Thanks but I'd rather wait till the irritation and mild aches are gone from everyday activities before I return to piano. I will of course follow your advice and work on technique with a better teacher once I can play again. I hope that by Christmas I'll be fine. I see improvement, it's just not very noticeable day to day but compared to two months ago I am much better.

Thank you for all the kind words! About concerts and other things... I just don't like being a spectator, I like doing things actively. Also there is nothing else in music I want to do other then piano.

No swelling, no redness. The pain is not major, it's not something you'd need pain killers for, it's not even real pain, more like being tired all the time and some light burning sensation as if I need to scratch my hand and something is making it itchy from inside... No aches, no problems at night, once I fall asleep it all goes away, if I wake at night my hands feel as if there is nothing wrong with them.

Can't describe them good enough, every day some different part of my hands hurts when I use them. Last two days it's been the knuckles on the middle and ring finger on the right hand, left hand doesn't bother me at all these two days. (well now that I typed the whole thing below, the top of my wrist feels slightly tired it's a weird sensation I never had before)

Normally, after some clicking with the mouse or playing piano my hands feel very tired and I feel a burning sensation that starts on a small area and then if I keep using my hands spreads around fingers, palm, sometimes the wrist. Sometimes it starts at the wrist, sometimes it starts at the fingers, most of the time it's the index finger on the right hand because I use it for clicking with the mouse, sometimes it doesn't hurt.

Rest helps only till I start using my hands again. Holding a book and after a few minutes my hands get random aches (fingers, palm, wrist, random every time).

I'd say I see improvement now that it's been a few months but I can no longer rest because it's driving me nuts. Instead I will do everything as normal, just with more breaks in between stuff. I started playing some computer games again, the first 30 mins are alright, after that I don't feel much like playing since it begins to slightly hurt and it's annoying.

Every time I think about sitting at the piano I associate it with pain now and I bet it will be hard to shake that off even after I have recovered.

Hi Teodor,

Do yourself a favor - go see a NEUROLOGIST.

You are describing some form of parasthesia/nerve root irritation that might indicate a lesion in the cervical spine region.

You might need an MRI of the cervical spine region. This is not a hand/upper limb problem per se.

Good luck!

Already saw one and he did tests with the nerves on my hands and around the neck and said everything is fine. Also MRI costs as much as my monthly income.

I think if your technique were appropriate it would just stay annoying. As soon as you attack the keyboard it's going to do damage, stroke it gently! Basia, I would never countenance someone playing through pain. Up to that point is fine.

you tube has quite a few stretching exercises for carpal tunnel syndrome, as in this one,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUyMNyrOHJQ

Following your logic about bad technique causing pain, this guy should be in a world of pain by now, maybe crippled:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPtC20jFEAQ&feature=sub

:P

- Shake out your hands periodically while playing

Don't be so quick to quit. Try pushing through the pain, if it doesn't kill you, it'll make you better.

Yeah, you can become an Iron Man pianist.

Seriously, Rui, what you write is ridiculous. One should never, for no reason, play with pain.

If you experience pain you are doing something wrong. That is the long and the short of it.

The pain can easily be exaggerated by the mind, it doesn't hurt to try to play a bit through the pain. If it's excruciatingly painful to play a scale, then you have a serious problem. Slowly easing back into it is still better than quitting cold turkey don't you think?

The pain can easily be exaggerated by the mind, it doesn't hurt to try to play a bit through the pain. If it's excruciatingly painful to play a scale, then you have a serious problem. Slowly easing back into it is still better than quitting cold turkey don't you think?

I don't mean to say that Teo should not play.

But if when he plays he has painful sensations than there is surely something wrong with the way that he is playing.

That goes for you too, Cebu, and Rui. If you are experiencing pain than you need to examine your approach.

That is a simple and fundamental truth.

Play with pain ? I think you all don't realize what you are saying. You are confounding playing music with American Gladiator or woth boxing or something.