Late to the party, but...
A few years ago, we bought Kevlar gloves just to avoid cuts from a slipping knife or something stupid like that. When I was a kid, I had a knife that I sharpened like crazy. One day, I was trying to cut open a golf ball. Knife slipped, and I tapped the tip of my left middle finger. My first thought was, "that was lucky - I didn't hit it hard enough to cut it". Then I looked. Inside your finger can go further than you think. End up being between 1/4" and 3/8" deep, and cut through the nail as well. I thought for sure I needed stitches, but my dad taped it up tightly and it healed. 45 years or so have faded the scar, but the lesson has stuck with me. Mostly.
The first two minutes of this video have a stretch that Nita showed at a Q&A thing I attended a few years ago. I do this almost every time I pick up a guitar, and I can feel the difference in my hands when I don't do it. Highly recommend this.
I just wrapped up physical therapy on my left shoulder. I was having trouble reaching behind me, and my range of motion in general seemed to be deteriorating. The woman that did my therapy is a genius - she had it almost 60% fixed after one session. Even she seemed surprised at how much it improved because I've had shoulder issues for years, and she said they usually don't respond that quickly. I can really feel a difference now when I do that Nita stretch - it was always painful as the shoulder deteriorated, but now it's much looser when I stretch. Even better, I've gotten back some reach that I'd lost and chalked up to hand surgery. It was one of those "hey - I couldn't do this last week" moments. I was just playing a song and suddenly realized I could make that stretch. This stuff works, and it all ties together.
