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.
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Topic: Minor Tendinitis and a Hangnail are forcing me to leave (Read 3093 times)