Finger Pain

[Zhea]

More specifically, pain in my pinky and ring finger. My hands are pretty active in my life. I work as a computer programmer during the day, and play smash at night. I've been feeling aches in bother hands around my pinky and ring finger. Which is curious to me as they probably get the least use. I do calisthenics regularly and have never had carpel tunnel in my entire computer and game heavy life. Any one have any ideas on what might cause this?

 

[Xyzz]

"I work as a computer programmer during the day, and play smash at night" sounds like a super hero introduction, haha.
Regarding the issue at hand: (forgive the terrible pun, I just can't help myself... :D)

It's quite often the part of the hand you don't end up actually using in strenuous activity, that ends up hurting ... and if that's the case, my first guess would be that you're too stiff in holding the controller. No need to hold on to that thing too tight, stay flexible.

 

[Radiowar]

might also have to do with your posture when seated (specifically if you are putting a lot of weight onto your elbows). if its pain specifically in your ring and pinky fingers, sounds like it could be ulnar nerve compression. i get that sometimes if i sleep on my arms weirdly, it's a very annoying kind of pain.

 

[Chan Man]

I got finger pains after using a wave bird for 4~5 hour sessions. It's heavier and when I switched back to wired controllers the pains went away. Xyzz is spot on when it comes to grip. I'm pretty sure it was the way I pressed the L shoulder button that my left pinky/ring finger cramped a lot.

I recommend finding a warm up prior to playing smash, or just play in shorter intervals. For example, I play piano or guitar before I turn on the gamecube to get my fingers going. Another decent game to warm up on is DJMAX on psp or pc.
Hope your fingers get a hold of themselves!

 

[Zhea]

might also have to do with your posture when seated (specifically if you are putting a lot of weight onto your elbows). if its pain specifically in your ring and pinky fingers, sounds like it could be ulnar nerve compression. i get that sometimes if i sleep on my arms weirdly, it's a very annoying kind of pain.

My dad recently had surgery on both his elbows for this. I might have it, but I think it's unrelated. Better posture is something I've been striving for lately, seeing if it helps my focus. I rested them tonight and it seems to have subsided for, considering a longer break over thanksgiving.

 

[TerryJ]

I actually broke my arm last year in December. I waited two months to get surgery and by then my bones were fusing together again, one on top of the other. They had to break it, realign it and throw some metal onto it so now I have two metal plates and twelve screws in my arm. Needless to say the only reason I have as much control over my hand as I do is because I play Melee so much. However the downside to this is my arm/wrist/fingers hurt like a motherfu*cker after a couple hours of intense play.

There doesn't seem to be anything I can do about the pain other than just taking a small break so that's what I'd suggest you do. Also depending on how hard you grip your controller you might be putting a lot unnecessary stress onto your back fingers so just try to keep calm and not grip so hard.

Btw I have awesome surgery pics of my arm being open if anyone wants to see it. :D

 

[MechWarriorNY]

The fact that all that happened to you and the urge for Melee is still there is enough for me.
Dayum.

 

[danieljosebatista]

Take a break man. Give yourself time to recover so you don't end u[p with more long-term pain. I used to suffer from this also

 

[Sanu]

I frequently have had finger pain in the past while playing melee; specifically the right index finger. If there's one thing that has helped me the most, it is finding different, better, ways to hold the controller, so that you can reduce stress on the problem areas. You have to experiment though. For me, I started l-cancelling with my right middle finger, and only grab now with my index finger, thus splitting the workload.

Hand stretches are pretty essential too.