Minor Tendinitis and a Hangnail are forcing me to leave

[Siberian Husky]

For those of you with wrist injuries or those who ever experienced wrist injuries, how are you coping with it? Do you take anti-inflamatories and ice it? or just let the pain subside?...

i was diagnose with tendinitis back in may..and am still suffering from it...im trying to take 2 weeks off solid because i keep being ignorant to my injury and playing pieces i know i shouldnt and it seems to relapse and reinjure itself....

i myself take motrin on a daily basis and ice atleast 3 times a day..and wear a splint to sleep...tendons dont get much blood supply..so the healing process is a pregnant dog

[Kassaa]

Why aren't you going to a special center for Minor Tendinitis + Hangnail, where they can cure you. Maybe poetic guys will kiss you.

[Siberian Husky]

good ol pocorina joke lol...

no but seriously i'd like to hear from people who suffer from this..

PS: Siberian Husky casts level 60 silence on Kassaa

[BoliverAllmon]

I had tendonitis once. I just didn't play anything for a week or two. After that all was fine. Ice, massage, and motrin helped it recover.

[ted]

I cannot see that you would have to stop playing because of hangnails, but the whole trick is to remove them with nail clippers as closely as possible as soon as they show themselves. Don't push, pull, wiggle them or catch them on clothing. Once they tear the finger inside they are liable to become infected, and that really does stop you playing for a while. Mine usually occur on the third fingers for some reason but I'm pretty diligent these days and the last infected one I had was many years ago.

[c18cont]

I haven't done this in secrecy, but will at this time, as it may well have a bearing on your own, or anothers condition....,

I am 66 in the coming month of Sept...and have found upon returning to dedicated practice, that I am unable to maintain a schedule of more than an hour to two hours per day absolute max..(and two hours will "heat" up the wrists a bit...I am using proper technique, and very strongly believe I always have...I am simply older now...).

Even at that level I can very near lose my wrists....and I was at  three or more hours a day. I found it necessary to take off COMPLETELY for about two weeks. Note that this is after seeing a Dr, and upon the fact that I have ALWAYS played a half hour or more per day, of basic sacred material, and continued my whole life in church service...(I did use some cryotherapy )

I believe the rigours of advanced music and the required technique must be approached with caution as we age, as the problem is widespread, and, we might add, very bad also for flute, clarinet, violin etc. etc....All difficult finger movement is suspect, in my opinion, and deserves care....!

However, I would hope you would heal, and adjust. I personally, am afraid of Motrin, but I do very well with aspirin, so I haven't a problem there...I am certain you can make the necessaruy adjustment with a Dr, and perhaps The bright college prof guy whose name I can't remember right now will come on here and offer some support....

My Regards,   John  (P.S. You may now know who I am....but keep it dawk...)

[BoliverAllmon]

there are piano docs out there. Normal docs dont know enough to help usually.

[xvimbi]

I am suprised that anyone who has followed this forum for a while would still get injured...

Seriously, I've had a lot of problems with my hands, from various activities. I think the best one can do is to let it heal. Do not play through it. A lot of good pianists have ruined their career by trying to play through injuries. Use ice if you want to, but that's really only for when you have acute problems, such as after practicing, which you won't do anyway (I hope). Find a good doctor if it doesn't go away after a couple of weeks.

There is one more thing that is extremely important. Unfortunately, practically nobody does it: try to find out what gave you tendonitis in the first place. Throw that Hanon away, and analyze your movements to see if you can find the cause. Then, either retrain or avoid those movements.

[Siberian Husky]

ted, the hangnail thing was a joke to poke fun at the pocorina thread but i do indeed have tendinitis..your vast knowledge of hangnails leaves me wondering as to what miraculous advice you might have for common diarrhea...

but on a more serious note...its hard for me to completely stop playing for more than 1 day..this is my worste fault..i may need to strip myselff rom piano music completely so that i dont get urges it seems..

[xvimbi]

but on a more serious note...its hard for me to completely stop playing for more than 1 day..this is my worste fault..i may need to strip myselff rom piano music completely so that i dont get urges it seems..

Work on your pieces away from the piano and do mental practice. Read about composers, pianists, human anatomy; listen to recordings. Many people think injury time is wasted time. On the contrary. One can make it as productive or even more productive than normal practice time. That should not even be an attitude thing (like "if life gave you lemons, make lemonade"), because practice away from the piano should be a big part, if not even the bigger part, of playing the piano.

[c18cont]

Hi Friends,

Good to have the solid support of xvimbi on the need for caution. As for medical help, a good orthopedic surgeon is probably all most people need, but for professionals there are specialists..(Much like sports specialists... ) who indeed have worked with difficult cases....

Lets hope you won't need one, but for certain, moderation and proper technique are the key, and worth doing some research on, if you are in doubt...

Heal Quick! ....John

[donjuan]

For those of you with wrist injuries or those who ever experienced wrist injuries, how are you coping with it? Do you take anti-inflamatories and ice it? or just let the pain subside?...

lol dont go to that website we were discussing too often    give it time to relax believe me it's worth it! haha inside joke

You wont be able to practice well while you are suffering from an (smirk ) injured wrist, so yeah take it easy and see a ( chuckle) physio therapist for your problem.. Although my therapist didnt really help me out with mine.  Eventually, I decided to drop the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 and face the reality of the situation -that Im doing something wrong and things need to change.  Also talk to your piano teacher about the problem and maybe he/she can help pinpoint the cause.  If you find the cause, you may just be able to figure out the solution.  For me, the cause was rapid octaves and the solution was to drop the piece so it can heal and then learn to do the octaves correctly so the problem does not arise in the future.

Oh and Im sure xvimbi's on to something... Im just too lazy and/or dumb to actually think about practicing in such a physically intangible way.  Yeah, im pretty sure that would be dumb rather than lazy..

donjuan

[Barbosa-piano]

I "suffered" from a minor injury not long ago... My wrist would hurt, with the feeling of a cut, or something of the kind... I believe that I was injured while practicing Chopin's "Butterfly" Etude, because I felt similar pain while practicing that, and others of Chopin's Etudes.

 Mexican food is pretty good...

Sincerely,
Mario Barbosa

[Siberian Husky]

yeah i do physical therapy..and i should really take up xvimbi's advice and do some non hands on stuff..but its really hard..if i go over scores..listen to recordings..read about compsers..it really just inspires me ina  way that i eventually say "well i'll just tinker with the melody"..and i'll end up for hours...its a horrible mess...i should just spam this forum and keep myself away from the piano..by the time i get banned i should be good to go

[tds]

hmm, i like xvimbi's messages. and i think its so nice when good answers come so readily and relatively uncostly. i hope they r not overlooked (otherwise, try scotland.  )

btw, my message from long time ago ( reply 11 ): https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=d702a58e2e6131fafb59a3f4284eb3b1&topic=7311.msg97673
note: i wasnt in the mood of writing a novel then, so its prolly worth the 2 cents. all the best, tds

[xvimbi]

btw, my message from long time ago ( reply 11 ): https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=d702a58e2e6131fafb59a3f4284eb3b1&topic=7311.msg97673
note: i wasnt in the mood of writing a novel then, so its prolly worth the 2 cents. all the best, tds

Ha, I must have missed that thread.

Siberian_Husky, you are giving very good advice there, but could it be that you are not following your own advice

[c18cont]

Yess...he could well think it over,..but,

I confess I am not very good at taking my own advice either...Seems many of us fail in that...

John

[xvimbi]

Yess...he could well think it over,..but,

I confess I am not very good at taking my own advice either...Seems many of us fail in that...

I hear you! It is a lot easier to give advice than to follow it. Giving advice can be done from the cozy confines of a nice leather couch, whereas following it may actually require getting one's butt off of it

[rob47]

i guess i habve moderate issues with tension, but i'll tell wha helps.  If u feel tension up to your elbow on the underside of your arm just shoot around and driblle for like 45 minutes a day.

Loosens you right up.

and maybe you can get some game too.

[stevie]

i would think 'shooting and dribbling' is more likely the cause, and not the remedy

[rob47]

you would think. but it helps.

[Siberian Husky]

cant i just play NBA street hoops for sega genesis?

[xaos]

...ehm, at the risk of sounding stupid....whats a hangnail?

[stevie]

you would think. but it helps.

hahaha, it was a masturbation reference, disgusting.

[tds]

is siberian husky still alive? i heard someone was buried like few months ago. not sure if it was him.

btw, wudnt this be a sad story?: minor tendinitis, a hangnail, quit piano and die unnoticably

heh, get your butts here, hus!

[stevie]

tds, i think i just GOT your name. tedious, right?

[tds]

i know you've always been rite, stevie.

but sorry, wrong dis time! heh..

anymore guesses?

ok, me turn now: are you like, like...real? i mean, i mean,... u know

teach me some british words.

[pianistimo]

tea darling?  sevouplait?  just a guess. 

or 'to my dear sister' (chopin is the only one who ever said that).

tyrannisaurus damage strings

just a few guesses.


siberian husky,  do as everyone says.  take two weeks off.  keep ur fingernails long on purpose so that playing the piano is difficult.  not worth having surgery if u don't need it.  are you doing other things too much.  like gaming.  my son is now having a bit of carpel tunnels and i tell him 'quit gaming so much.'  does he listen?  of course, obsessing about things makes him do it more - so i pretend he's fine.

stop typing at the keyboard for two weeks, too.  go outside and go for those long hikes u do with the dogs.  there's this stuff called 'tiger balm' at the health food store.  it's like that hot/cold stuff - but better, imo.  rub it into ur hands and arms.  relax. read a book.

[crazy for ivan moravec]

i injured my hand once, on the right side of my left wrist. it's that tendon which connects to the thumb.

what caused it:
OPEN FINGERS (warning, while some believe in its benefits, it is extremely injurious to do so much at a time).

when i started to feel the pain/when it got injured:
the same day i worked on that mozart sonata open fingers for a good hour. i thought it was just one of those "pains". actually any pain is never good. i would terribly feel the pain in the morning when i wake up. and it has this clicking sensation, i'd have to "click" to get it flexible. cold season is its worst enemy, it happened in october towards december.

stupid me:
i played a full 1 hour recital program a week after it happened... but the pain was really there, i just couldn't cancel. then i played a rachmaninoff etude (D op. 39 no. 9) in november. it just worsened the injury, i guess.

recovery period:
December to April. i had to take a leave from school coz i got so depressed, i felt like a bum. i went home to my province in february to take a real break. i brought all my scores, cds, music history books, and stuff. i must say it was a really productive period of time till april. i also had it rehabilitated, like 3 times a week. Physical therapists would do lots of stuff to it like brush it with hot wax, put gel on it and massage it with gadgets that i had no idea what they were. and every time i would get out of the rehab center, they would put a temporary splint using leukoplast, around the thumb to have it stay on its natural position and avoid much movement. they would change it every time i go there for rehab.

stupid me again:
i went to a shop where they have great new models of the Clavinova. so here comes the hungry pianist, sat down and played through an hour trying out the digital pianos! sheesh. and guess what, i was on the last 2 weeks of rehab which was a period of total-splint. no movement whatsoever! so after that afternoon of good fun (actually, it felt ok... but doctor's orders!!!), i had to restart 2 weeks of total-splint period.

after those 2 last weeks, i took it off, voila!!! no pain! but i could feel the limitations of its movements... i knew i couldn't just get it back to work like nothing ever happened! so i slowly trained it again. about 2 months of careful practice. this period taught me a lot about relaxation and be conscious about injurious techniques. there was no choice but to learn the proper technique because i felt the injury is just behind the bushes waiting for it to strike again. i read a lot about it technique and never moved my hands in any way that would feel the slightest pain. (the next months after i healed i would then learn suggestion diabolique, hahaha!)

tendinitis:
when your tendons swell due to overuse (my case), or trauma (sudden breaking of it in an accident) it will surely be tendonitis. this is different from carpal tunnel. the latter deals with nerves. tendonitis is the swelling of the tendons. it heals slower due to lack of blood flow. and tendons naturally are prone to injury because of its constant sliding in and out when fingers move. friction. that's why i consider piano playing never natural at all for the body, or any sport. BUT we deal with its nature by simply avoiding injuries, nothing we can do. we love making music!

once it swells, the BONE starts swelling too. it adjusts to the size of the tendon. now this is the bad part, if it's not treated right away, the swelling of the bone can become permanent (while tendons may come back to normal over a period of rest). once the bone swelling is permanent, you are now MORE prone to tendonitis. that's why they say that once you have it, it will always be there, injury becomes more frequent every time, unless the bone doesn't swell enough to become permanent. it's the same principle with those who have arthritis. their joints remain deformed or big because the bone adjusts to the swelling (dont know why). btw, this is also the cause of the "clicking" every time i woke up in the morning.

so once you hurt yourself badly, have it checked right away and treat it to avoid this. besides the rehabilitation i went through, i would soak it in hot water for 15 minutes twice a day, and apply novartis anti-inflammatory, non-steriodal oinment. some medications, anti-inflamatories, etc. TOTAL REST and TIME are THE BEST CURE though.

after that, never felt pain again, hopefully forever.

[zheer]

  I had a small lump on my right wrist after going to the gym and lifting too much weight , but thats gon away know, so i would not stop playing the piano because of minor Tendintis.

[pathetiquegirl]

i had tendinitis too.  i went to the doctor and they stuck my hands in a bowl of water and put a sound wave machine in there in message the muscles.  also i used some stuff called "healing ace".  worked really good. 

sorry to hear that you have it.

path

[tds]

tyrannisaurus damage strings

whoa, close...close

[Siberian Husky]

lol what the hell is this?

my tendinitis went away a year ago...

bumpin ancient threads is pretty sweet

[gilad]

i get it in my thumbs. my grandfather was a pianist and had both his thumb tendons operated on when he was 60. so i can where i got it from.