Using a guitar strap during knee replacement rehab

Chiefbigeasy

I just completed total knee replacement on my right knee in early January and found, to my horror, that it was almost impossible to rest the guitar on my right thigh for more than a few minutes as I continue to rehab. I had observed a few players use a strap connected to the button at the bottom of the guitar and the tuning head. I thought this might be problematic, but it’s been great. The strap supports the guitar in the correct position, and my arms are free to relax. Who knew this was going to work so well?

I wondered, at first, if the weight of the guitar pulling on the neck sideways would affect tuning. It does not. 

Another happy observation, however, is that I had noticed a tendency, when the guitar was on my knee, to push against the guitar with my arm resting on the body. This caused me to control the angle with my fretting hand, and this resulted in extra unwarranted tension in my left hand while playing, which also communicated more tension to my right arm and picking hand. 

The upshot is, having the guitar suspended has given me a chance to rework and rethink tension and relaxation of both hands, fingers and arms. It also allows me to sit back, cross my legs in either direction, which has always subconsciously signaled to my body and mind to play relaxed and without tension. I used to sometimes cross my right over my left leg in an attempt to mimic Django’s pose, in the hope of producing less tension. It often worked.

Buco

How are the live gig situations playing wise?

Chiefbigeasy

Hey, Buco, I played several live gigs now and the system has worked well. I may keep this whole strap thing going even after I fully rehab. Like I said, it really does enhance relaxation and less tension in both hands. Who knew?