Stretching Safely

[steve jones]

Hi all,

Its recently come to my attention that my current reach may be some what limiting. Im interested in finding out what my max reach potential is, and how I can achieve it safely. I do not want to injure myself! If its not possible to extend my reach safely then I will not try.

Ok, tonight I warmed my hands up with some scales and began stretching to find my current max reach. I can reach a 9th with comfort. I can reach a 10th, but it is with such a stretch that I couldnt pull it off in a piece.

Since I have never practiced any stretching exercises, and have been playing the piano for under a year - I suspect that I may benefit maginally from the correct flexibility training. I would LOVE to be able to hit that tenth, but I wont injure myself trying.

Does anyone know of how best to go about this? Any safe training methods?

Thanks!

Steve J

[xvimbi]

I would recommend you don't do anything. Just keep on playing. The span will get naturally greater until it reaches its maximum. If you want to do stretching exercises, make sure to stretch at the wrist. The hand span is determined by the range of motion at the joints where the fingers meet the wrist. The maximum handspan is when pinky and thumb form a straight line. Beyond that, there is nothing you can do.

[steve jones]

Thanks xvimbi,

Thats actually quite encouraging. With my hand flat on a table, my 1 and 5 are nowhere near a straight line. More like 110 degrees. If you think that throught practice this may improve, then I will not risk hazardous stretching exercises.

I did wonder about this, because my hands arent particularly small. I can reach an octave (just) with 1 and 2, a ninth with 1 and 3...

Surely I should be able to get to that tenths! What do you reckon?

Cheers!