Wrist Pain

While practicing today, I started getting a sharp pain in my right wrist. I stopped playing immediately. There's still a dull ache just where the wrist meets the large thumb muscle. I am typing this with one hand, which necessity rather frightens me. I'd rather not have to be known as 'Hand'. Does anyone else have experience with this?

And no, I didn't get wrist pain from the activity mentioned herein. I distinctly remember using the other hand...

Which instrument?

Right, I'm an idiot. Piano. The piano man requires lots of scales and things. And he is intimidatingly awesome. I've read about carpal tunnel and brachial tunnel stuff, and of course Leon Fleisher. It's all kind of scary.

Sounds like you're overdoing it. Take it easier and don't forget the warm ups. Massage your pained hand with a little olive oil or something. Get into the habit of relaxing your hands completely for a few moments while at the keyboard.

:P

Thank you. A massage with olive oil sounds lovely. The funny thing is, I was reading about relaxation and good technique this morning, and was trying a bit of it. I was trying to be very conscious of the level of tension in my shoulders, and to reduce it. And the bit about moving the fingers from the palm, and not with wrist rotation. I'm fairly sure it's all correct, since Yehudi Menuhin wrote the preface, and he's had a fairly long, successful career. I guess my wrist is just pitching a fit because of all that weight training I have perpetrated on it, at the behest of Professor Reichert.

I usually find that washing your hands with really warm water helps to loosen up the muscles greatly, that's my technique I use before I play. And stretches help too, although I have unusually elasticlike hands that I really don't need to stretch much.

Anyway Hands, hope your wrist feels better:)

Thank you. I'm sure it will work out fine. It's faded away, now there's just some unhappy tension in there.

I heard Glenn Gould did that before his concerts. But he didn't warm up, crazy mofo. Anyway, I will definitely do that in the Performing Arts Center's bathroom, to whatever degree I can manage.

I've heard of people with unusually loose cartilage who can play really complex fugues easily, but who have a lot of difficulty with power. Perhaps that's you, I don't know. But I know I'm about the opposite of that.

That happened to me once in high school. I was playing a fast piece with a lot of jumps and actually popped my wrist. Hurt like hell. I practiced 8 hours a day in high school, now I can barely play at all because of my wrists. I have carpal and ulnar tunnel syndrome. Be sure to stretch your fingers and wrists before playing, and don't over do it if it hurts. The massage that montpellier was talking about would probably help too. :( Hope you feel better soon!

The massage that montpellier was talking about would probably help too. :)

Hmmmm....is that an offer?:)

Carpal tunnel and ulnar tunnel? Man. I'm pretty sure that means compressed nerves in the wrist, and especially on the pinky side. I can't imagine hearing my wrist pop...I would probably pass out. But I've never even approached eight hours. I might have done six or so, but that was the last day before my first recital, which was really scary.

As far as this being related to repetoire....not likely. I do have a piece with a lot of jumps, but that's Chopin's Nocturne in Eb, and they're mostly in the left hand. Whateva. There are remedies for tunnel syndromes, aren't there?

Thank you. I'm sure it will work out fine. It's faded away, now there's just some unhappy tension in there.

I've heard of people with unusually loose cartilage who can play really complex fugues easily, but who have a lot of difficulty with power. Perhaps that's you, I don't know. But I know I'm about the opposite of that.

Well I don't really have a problem with power, I have broken strings before because I struck them WAY too hard. But I can bend all my fingers except my thumb past a 90 degree angle backwards without any trouble. the largest interval I can reach on piano is a Major 9th, but on violin I haven't really tryed it, but I can reach a ninth without much trouble on guitar. glad to hear it's feeling better:)

All the best

the largest interval I can reach on piano is a Major 9th, but on violin I haven't really tryed it, but I can reach a ninth without much trouble on guitar. glad to hear it's feeling better:)

I'm up to a major 11th on piano on a good day. It does make my hands hurt to play large intervals a lot, but as of yet nothing else has caused pain.

I'm up to a major 11th on piano on a good day. It does make my hands hurt to play large intervals a lot, but as of yet nothing else has caused pain.

on a good day meaning when your hands are all strecthed out and loose and such? but an 11th's pretty good in my opinion, do you play much Liszt?

on a good day meaning when your hands are all strecthed out and loose and such? but an 11th's pretty good in my opinion, do you play much Liszt?

Yeah. I don't stretch or do much warmups now, because I'm not a very serious piano player yet and frankly have seen no benefit.

I do not do much Liszt, but have attempted some of Rachmaninoff's works that have some large intervals. Prelude in C# Minor, I believe, was just on the edge of my range at times, assuming it's the piece I'm thinking of.

Rach isn't bad at all John, I can't play piano at all, I use the intervals associated with piano because pretty much everyone knows them and how far each one is. Or a basic idea of how far it strecthes.

Hmmmm....is that an offer?

Carpal tunnel and ulnar tunnel? Man. I'm pretty sure that means compressed nerves in the wrist, and especially on the pinky side. I can't imagine hearing my wrist pop...I would probably pass out. But I've never even approached eight hours. I might have done six or so, but that was the last day before my first recital, which was really scary.

As far as this being related to repetoire....not likely. I do have a piece with a lot of jumps, but that's Chopin's Nocturne in Eb, and they're mostly in the left hand. Whateva. There are remedies for tunnel syndromes, aren't there?

Uh, no :D lol

Yeah, the nerve is compressed in the wrist and elbow on my left hand, my pinky and ring fingers are pretty much numb when it acts up. My right wrist is a different story. Bad karate injury from when I was a kid. I was running and doing a flying side kick over a bar, slipped on the wood floor, landed on the palm of the hand, hyper extended it back and the top of my hand touched my forearm. Yeah, that hurt. If I move it a certain way now, it pops. Really gross, I creep my friends out with it :D Since I also do a lot of typing and played piano so much, now I have carpal tunnel in that hand on top of it! My left one is a mystery. I was watching TV one night, my hand fell alseep and never woke up ;) I also get strange burning and tingling on the top of the hand, and sharp pain in the elbow and shoulder.

Wrist problems suck! :P

Uh, no :P lol

Yeah, the nerve is compressed in the wrist and elbow on my left hand, my pinky and ring fingers are pretty much numb when it acts up. My right wrist is a different story. Bad karate injury from when I was a kid. I was running and doing a flying side kick over a bar, slipped on the wood floor, landed on the palm of the hand, hyper extended it back and the top of my hand touched my forearm. Yeah, that hurt. If I move it a certain way now, it pops. Really gross, I creep my friends out with it :D Since I also do a lot of typing and played piano so much, now I have carpal tunnel in that hand on top of it! My left one is a mystery. I was watching TV one night, my hand fell alseep and never woke up :P I also get strange burning and tingling on the top of the hand, and sharp pain in the elbow and shoulder.

Wrist problems suck! :P

I can do almost the same thing with my middle finger, I can pop it continuosly without ever need to stop, sort of like snapping my fingers. one of my friends once said, dude, you got some freaky fingers.

yeah...

your hand actually burns?

weird...

Uh, no :( lol

Yeah, the nerve is compressed in the wrist and elbow on my left hand, my pinky and ring fingers are pretty much numb when it acts up. My right wrist is a different story. Bad karate injury from when I was a kid. I was running and doing a flying side kick over a bar, slipped on the wood floor, landed on the palm of the hand, hyper extended it back and the top of my hand touched my forearm. Yeah, that hurt. If I move it a certain way now, it pops. Really gross, I creep my friends out with it :D Since I also do a lot of typing and played piano so much, now I have carpal tunnel in that hand on top of it! My left one is a mystery. I was watching TV one night, my hand fell alseep and never woke up :) I also get strange burning and tingling on the top of the hand, and sharp pain in the elbow and shoulder.

Wrist problems suck! :w00t:

Wow. Landing on your hand like that? I'd probably cry like a three-year-old. I imagine you moved all the bones in your wrist, permanently. Incredible.

I woke up in the middle of the night last night with a pain radiating down my left arm. I felt it was safe to rule out a heart attack. It went away, and I fell back asleep. Stupid arms. With their stupid muscles. And stupid tendons. And integumentary tissues whose intelligence I question. I'm being very careful now. The Reichert-person has told me to move my arms more to get a good legato, and that helps with the wrist stiffness and ache. Haven't had much recently, apart from last night. Maybe it's because I play Reichert's Steinway more frequently...

Wow. Landing on your hand like that? I'd probably cry like a three-year-old. I imagine you moved all the bones in your wrist, permanently. Incredible.

I woke up in the middle of the night last night with a pain radiating down my left arm. I felt it was safe to rule out a heart attack. It went away, and I fell back asleep. Stupid arms. With their stupid muscles. And stupid tendons. And integumentary tissues whose intelligence I question. I'm being very careful now. The Reichert-person has told me to move my arms more to get a good legato, and that helps with the wrist stiffness and ache. Haven't had much recently, apart from last night. Maybe it's because I play Reichert's Steinway more frequently...

could be tendinitis, you might want to get it checked out

Most likely carpal tunnel.

By the way, it seems surreal to have someone with the name "Hands" complaining of wrist pain... the wrist isn't part of the hand, y'know...

Yeah, that definitely sounds like carpal tunnel.

Believe it or not, although I was only 11 years old, I did not cry from that injury. I got up and went to the back of the line to try again and my mom actually came on the floor and pulled me out of class :toothygrin:

Yeah, that definitely sounds like carpal tunnel.

Believe it or not, although I was only 11 years old, I did not cry from that injury. I got up and went to the back of the line to try again and my mom actually came on the floor and pulled me out of class :toothygrin:

scraggy. Carpal tunnel? Not cool. Seriously. There are treatments, I'm sure? At least before it becomes long-term?

If you want crazy injuries, try landing with your entire body weight on a jagged metal pole in your jaw. Not fun. Only ten stitches, surprisingly.

Come to think of it, carpal tunnel would be lessened by inactivity, no?

There are treatments, surgeries if it is really bad. I read on WebMD that ice helps...but that is for my problem, ulnar tunnel. It would proabably work for carpal tunnel. Get a brace to wear at night to keep it from moving. Stretching helps too.

Yeah, a metal pole to the jaw sounds very painful. :toothygrin: I landed with all of my body weight on my right ankle, that was not to comfortable either lol

Yeah, I made sure to sleep last night with my arm in as neutral a position as I could manage. I have a book with some musician-specific stretches in it. I shall do those.

I rolled both of my ankles. Never got them wrapped. Ankles = weak, now. My left one still turns in why I extend it all the way. It was the size of a grapefruit. Badness.

You should be a rock organist. Play always in Eb. Just slap the black keys when the tunnelness bothers you. Cool.:thumbsup:

Uh, no ;) lol

I have carpal tunnel in that hand on top of it! My left one is a mystery. I was watching TV one night, my hand fell alseep and never woke up ;) I also get strange burning and tingling on the top of the hand, and sharp pain in the elbow and shoulder.

Wrist problems suck! ;)

that HAPPENS to me! my two fingers away from my thumb, fall asleep all the time, for no reason. It could be nerves. my brother probably wrecked them with a door last week. it hurts to touch my elbow now.

it can turn my wrist and it'll crack each time. it's kinda weird. but it's fun. i have to turn it a bit every now and then or it'll kinda seize up.

Whoa. Nasty. Sounds more like a carpenter's hands, or one of those weird kids from high school.