Piano World Home Page Forums Restricted and Archives The Coffee Room Pain...Should I be worried?

For a whole week now, I have been experiancing pain in my left foot. It feels like the pain is in one of my bones. I keep telling my dad about it, and he keeps saying that its nothing to worry about. Although the pain has considerably let up since early yesterday, and now I can barley feel it, I am still worried. Last year, a friend of mine at school died from cancer. When she was diagnosed with it, one of her symptons was a recourring pain in one of the bones in her right arm, so you can see why I'm worried. I don't know if I just did something to it and didn't realize it or what, but if the pain does come back, I'm going to have to see a doctor. So, should I be worried, or am I over-reacting over nothing? Thanks in advance for your advice.

I propose that the formulation of a plan will go a long way toward easing your fears.

If it were me, I would make a plan to consult a doctor if the pain returns, or if it continues for another week.

Until then, no worries!

Hi jgoo,

I'm not a doctor, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express, last night.


In all seriousness, it sounds like you may be having the pain originate in the flexor tendons of the metatarsals, and that's just a wild guess. The foot pain can originate from poorly fitting shoes, flexion stress from a good game of basketball, or maybe even a lot of "expressive" pedaling on your piano.

Change up your routine a bit, refrain from vigorous physical activities, take a few acetaminophen or ibuprofen according to the bottle directions, and see if the pain disappears. If it doesn't after another few days, I would encourage Dad to make you an appointment with a physician, preferably an orthopedist.

And don't worry about dire illness. The chances of it being something like your friend had is quite remote. Get well soon!

I'm not an MD, but I am a DVM. So, if you are an animal in disguise, then we're all set! What kind of shoes do you wear? Do they have good arch supports? You don't play the piano barefoot, do you? Seems to me, Kenny strained his foot awhile back while trying to keep the pedals on his new piano clean - (he was playing without shoes on) Seriously, tincture of time is usually the best medicine, if your foot isn't any better in a week, go and see your doctor. Until then, take it easy - no rock climbing without your shoes on! Jodi

And use shorter nails on those shoes.

We still have the red "slippers" on our pedals to keep them clean. I suppose that's the piano version of plastic carpet runners, eh? I love to play barefoot. So I play in socks or slippers.

penny

Thanks all, for your advice. If the pain comes back like it did, I will see a doctor. It was so bad that I could barely walk for a couple of days after it came without feeling intense pain, but I either got used to it or it started to go away. Right now it in a come-go state. But, the pain isn't near as bad as it was, so maybe I was just over-reacting over nothing.
As for playing the piano w/o shoes, the answer is yes and no. It all depends on wheather or not I'm wearing my shoes when I sit down to play. If I'm not, I'm not going to put them on just to play the piano. I usually have my shoes off when I know that I'm not going to be leaving home for a while. Theres really no point in leaving them on if that is so.

I'll have to admit - I'm one of those who plays the piano with bare feet or socks. We were not allowed to wear shoes in the house so I had gotten used to playing without shoes. Of course, whenever I played the piano outside of my house, since people couldn't see if I had shoes or not, I usually slipped them off. Now of course, if I get the chance to play a grand piano, I guess I won't be able to get away with hiding the stocking'd feet now, would I?

jgoo: Have you tried icing your foot. Apply an ice pack to your foot for no more then 20 minutes and then leave it off for two hours or more before you ice it again. You should wear a really good supportive shoe for a while and like everyone else said stay off it. With any injury if you don't feel better within 3 to 4 days you probably aren't giving yourself enough time to heal. I am asuming you might have injured it and not even realized it (which by the way is an easy thing to do). Anyway, as others said don't worry about it too much unless you just can't shake it. Most doctors are going to tell you to stay off it for two weeks and see what happens. Hope that helps. Just to let you know my experience with foot injuries comes from working with high school runners for 10 years. Allie