Piano Hands are Valuable! How pros treat their hands!

[invictus]

Have you seen how professional pianists treat their hands? They are like the most important thing in their whole life

No cooking, go get the helper to do it

No playing ball, watch it

No Gameboy

Put them in latex gloves to prevent contamination of CO (bah)

At sleep, don't sleep on them, put them in golden framed gold cases, put in a ventilation tube to let air flow from a specially made tank

$1000 tubes of lotion to keep hand in condition

Constant finger exercise

If finger pain, goes into ER, of course, the helper drives and opens the door

If fingernails needed trimming, goes to see those super world wide famous things 4000 miles away from home

Puts on billion dollar insurance on fingers and hands

And forearms too!

Helper sets up grand piano for them

Specially designed pen and pencil for the pianist

NO SCISSORS

NO KNIVES EITHER

will come up with more later

[bon_bear]

  Ha..i agree with some of the things...cuz they do put heavy insurance on their hands...but do they really "put them in nice golden cases during sleep?!" I mean... ? and besides, sometimes, the more you try to keep your "limbs" out of danger...you actually have more chances of meetin it...you know wat i mean? heh...
Elizabear

[Siberian Husky]

these are all jokes right?

[perfect_pitch]

Ona serious note... Who here cracks their knuckles???

I wouldn't. Seriously.... Friend of mine who was 18 years old got mild arthritis because she would crack her knuckles several times every day.   

[sportsmonster]

when i practice all the time on the piano......the possible of getting problems with your fingers is big. (specially infections in scenes and joints and things like that) and the possible for cronical problems.

so i wear gloves very often to ceep up the sirculation in my hands to make shure they are in good shape and rested out for next practice.  i dont play with rubics cube and stuff like that.....because it wears out my fingers.

i hope im not one of those crazy people mentioned above....
but my hands mean a lot to me ....cant help it

[leahcim]

I wouldn't. Seriously.... Friend of mine who was 18 years old got mild arthritis because she would crack her knuckles several times every day.   

I doubt that was the cause.

[zheer]

I have broken bricks , chunks of wood with my hand, i have punched through my front door, i have been in seroius street fights when in secondary school and early college years since i was a senoir gang member. I have had amature kick boxing fights, bracking bricks was a club and gang requirement + 30 jumping press ups on my nuckle was my daily routine as a gang member etc etc. I have hands that can still play the piano infact i have never broken a finger. Touch wood.

[prometheus]

Cracking knuckles doesn't cause arthritis. I once saw a joint expert being interviewed about this 'myth' and she said it may even be good and that it is surely not bad.



I guess this friend is cracking his knuckles because he has arthritis.

[xvimbi]

Cracking knuckles doesn't cause arthritis. I once saw a joint expert being interviewed about this 'myth' and she said it may even be good and that it is surely not bad.

For every 'expert' that says one thing, there can be found another 'expert' who says the opposite.

(I should get this statement copy-write-protected )

Well, the statement doesn't apply to everything, but to a lot of things, the knuckle-cracking being one of them.

[alzado]

This reminds me of a particularly funny episode from the old TV show, Get Smart.

They found some old bird with a heavy Russian accent to play the concert pianist.  Every time Max Smart tries to touch this man, or shake his hands, the guy hollers,

"DON'T TOUCH MY HANDS ! ! ! ! "

It gets absurd after a while.

I do anything I want with my own hands, including running with scissors.

Of course, I am just a mediocre pianist, so no one cares.

[sportsmonster]

hey.....then maybee i need to stop sucking my thomb....and picking my nose with my littlefinger.

and i need to stop squeezing my teddybear too hard.





(i think that was a joke)

[prometheus]

Well, the statement doesn't apply to everything, but to a lot of things, the knuckle-cracking being one of them.

I thought you were a scientist. And when I say 'expert' I am not lying.

When I say expert I mean a doctor specialised in joints. I have always wondered about this story. But I have never heard an expert or 'expert' claim it is bad and why it is bad.

This joint specialist said that cracking the knuckles helps the joint fluid spread better through the joint so in that way it may even be good. Apperently there is no sign of it being bad. So why should I assume that? And why should I assume as a total laymen that this person doesn't know what she is talking about and that I can find just as much joint specialists claiming the total opposite? Well, you have a nice time applying your plagiarized statement to science and everything else.

[tompilk]

Have you seen how professional pianists treat their hands? They are like the most important thing in their whole life

Err... yes... quite understandable.
On a serious note, this is one funny thread... hehehe...

[sportsmonster]

i never wash my hands,
because then i get a better grip on the piano.

it is best to never wash your hands.
(dirty soil from outside is reccomended)

[rc]

i hope im not one of those crazy people mentioned above....
but my hands mean a lot to me ....cant help it

No, you're not like those crazy people... You can't afford to do those things!

[thalbergmad]

I always refuse to do the washing up as the suds are bad for my hands.

[sportsmonster]

as we put food in the refrigerator, you can aslo refrigerate your hands and fingers and your hand wil last longer and not go out of date. fingers are best for refrigeration between 16-18 degrees in the mornings. 20 degrees(room temprature) in the evenings.
 

[vladhorwz]

I thought you were a scientist. And when I say 'expert' I am not lying.

When I say expert I mean a doctor specialised in joints. I have always wondered about this story. But I have never heard an expert or 'expert' claim it is bad and why it is bad.

This joint specialist said that cracking the knuckles helps the joint fluid spread better through the joint so in that way it may even be good. Apperently there is no sign of it being bad. So why should I assume that? And why should I assume as a total laymen that this person doesn't know what she is talking about and that I can find just as much joint specialists claiming the total opposite? Well, you have a nice time applying your plagiarized statement to science and everything else.

You are both right.  "popping" your knuckles can either be good or bad for you depending on how its done.  If you distract your finger (as if you were pulling it off), what you are doing is increasing the volume in the joint....Perfect Gas law PV = nRT.  We know  nRT will remain the same, increase volume the pressure must decrease, thus it does and gas comes out of your joint fluid.  It asssists in breaking up scar tissue and improves mobility in the joint.  Not necessarily bad for most people's finger joints (assuming they are not hypermobile to begin with).

Making a fist and curling your fingers downward with the palm of your hand or interlocking your fingers and hyperextending them is bad for those joints and can increase the risk of arthritis.  This is because you are GRINDING joint surfaces together....bad. 

[leahcim]

For every 'expert' that says one thing, there can be found another 'expert' who says the opposite.

Perhaps, but smoking causes cancer pretty much unarguably these days - but if an 18yo gets mild cancer it's highly unlikely that it would be attributed to the fact she smoked a few cigerettes behind the bike sheds or even if she'd smoked for a few years.

The reason smoking had decades of experts arguing about it, aside from the large amount of money thrown at one side that was very interested in it not being the cause, is because unlike something like, say, drinking bleach where it's difficult to argue, the effects are pretty long-term.

"Smoking causes cancer" doesn't mean you'll get cancer a week after starting, nor even 5 years. I think even the old wives that have told me for years that cracking my fingers means I'll get arthritis weren't talking about getting it within 10 minutes of them telling me

I'd accept that cracking the knuckles might injure your hands though - but it's a bit of a truism - indeed, contrary to popular things you've said and (c) before, I think you can injure your hands playing piano correctly or doing anything with your hands correctly - it's less likely than if you do it  incorrectly but it's a possibility. So yeah, you can injure yourself in a variety of ways - OTOH, specific injuries can be attributed to specific bad habits - those injuries are far less likely to occur unless you are doing something over and over that leads to it.

I could see someone going around old people's homes looking for a correlation between knuckle-crackers and arthritis sufferers either will or won't find one [although aiui, when they have done that, they haven't found one]

But the idea that cracking your knuckles has a short-term effect like inducing mild arthritus in kids seems very dubious.

[invictus]

Nownow, listen to the yr 14 speak:

The cracks from your knuckles, when you crack 'em, this is 'usually' due to nitrogen bubbles formed at the joint, which explains you can crack your knees and ankles. When you crack them, it is actually the sound of the bubbles bursting, so there you go, the correlation between knuckle crackers and arthiritis sufferers are not clear yet, as the R value is pretty much smaller than 1 (statistics studiers would know this) but one thing is proven is that it does make your joints swollen, but the effects are not yet clear

[leahcim]

Nownow, listen to the yr 14 speak:

Never heard of yr14, I thought everyone used google

[perfect_pitch]

Nah... she was told by a physiotherapist that it was because of cracking her fingers that she was experiencing the arthritis.

But then again - You have half the doctors will tell you that cracking your fingers is bad... the other half will tell you it won't do anything. I haven't done it at all, and it suits me best. I don't have any problems....

[BoliverAllmon]

most doctors are crack docs.

[Jacey1973]

i never wash my hands,
because then i get a better grip on the piano.

it is best to never wash your hands.
(dirty soil from outside is reccomended)

Even after you've been to the toilet??! Ewwwww!! I'm the opposite i always wash my hands before playing because they feel horrible otherwise! Can you imagine how many germs there must be on pianos in music colleges - think about how many ppl play the same keys each day!!

*goes and buys an anti-bacterial spray for practise!* lol

[xvimbi]

I thought you were a scientist. And when I say 'expert' I am not lying.

When I say expert I mean a doctor specialised in joints. I have always wondered about this story. But I have never heard an expert or 'expert' claim it is bad and why it is bad.

This joint specialist said that cracking the knuckles helps the joint fluid spread better through the joint so in that way it may even be good. Apperently there is no sign of it being bad. So why should I assume that? And why should I assume as a total laymen that this person doesn't know what she is talking about and that I can find just as much joint specialists claiming the total opposite? Well, you have a nice time applying your plagiarized statement to science and everything else.

It's hilarious how you keep attacking me personally, instead of the arguments in the discussion at hand

Anyway, it has indeed been claimed as a result of medical studies that knuckle-cracking may be "bad". Although it is usually asked whether knuckle-cracking can cause arthritis, there are potential other "bad" consequences. Check out: https://elfstrom.com/arthritis/knuckle-cracking.html, where you can find references to 'experts' who say knuckle-cracking may be "bad" and should be discouraged. One of the potentially bad consequences is the increase in the space around joints. This leads overall to more flexibility in the joints. One could see that as beneficial for playing the piano, but at some point there is danger, because in order to span the increased joint, tendons and surrounding tissues have to adapt, which they will do very reluctantly. The result is that one loses some control over the movements around that joint, which is not beneficial for playing the piano.

As far as I can see, the question whether habitual knuckle-cracking is bad, and under what circumstances, has not been answered yet. But don't take my word for it. I'm sure you won't.

[paris]

my teacher doesn't allow me playing sports such as handball, volleyball, tennis...i'm not allowed to go ice skating nor skiing neither. its not that she strictly prohibited ice skating but everytime i want to go with friends she spends fair amount of time to persuade me not to go.
besides, she is freaked by my agnails. once on pre-competition warming up my agnail started bleeding while i was played rachmaninoff etude...gosh she was really pissed off and worried. and she always keeps manicuring set in her purse cos i'm always forgetting it.   
 i'm not very fobic but i'm aware of my hands and i'm treating them with more caution then the rest of my body.

[zheer]

I think more people damage their hand playing the piano, than away from the piano.

[perfect_pitch]

Even after you've been to the toilet??! Ewwwww!! I'm the opposite i always wash my hands before playing because they feel horrible otherwise! Can you imagine how many germs there must be on pianos in music colleges - think about how many ppl play the same keys each day!!

*goes and buys an anti-bacterial spray for practise!* lol

Thank you for that... I was trying not to think about it.... [MUST WASH HANDS - GERMS WILL GET ME....MUST WASH HANDS - GERMS WILL GET ME....  MUST WASH...]

 

[pianistimo]

guess i'm concerned about all my joints, so i advise putting olive oil in everything and using it as a substitute for butter whenever possible.  my favorite thing with olive oil is to use it as a bread dip.  olive oil with sun dried tomatoes and garlic.  so far, i think it's helping.