Pain in the scapula region

[drooxy]

Hi everyone,

I am now having a pain in the right scapula region after one hour being at the piano... I have been trying to determine what was bad in my posture but cannot seem to figure it out...

Any suggestion ?

Thanks !
Drooxy

[gorbee natcase]

That sounds rude

Only kidding I think I know where you are coming from as I have experienced pain in my shoulder when practicing, it is usualy down to tencing up and the reason is because I am focusing to hard on the music and not on my general condition. You have to be aware of how your body is at all times as tention creeps up on you slowly without you realising.




 

[sleepingcats]

I've had the same problem and have had physical therapy because of the muscle knots in the medial scapula region. I have some knots near the top of the scapula between my neck and shoulder as well. 

Do you jut your head forward?  Do you arch your lower back when you play?  I did and sometimes still do both, and it causes misalignment of your entire spine, leading to improper use of the whole body. I also have to do exercises to strengthen my shoulder muscles because I overuse my neck muscles.

I still have problems because it's hard to remember to fix everything at once, but at least I know the source and some solutions.

[aryantes]

I actually have the same pain, in my right shoulder blade.

I told my teacher about it and he said that it is not normal of pianists to get pain in that region. It didn't hurt 'that' much it just felt like it was straining a little bit.

He watched my shoulders during my lesson and found out what it was.

Whenever I reached toward the lower octaves my upper body would lean left instead of moving my whole torso. I just kind of tilt over. As a result, my right arm would stretch a little more. My right elbow ends up a little bit higher than my left elbow, in relation to the ground.

Not sure if I described that very well though. My right shoulder would be higher than my left shoulder when I play low octaves and it ended up straining a bit. Now, I move by moving my lower torso, supposedly the right way, so that the arms stay parallel.

Hope that helps some, it fixes it for me but I still have to break my old habits.

Most likely, your posture is correct when sitting at middle C.

[drooxy]

Thanks for all your interesting answers !

Aryantes, your answer seems very related to my problem: I have been experiencing that pain for a couple of weeks... and reading your answer, I realize that it more or less corresponds to the time when I started to work on a part of a piece that goes by low octaves at the left hand...

So... I might have to make sure I move my whole torso as you say, either on the left, or maybe just forward as the intervals between the left and right hand are pretty large...

Again, thank you !

Drooxy

[aryantes]

No problem!

I actually get a little bit more strain if my right hand is playing a melody thats pretty high and my left hand is playing low octave chords or something.

My emphasis goes into the left arm holding finger positions and such so my right hand is more freely moving. However, this makes it so that naturally my body leans left slightly and my right arm is more outstretched.

There's a symmetry there that I'm not getting hehe.

I've been dealing with this for a few weeks and I can also feel it when I use the mouse on the computer and such. its not bad, just i always know its there.

[totallyclassics]

I have experienced the same pain and also on the right  medial scapula side.   I figured out what was causing mine though. Yes!  perhaps a cure!  The piano bench was too low.  Try to sit with elbows level with the keys or slightly, very very slightly higher.   Correct bench height fixed my problem IMMEDIATELY and I can practice for hours now without it hurting.   If your elbows dip at all, it pulls on those muscles behind the scapula. 

Anyway, try it, and good luck,

tc

[drooxy]

Thanks TotallyClassics !

I will also check that although since I have been paying attention to the way I move my torso the pain has almost disappeared... Anyway it is worth checking my bench too !

Thanks !

Drooxy