frozen hands!!!!

[_chops]

okay, here comes something ive been thinking really hard on. i just got home from a long walk in freezing weather (i live in a polar country, sweden you know. luckily its about to become spring now)..
   anyhow, its bloody cold weather out there. but the ice is about to melt soon.
      sometimes i forget this and i go out without gloves. ten minutes and my hands are frozen, numb with cold, immovable!!! well... they thaw after a while and... then im able to play my lovely piano but what if its dangerous? maybe they loose some of their flexibility?? I mean..! maybe one day, they wont be warm and they'll get stiff and stuff. How dangerous is chilliness?? I keep refering to the polanski movie "pianist"... you know how much he was freezing and all that... but he recovered and was able to play again etc... well, im young and im afraid of my hands and... im also so confused and "careless" and I always forget my gloves.

so whats your opinion? how dangerous is it?

thanx!

[emmdoubleew]

so whats your opinion? how dangerous is it?

As long as you don't play while your hands are frozen, it's not dangerous at all.
Before you play, if your hands are cold, immerse them in lukewarm water for a couple minutes to relax the muscles and the joints. I fyou play with cold hands, you won't have any control because your joints will lock up.

[pianistimo]

try block chords.  that shouldn't do any damage.
 
my hands have been blue (fairbanks, alaska). 

you don't want to get to the 'hands break off in pieces' stage.     

[donjuan]

I keep refering to the polanski movie "pianist"... you know how much he was freezing and all that... but he recovered and was able to play again etc...

it's just a movie.. just because they show him freezing like that doesnt make it happen like that in the true story.

Dont worry.  If you come in from the outside, are cold for a while, but then recover in due course and can play like before, nothing is permanent -no damage done.  Things only start getting permanent in long exposure to really cold temperatures when your body sacrifices blood supply to the extremities (fingers, toes) for the sake of keeping your insides (heart, organs, etc.) warm.  Frostbite is the early stage of this; even then, many people have had frostbite, and they got to keep their noses and ears, so really dont worry about it.  Keep in mind your body is in equilibrium and few things are permanent.

well, im young and im afraid of my hands and... im also so confused and "careless" and I always forget my gloves.

confused?? You must also be stupid to say something like that.  ( ) just remember those gloves - keep them in your coat pockets; nothing 'confusing' about it..

[_chops]

well... sorry.. i sounded pretty serious there for a while. "confused" "careless" lol. well. im not so good in english,. I simply wanted to add something about me always forgetting my gloves. not that im in a traumatic teenage mood or something. i dont know...
 

[gorbee natcase]

For all you that live in a warm climate, go into a butchers freezer for half an hour when you come out run your hand from your chest down your arms to your hands through your fingers, You will notice that you feel them getting colder and colder and your fingers feel like you have arthritis like a bike left in out side in the rain for months and the chain needs oiling and takes a while of spinning to make it smooth again (It realy is that bad)

Summer to me means that before I play/practice I don't have to turn the heating on and wait for it to get hot,

seriously the fact that my muscles are generating heat through use is not enough to combat the cold and they ache all the time, living in a warmer climate would be the ideal environment for my extremities