I've been playing osu for about 4 years and I have always struggled with hand pain. I have only ever been able to play for 1-2 hours at a time and sometimes even less. I have taken multiple year long breaks because of pain and currently if I play any map my hands will start to hurt within a couple of minutes. Stretching does not help at all and actually creates more pain in my wrists. Is this serious enough where I should go see a doctor about it?

Not a professional at OSU, but yes, you should definitely see a doctor about it since it could be due to something serious like RSI (or it could be because of a past injury.) Diagnosing the problem will probably help you recover from it. gl

Hey, I'm pretty old for this game, so my hands probably take longer to recover than others. I've had to see a physical therapist in the past for issues I gave myself from osu + typing for work. I would definitely recommend that for you. Any pain that lasts longer than two weeks is worth seeing a doctor about, especially if you feel it even when you aren't playing. They will be able to give you good advice and exercises and get your hands stronger. Don't be scared about going, you aren't going to have to quit the game and a good doctor won't be judgmental, just follow their advices. It is not too late, you can recover from this problem.

In addition to the exercises they gave me, something that has helped me avoid injuries for a year now is to start out really slow. I usually start my session with two star maps and gradually work up to three and four star for about an hour, but what really slow is might be different for you. I find it helps me to get into the session with comfortable tapping and aim as I can begin to fix all of the small problems in technique before I even start playing "for real". I have tried warming up like others do and jumping right into the game, but it has always led to injury, I need to do a "pre-warmup" personally.

+ If the doctor says it's okay, I would really recommend using a gyro ball for a few minutes a day. If not okay, start using one when your hands are all better. It's been a lifesaver for me. Look into "neuroplastic pain" as well. Sometimes even if injuries start as real injuries, your brain can become "trained" into having chronic pain or trained into the pain feeling even worse, because you are so afraid of it. It might not be the case for you but it is worth looking into in addition to seeing the doctor.

Happy Satoko wrote:

Hey, I'm pretty old for this game, so my hands probably take longer to recover than others. I've had to see a physical therapist in the past for issues I gave myself from osu + typing for work. I would definitely recommend that for you. Any pain that lasts longer than two weeks is worth seeing a doctor about, especially if you feel it even when you aren't playing. They will be able to give you good advice and exercises and get your hands stronger. Don't be scared about going, you aren't going to have to quit the game and a good doctor won't be judgmental, just follow their advices. It is not too late, you can recover from this problem.

In addition to the exercises they gave me, something that has helped me avoid injuries for a year now is to start out really slow. I usually start my session with two star maps and gradually work up to three and four star for about an hour, but what really slow is might be different for you. I find it helps me to get into the session with comfortable tapping and aim as I can begin to fix all of the small problems in technique before I even start playing "for real". I have tried warming up like others do and jumping right into the game, but it has always led to injury, I need to do a "pre-warmup" personally.

+ If the doctor says it's okay, I would really recommend using a gyro ball for a few minutes a day. If not okay, start using one when your hands are all better. It's been a lifesaver for me. Look into "neuroplastic pain" as well. Sometimes even if injuries start as real injuries, your brain can become "trained" into having chronic pain or trained into the pain feeling even worse, because you are so afraid of it. It might not be the case for you but it is worth looking into in addition to seeing the doctor.

Thanks for the info! I'll talk to my physical therapist about my hands at my next appointment.
I used to do a very similar warmup as you where I would start off with very easy and slow maps and all would feel good but I never really felt properly warmed up from it. As soon as I would play a faster more challenging map the pain would start back no matter how well the warmup went.
For your last point about the neuroplastic pain I have had a lot of experience with this and I'm almost positive it is not this. When my hands start hurting the pain is constant and gets worse the more I play with it sometimes lasting for days or weeks. I've even sprained my wrist from osu before and had to wear a splint.

BaconsPlays wrote:

Thanks for the info! I'll talk to my physical therapist about my hands at my next appointment.
I used to do a very similar warmup as you where I would start off with very easy and slow maps and all would feel good but I never really felt properly warmed up from it. As soon as I would play a faster more challenging map the pain would start back no matter how well the warmup went.
For your last point about the neuroplastic pain I have had a lot of experience with this and I'm almost positive it is not this. When my hands start hurting the pain is constant and gets worse the more I play with it sometimes lasting for days or weeks. I've even sprained my wrist from osu before and had to wear a splint.

It sounds like to me that maybe it is a chronic injury then that is getting aggravated by the difficult maps, but the doctor should know for sure. You've likely already researched into tapping techniques and tried different things (I'm familiar with the desperation that comes with this) so I doubt it's just that your technique is that bad that it'd hurt you by itself. Please keep faith, I know it can feel like it but you are not doomed to stay at 200-300pp forever because of your hands, it will take some time but you'll figure this all out. You can DM me anytime if you want somebody to talk to about it.