Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum A word to the wise

All of you who are tuning full time and doing a significant number of tunings per day, beware of repetitive stress injury! Take steps now before it's too late.

I've been tuning full time for around thirty years, and about a month ago I noticed my tuning hand giving me problems. After about the first or second tuning on a given day, the hand would start to ache and the "test blow" fingers would go numb at the fingertips. I'll be getting it checked out soon, but in the meantime I've cut back on the amount of tunings I'll do in a day.

Be careful.

All the best for a speedy resolution to your problem.

For what it's worth, I have been concerned about hearing loss and repetative stress since I began tuning 14 years ago. I use an open double unison, slow pull, soft blow technique with no test blows. I have passed the RPT stability exam with no test blows and had my hearing tested 10 years ago and this year; no significant change.

I highly recommend a slow pull, soft blow, open double unison technique for increased stability, precision, quicker tuning time, and less strain on muscles and hearing.

Loren D,I wish you a speedy recovery.
Regards, maxim_tuner

Loren,

Consider having a competent chiropractor look at you as well as an MD. Over the years, I've had similar issues and the occasional chiropractic visit has helped me.

Best wishes
-Joe

Agreed on the chirocraptic suggestion - it really helps to keep the spine aligned, it frees up the nerves and the muscles in the shoulder. Except I visit an osteopath - rougly the same idea but far more pragmatic in their approach, and usually a bit cheaper. They don't pretend to be able to cure all your problems, just the skeletomuscular!

Loren, best wishes for a full recovery.

Mark, I'd be interested to read what you mean by "open double unison". Could you elaborate? (PM by all means, if it's too far off-topic here.) Thanks!

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. Weird, considering I was never a "pounder." I seldom got above mf, but I always used the same two fingers for unisons. Thirty years of it took a toll, I guess.

I've been doing my tunings with both left and right hand the last few years just to spread out the stress and strain more evenly. This is good insurance against completely shutting down if you blow out a shoulder, get tennis elbow or something related. I'm very tall and there are some other issues related to this with tuning. 10 minutes of Tae Chi in the morning helps me prepare for the work really well also.

Chiro can help to fix you (usually temporarily - that is why most people go back again and again), but if your habits persist, so will your injury. We all need to become aware of our bad working/posture habits and change them.

If you plan to attend the PTG convention in Chicago, check out the seminars on the Alexander Technique.

I've used a key banger for unisons and test blows for many years. It's an old bass hammer glued to the end of a short dowel rod. Sometimes a change in tuning hammer helps. Mine have a ball end so I can change my wrist position. I use an extension hammer so I can vary the length to match the tightness of the pins.

At different times I've had shoulder, back, elbow, wrist, and finger pain, but none of it has lasted.

Loren, try changing your tuning hammer, and use a key banger for those test blows. Hope you heal fast. Make sure the arm rest in your car supports your arm as well. (that was an issue for me once)

Heal fast!

I have been tuning even longer, but I found early-on that I had to vary my methods, trying to use the lever with both hands, so as to reduce the abuse. In addition, however, I had to start using some stretching techniques to eliminate tenderness in my forearms and wrists.

One that particularly helps me is to grasp two fingers with the opposing hand and stretch them gently backwards - any combination of two fingers, then the next, etc., then do the other hand. Another is to hold out one hand, relaxed with palm up. Grasp that hand and twist the wrist slightly in one direction and then slightly in the other, while keeping the hand/wrist which is being twisted in a relaxed state. Do the same switching to the other hand.

My theory is that it helps circulate synovial fluid and keep tendons and ligaments from deformation. (But, hey, I'm just a quack on this.) These things helped. They became and ongoing habit, possibly because these therapeutic moves feel good to me.

You are right to immediately pay attention to your symptoms, but I do believe that some adjustments to your technique which shift the stress to other fingers and to the other side of your body will do the trick. Older bones and joints just don't take the pounding the way they once could.

Reedoose the Abyoose.

Spread the strain, reduce the pain.

Finally, Glucosamine/Chondroitin supposedly can really help finger joints and knees. My digestive system doesn't seem to like the pills, though.

Mark,

What do you mean by an open double unison?

Jim Ialeggio

Loren, which hand/arm are you having trouble with? I've recently started having a little pain in my left arm and shoulder which is my key-striking arm. I think of the tuning hand as my right side - the lever arm. Don't most people have shoulder problems on the tuning-lever side?

I thought my pain was non-tuning related but maybe not.

The key striking arm and hand, particularly the hand and fingers. Think of the repetitive motion of striking the keys, especially if you do a lot of tunings in a given day. I'm hoping with some therapy and stretching, it improves!

I've had some hand pain, and wondered whether it would get better simply by tuning aurally most of the time. For one thing, the machines enable us to do more tunings. I'm fairly confident that I would be doing less tuning without an ETD. I don't use it all the time, but enough. The other thing is that you end up striking single notes over and over. The hand is in basically the same position. Tuning aurally, you stretch out the hand to tune intervals. Just something to think about.

It's interesting that you said that, because what happened to me is just the opposite. An aural tuner all of my career, I now resort to using an ETD so I can tune using a hammer to strike the keys without playing intervals. Stretching my hand and actually using my fingers to play the keys really aggravates whatever's going on.

Interesting. We must have pain in different places. It sounds like you are already using a striker. I've tried one, and we don't get along that well. My discomfort is more in the right shoulder, neck, and elbow. The left side is less bothersome, but there. The best prescription is probably to just stop tuning for a while. But that's tough to do.

Can we go on sabbatical?

Roy, if you haven't already, consult an osteopath or a chiropractor. They won't be able to stop the pain and discomfort permanently, but they work they do does wonders to relieve it. I think treatment once or twice a month is definitely worth it, and can prevent more serious damage over time. They can also give advice about exercises to strengthen the necessary muscles to support your shoulder.

Works for me!

Sabbatical? - The Dolge Mansion awaits your arrival.