I agree with KeyboardKlutz. Judging by the video, you are not well, physically, before the piano. Playing your little finger seems to be a terrible ordeal.

It seems to me that you are sitting too high. I suspect that if you are seated substantially lower, with your elbows below the keyboard and actually pulling down a bit on the hands, you are going to feel a tremendous relief.

I also ask Elissa"s question:

Problem is I can't adjust seat height there are 2 types of chairs and that's that, none of the rooms I have access to piano in have adjustable benches and that's not going to change.

Landorrano,

<< It seems to me that you are sitting too high. I suspect that if you are seated substantially lower, with your elbows below the keyboard and actually pulling down a bit on the hands, you are going to feel a tremendous relief.>.

A very interesting suggestion. I use the piano bench that came with my clavinova, and it puts my arms in a similar position as Teodor shows in his video. When using a Midi controller on the dinning room table, I can play for hours (I'd thought this was because its semi-weighted), but now I wonder whether its due to elbows being relatively lower?

I'm 5' 10" and now I wonder: Are piano benches "too high"?

Hmmm... what I see in the vid is that you have your right hand flexed upward, which is a very dangerous position for tendonitis. That suggests to me that you may be sitting too low, not too high... or maybe, too close.

You could take a cushion to the practice room, or a volume of the encyclopedia (maybe an atlas--- more sitting room).

Whichever; you'll have to experiment. The idea is to let the wrist be straight, not flexed either upward or downward. You can see how the kink at the wrist binds the tendons and makes them rub harder, which irritates them.

I also see a lot of playing with just the fingers, which is another situation which irritates and tires the hand. It is easy enough to say, 'Spread the effort out; let the bigger muscles in the arm, the shoulder, and the back and trunk divide the work and help the fingers," but you really need a good teacher to show you this.

Ha ! Don't you just love the internet !

Yikes! If I said that here, this is what would happen to me...

If anything I think I am sitting too high most of the time, I ALWAYS check to see if my wrists are straight before starting to play and if my elbows are on level with the keyboard. But during playing it seems I forget about this and I move the wrists up and down, I keep the shoulders in weird positions and so on.

I am seeing a physical therapist on Monday to see if she can help with this. I hope I can start playing again soon! I will consult a good teacher before I resume.

Actually the teacher I contacted for lessons during summer said she had pain in her hands when she was younger and then she found a good teacher, a professor in her conservatory who helped her fix her technique and she has been playing fine since then with no aches, I bet she has a lot of useful knowledge on the subject.

Teodor:

Here are a few resources regarding pianist' injuries:

http://pianomap.com/injuries/

http://musiced.about.com/od/beginnersguide/a/injuries.htm

I am seeing a physio therapist today, I hope she can help because I need to be back to normal soon if I want to keep my job.

The pain I experienced is now mostly burning, it does get a bit painful when I use my hands for a long time (takes only a couple of mins to flare up) and then it goes almost all away. I took so many anti inflamatories, like 6 different brands already, lots of ointments one of which left a nasty rash on my right hand...

So medicine does not help, maybe physiotherapy will.

Good luck with the physotherapist Teodor. This pain sounds really intense for someone who's been staying so quiet for so long.

Let us know what the dr says!

Good luck Teodor. It was all about physical therapy for me, but my case was not as intense as yours apparently is. Please keep in touch here, and also let us know about the summer piano teacher who has experience with this too. We're plugging for you - piano meant too much to you to not give this a big try.

Cathy

The doctor says it's not too serious, says I might have pinched nerves somewhere or something but she prescribed some really good things that deal with that kind of pain, also she set me up for 2 weeks of procedures every day, involving massages, electro and magnetic therapy as well as other things. She says a woman pianist comes to her 2 times per year with aches in her hands and she helps her and then she can go for months without pain

Doc says I'll be back to normal in a month.

This sounds like great news Teodor! Let's hope that you're now on the right track to healing properly!

Any improvements so far? I've been following your plight as I am in a similar but much less severe situation.

I think I will try physio as well.

Warm, moist heat can provide a temporizing measure. One of the best sources of this I have found is a rice bag. Here are instructions on how to construct one from a dear friend of mine (original writing style retained):

Materials:
• 1/4 yd fleece
• A couple pounds of short grain white rice, or your grain of choice

Directions:
1. You gitcherself some soft fabric, tightish weave. Knit or fleece is good; the thicker fabric theoretically holds the warmth longer, but I haven't scientifically checked the theory.
2. Cut two pieces fabric into your desired shape. I cut mine about 6x15. R has a C-shaped one she puts around her neck.
3. Sew right sides together, leaving an opening to insert grain.
4. Later addition: Stitch a second time, very close to the first stitching. Helps prevent seam poppage and rice leakage.
5. Turn right side out.
6. You gitcher grain of choice. You do not cook it. Repeat, DO NOT cook it! *snicker*
7. I think short grain rice works well, because it is scent free, and the rounded grains move well, less poky. Flax seed has a wonderful feel, but smells like linseed oil when heated. Potpourri is an interesting addition for foot warmers, but I wouldn't want that perfume next to my face. I have a buckwheat neck bag at home which works very well, but it smells like pancakes when warmed. Millet might be an option, too.
8. When you fill the bag, you want it floppy, but not so thin that it loses heat quickly. The contents of the 6x15 bag I used last night are about an inch deep when the bag is leveled out on a flat surface, and it is just right.
9. Sew opening closed with a tight stitch. Machine stitching works well, because it is faster and less likely to leak grains. Stitch twice.

that rice bag sounds so nice. mine are much plainer.. simply rice poured into a sock, then the sock is tied at the top. I find the rice bags wear out after a while and you have to start with fresh rice.

I can't say there is any. Maybe a tiny bit but typing at the computer and using a mouse produces the same aches still... I am done with the 7 days of physio that were supposed to fix me, I am doing 3 more days but I don't know if it will help.

I was in a less severe situation too, when it began in february but I did not rest then and as a result it got worse. It's not crippling pain, it's just annoying and the reason I don't use the PC much any more is because I don't want to make it worse, same with piano. But this waiting is killing me, every day I try to do something as usual for a couple of minutes and I can't without discomfort...


Thanks for the rice bag tip, might give it a try.

I too am currently having some problems with CTS, my thumb and two first fingers on my left hand have pins and needles and my wrist and hand sometimes get a burning sensation.

I found an exercise on the WEB where by you stretch out your arms in front of you, palms down then bend your hands upwards to 90degrees, hold for 5 seconds then relax, then make a fist and bend the hands down for a count of 5 then relax, do this ten times then let the arms down to your sides and shake your hands to help relax them, I've only done this a few times but the tingling is starting to go after only a few days.

I can't promise it will work but it seems to be helping me, I dreaded the thought of having to give up piano and hopefully if this works I wont have too.

Give it a try, I hope it helps.

Cheers

Martin

My experience with physio was that the practitioner gave me exercises and stretches to do every day, with a return appointment every few weeks or a month apart. This is the kind of problem that builds up over time, and which takes time to correct. I think that an expectation that a physiotherapist can make it go away in a week may be unrealistic.

Mine was very good, and she wanted to know whether the at-home work was helping, having no effect, or if the problem was still getting worse. That way, she could adjust the therapy to fit the real conditions. The orthopedist also followed-up after a period of time.

I had to change my everyday practices so that the benefit would last.

Jeff, sadly this is how they work here. Nothing more I can do. I also saw 2 ortopedist, one who is regarded as the best in town. Both said they don't know what exactly is wrong, said it's some sort of RSI and said they can't do anything and told me to rest. They both said "You are young and you should be able to recover in time."

That is an honest diagnosis, at least. When we get in real trouble is when the doc decides he knows what's going on, but he doesn't really. I appreciate your feeling on hearing it, though... I've been through something similar. Mine got so bad I couldn't bear the pressure of pushing a glass door open (like any store or bank has), before I landed in the specialist's office.

Interestingly, in that case, I felt pain in my hand and wrist but the actual injury was a partly-torn tendon just below the elbow. It was caused by a fall from my bike. The doc had to prove it to me, because I didn't believe it. And--- what a surprise--- treating the hand and wrist (for a whole year) had been ineffective. Classic example of 'referred pain.' He knew right away, though--- they see it in the office every day.

I'm sorry this is having such an impact on your life and your playing. All I can think of is, look at the vids of your hands... maybe, compare them with some of the great players'. What I remember seeing is that your wrists were bent back, and the fingers were cocked up higher than the body of the hand. It may seem subtle, but that is something you could work on. It's a position that 100% for sure stresses the tendons.

Sometimes re-learning these small details is the key to letting your body heal, and preventing new injuries.

I assume I have no partially teared tendons, the physioterapist examined my hands and each tendon by touching them all along and applying some pressure, there was no pain, there is pain when I type this but not when I feed myself or wash my hair... weird really weird...

Do yourself a favour.
See your doctor, insist on the surgery and get on with it!

I'm trying the exercises that I found, they give some relief but I don't expect a quick cure, I have been suffering it for a long time but didn't know what it was, it's only now that the tingling in my thumb and fingers is getting worse that I decided to investigate and found out I have CTS symptoms.

I will keep trying the exercises and I'll try and remember to come back on here and let everyone know if it's working or not.

At the moment mines more of an annoyance than a problem but if left unchecked I think it will get worse.

I don't really want to end up having an op, I've had too many op's already for other stuff it's about time I cured something naturally.

cheers

Martin

Surgery on both hands? That would suck, I can't do it unless my doctors are sure it is necessary and they can't even pin point the exact problem so how can I trust them to operate on me? Also I doubt I can afford the operation unless it's 100$ for both hands, that's about my limit per month.

Teodor

The exercise I mentioned in my earlier post, have you tried anything like it and am I just wasting my time or have you only consulted the doctor.

Sorry if I missed anything like this in one of your earlier posts, I haven't read every single one of them as yet.

Cheers

Martin

not yet

I have been away for these past few weeks because of the same thing! I've been working on "Moonlight Sonata" and went to stretch for a ninth and my thumb has been giving me fits. It's slowly improving but yes, being on the computer, does aggrevate it. I've gone back to about 15 minutes and am trying to vary the time on computer, since I have to use it at work, but not necessarily at home. Hang tough! i know I am!

Well I am hanging on but after six months it's getting unbearable (not the pain, the pain is just annoying). I am thinking of ignoring everyone's opinion and starting to work out again, I never had any hand pain when I was hitting the gym 3 times a week, I didn't get as much as a cold or a sore throat. At the time when I got "tendonitis" I was not working out hard as before, so I can rule it out as a reason. As a result of resting for 6 months I have lost all my muscle mass that I gained while working out, my hands look tiny again especially the biceps, I've lost a lot there... Also the pain was just in my fingers, now it's in the wrists and I can feel it starting to get to my shoulders from time to time so I guess treatment is not working, though according to the doctors I should be better by now. I bet this is all because of the severe inactivity. I went from having an extremely active life to nothing.

I had carpal tunnel syndrome a while ago and I did get rid of it by doing this:



I couldn't manage to 90 degrees, but the idea is the same. I did do it a lot, and it only got better very slowly.

if there's inflammation in the nerve/tendon, then it may take a very long time for it to get better.