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Posted: **Sun Jul 15, 2007 7:55 pm**

For the last two weeks, I have had a very sore finger... this feels like a bruise, but I have had broken blood vessels in my fingers before and they have never lasted this long!

This is on my index finger on the "backside" (palm-side) of the middle joint, and it is bruised on both sections that are on either side of that joint.

I do hit the edge of the head with this finger sometimes, so maybe it is a bruise. But since I have never had one last this long, I thought I'd better ask if it might be something else that I should be concerned with??

Posted: **Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:46 am**

Sounds like very bad technique to me...or u did something to the finger unrelated to the conga drum... ??? .."JC" Johnny Conga...

Posted: **Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:11 am**

Sounds like "Bongo finger"..

Posted: **Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:30 pm**

I've had finger pain that last a long time. It feels like a bruise, but you can't see any signs of it. I play djembe as well as congas and I find that usually by the tenth minute of playing either, my hands are generally warmed up and I don't notice it as much. Since the techniques are so different for both I experience all kinds of different and wonderful pains depending on how frequently I'm doing one or the other. Just push through those first ten minutes and hopefully not a lot of starting and stopping. It would be hard to say whether or not this is a technique issue since we all touch a little bit different. Just my opinion, hope you get through it.

Posted: **Mon Jul 16, 2007 2:27 pm**

Hi,

did you take aspirin or something similiar the last 10 days because this can boost bleedings and bruises?

:p Best wishes and check your technic

Amber

Posted: **Mon Jul 16, 2007 2:32 pm**

yeah, I have had that before. especially when learning my slaps. Through injury, the drum has taught me how to hit it and achieve the sound that I want while not hurting myself as regularly. I swear for a while there, I was just putting too much effort into my slaps, and felt like I was stretching the ligaments in my fingers. My teacher had shown me that a whole lot of extra force is not needed as much as using proper technique. Now I can produce a better slap than before with half the effort. Hope that helps!!

Posted: **Mon Jul 16, 2007 9:14 pm**

Im with Jmdriscoll,

technique is it. But if its bad, and you have to make a gig. try those Dr sholes corn pads. little padded rings.

Put the injury in the hole, and tape with regular athletic tape.

It looks as bad as Mongo in the 70's but it'll get you by till you can heal.

Tony

Posted: **Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:48 pm**

Thanks for the input.

I wish I knew where it originated from! But I don't... I only know that it's there now, and I do feel it on the instances that that meaty part of the finger contacts the rim of whatever drum I happen to be working with, whether it be djembe, conga, bongos, ashiko, ngoma, etc... This happens when I start to get my finger tips closer to the edges of the drums, going after whatever sound I'm going after at the time.

I just was wondering if it's something that will eventually toughen up, or if it will worsen over time. I didn't know if it was a common injury or not.

I suppose it would help if any of us knew what the actual origin of the injury was from.

Posted: **Tue Jul 17, 2007 4:12 pm**

the injury is from your technique, probably.

You shouldnt be moving your finger tips closer to the rim at all. For most every drum, you should be making all the tones with your hands in the same position (except the bass hit). With the rim laying between your thumb and first nuckle of the index finger. the rim shoud hit the top of your palm, not your fingers.

hope that helps,

Tony

Posted: **Tue Jul 17, 2007 4:16 pm**

also, you should be making all the tones with a flat hand, not a cupped hand.

If you are going after a 'sound' you want to hear, thats not really how the instrument is played, thus the injury.

Most drums have specific traditional tones to learn, each with its own technique. But they are specific and defigned. All pro's play that way.

Tony

Posted: **Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:13 pm**

Well, I have been playing for years on djembe the same way, with nothing like this before. I think the difference was that the edge of the conga head is harder than the edge of the head on the djembe, and I probably just bruised my finger on the edge.

I'll just try to watch what I'm doing a little better, and perhaps when I move back to the city later this year, I'll look up a conga teacher somewhere.

Posted: **Thu Jul 19, 2007 10:07 am**

WHOPBAMBOOM,

I AGREE WITH JOHNNY CONGA.

IT'S EITHER BAD TECHNIQUE, YOU INJURED IT IN SOME OTHER WAY, OR A COMBO OF BOTH, AND HOPEFULLY IT'S NOT SOMETHING ELSE LIKE ARTHRITIS.

CHARLIE "EL COQUI" VERDEJO (YAMBU321)

Posted: **Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:39 pm**

It's finally going away now. I think it was just bruised/inflamed. Funny thing is, the finger now feels tougher than before, with no loss of flexibility. I think I'm OK.

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Finger pain