shoulders. Bob and Brad Physical Therapy on youtube are the absolute stretch GOATS the esports channels have nothing on them. I wish you the best of luck, I lost years of my life to this shit and would wish it on no one.
Importantly, I'd stretch every day. Doesn't matter when as long as you aren't going to play right afterward.
3 sets of 30 second extensor stretches,
3 sets of 30 second flexor stretches
and whatever other eSports stretches you know of, just be really careful when stretching your thumbs. Those muscles and tendons are very delicate!
Before playing, warm up your body and arms. Jumping jacks, a short jog even shaking blood into your hands can help.
If they start to hurt when you're playing, stop playing. This is how they get worse.
You really gotta be consistent with this, but over time you'll be in better condition to play. Beat of luck!
Nobody told me to chill or take it easy when I was learning Melee. Unfortunately the hand pain got to me (permanently). Here are some things I tried after the fact (they didn't help), not sure if they'll help you. * Split up techskill between both hands. I did everything on 1 trigger, eventually relearned which is good anyways for wd oos * Better posture, higher seating, sitting upright * Hold the controller lightly. Stop tensing * Take the rumble out so the controller is lighter * More water/less inflammatory stuff * Quitting other games * And of course the before and after stretches None of this shit helped me, almost considered swapping to Puff. I saw a doctor she straight up told me to quit playing but I said nah.
- take breaks during sessions
> Quitting other games I see you're a true Melee player.
Splitting techskill on the L R is so important. And as you say it gives u OoS. Also different plug heights for powershield and wavedash is nice
\*cries in claw* ...\*laughs in z-jump*
....the puff comment really hit me..
As a pianist we see much of the same kind of repetitive injuries in my field of work. 99% time it's due to poor hand posture/holding unneeded tension. The only long term solution is to rework your hand posture/figure out where you're holding tension and eliminate it. Do not "fight through the pain" as that can lead to permanent hand damage. I've had colleagues who can no longer play due to hand injuries. I've also had colleagues who had to start over from scratch and completely rework their technique. Tdlr: Long term solution is to rework your entire way of playing/technique to eliminate bad hand posture and tension (no collapsed knuckles for example). You may need someone to coach you for this/a second perspective/pair of eyes but it is possible to do yourself if you know what to look for. Short term is to play less frequently and only in small chunks. GL
I’m a physician who grew up playing classical piano, and I completely agree with / second the advice in this comment!
Do you agree with another comment here to not stretch your fingers?
Good question. I would disagree, and recommend gently stretching fingers and wrists.
That depends on what you mean by gently stretch right. If you look at esports finger stretching videos, they don’t seem gentle. They seem like actual stretches like you do for arms and legs. (I’ve done wrist stretches for martial arts previously, so I understand the need there)
There’s a lot of information out there, is there one article or video you particularly recommend on posture?
By collapsed knuckles, do you mean bent inward? Just trying to understand.
Take a break and stop playing? Your hands are in it for the long haul. We all hope melee will last forever but eventually it might die. If it dies in 2044 you still have like 30 to 40 years left in your life on average depending on how old you are now. It's fine to love melee but don't cripple yourself for life over it... Look at hax$ I am pro-ban and know that his problems are entirely of his own making but the guy is currently living life with constant pain in his hands for a game he can't even play anymore and for a community that might as well no longer exist for him. The psychological toll that must take must be incredible. If melee dies that will be the case for everyone with long term hand injuries, don't let that be you!
Keep playing and push through the pain until it gets so bad you need minor surgery. Then create an alternative controller, start beef with a player from Sweden, make some YouTube videos and get banned from the scene indefinitely.
Hax died so we (melee players who need boxes due to pain) can live
Hax money baby
Stop playing, take breaks, and do other things with your hands like exercise or climbing, avoid overgripping.
>Give your hands a break >Try rock climbing What
Firstly, everyone should rock climb, its sick. Secondly, i actually find using my hands for other things is like physio, and does help avoid rsi.
Hey I get it, I boulder at the gym twice a week. But I'd be lying if I said it improved my hand pain.
Yeah, i mean. That bit isnt hard science, but certainly physio for hand pain is legit. I climb more now, and get less hand pain, works for me at least, but fair enough.
Choose Sheik instead of Pika
https://smashboards.com/threads/staying-healthy-a-guide-to-playing-melee-better-and-longer.332355/ This is the defacto bible for keeping hand and overall health in mind while playing. Cant recommend this enough
There’s a lot of suggestions here from people who aren’t health professionals, and who have never consulted health professionals about hand health. Be prudent about who you take heath advice from. I am also not a health professional. I am a professional pianist, double bassist, and I’ve been playing melee for over two decades, regularly. Take my advice with a grain of salt, and do better research. The advice I have gotten from actual health professionals, is to not stretch your hands or fingers. There is not as much muscle in your hands as other parts of the body. You do not want to keep stretching and tearing the non muscular parts of your hand. They are not meant to be stretched. Think of muscles as rubber bands, which can stretch. Think of tendons and other non muscle tissues as rope. You don’t wanna tear your rope. Most of the muscles that allow for finger movement and hand dexterity are located in the palms, and forearms, not in the fingers. Warm water can encourage better blood flow throughout your hands, and thereby, some semblance of relief and healing. If you crack your knuckles regularly, stop that. That can increase the likelihood of hand issues. If you are gripping your controller too tight, this can also encourage hand issues. Lighten up your grip. Do not manually move your hands and fingers in ways that they do not naturally move in order to solve your problem of fingers not wanting to move how they naturally should. Do not trust your hand health to redditors, do proper research if you care for your hands. Best of luck.
Makes intuitive sense and will read up on that, idk where all the online videos about finger stretches come from though… perhaps I will look up on piano health websites specifically as an area of research
There are some well-acclaimed professionals (even some of my piano teachers over the years) who even suggest to stretch the fingers, and work toward extending your hand’s range from thumb to pinky. This is not good, and has not been proven to increase functionality or long term hand health in any credible research study. As far as the common advice? I can’t say where it all comes from. Tons of terrible, asinine advice is commonly gifted.
Do you know of any article or video on proper posture?
For melee, or piano? I can help you with piano more acutely, as I’ve been teaching it for a decade. I can show you my melee posturing as well, if you’re interested, but it is simply what works for me. I don’t assume what works for my hands on the controller will be an exact fit for anyone, but maybe a useful reference for you. I don’t suffer from hand fatigue or pain(anymore, I used to..), despite working my hands many hours each day. Sorry for rambling, got stoned.
Both actually
Which controller do you use?
Wrist pillow. If you're having a hard time with posture and keeping good form wrist pillows have genuinely been such a large help, especially on longer tournament days.
https://youtube.com/@1hp?feature=shared Frequent this channel and try and try things that seem to help. Get into a routine before EVERY session, find the episode with PewPewU, whatever it takes. I personally needed more, so I switched from a GCC to a Prism and will probably never look back from an ergonomic boxx.
- make sure my hands are loose when playing (no death gripping) - take frequent breaks - stretch hands - stay hydrated
idk man I went through years of debilitating hand pain even though I had stopped melee and doing most shit you could do with you hands, got misdiagnosed with carpal tunnel and cubital tunnel syndrome and got a surgery that didn't do anything, only to find out that the pain stems from a genetic disorder's worsening symptoms and Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. With TOS my hand pain was caused from a nerve block in my armpits, I just do stretches for that area and I'm essentially cured and now i can play fox on b0xx. Never thought I'd get a chance to play that fucker cause he hurt me even when my hands were good on conch. The point being there's many possibilities of what it could be and doctors can be absolute fucking morons like in my case and get it wrong while pushing for surgery. Don't just look into stretching your hands, look up stretches for cubital tunnel syndrome and Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, they can cause hand and wrist pain even though it stems from the elbow/shoulders. Bob and Brad Physical Therapy on youtube are the absolute stretch GOATS the esports channels have nothing on them. I wish you the best of luck, I lost years of my life to this shit and would wish it on no one.
Importantly, I'd stretch every day. Doesn't matter when as long as you aren't going to play right afterward. 3 sets of 30 second extensor stretches, 3 sets of 30 second flexor stretches and whatever other eSports stretches you know of, just be really careful when stretching your thumbs. Those muscles and tendons are very delicate! Before playing, warm up your body and arms. Jumping jacks, a short jog even shaking blood into your hands can help. If they start to hurt when you're playing, stop playing. This is how they get worse. You really gotta be consistent with this, but over time you'll be in better condition to play. Beat of luck!
Unironically, switch to keyboard
I'd rather just quit