Muscle Tension. Is it normal?

[chopinfan_22]

I have been playing the piano off and off for a couple of years now. I just recently started practicing again since I'm out of school for the summer. I've been practicing diligently for a couple of weeks, but I've found that when I practice, I get tension at my wrists, and on a couple of muscles in my forearms. My arms are very skinny and aren't that strong. The tension in my wrists is usually felt after I'm done playing and I turn my palms upward. I never feel any sharp or shooting pains, so I know it's not carpel tunnel. Do I have to watch out for tendonitis? Or could it be that I've been away from the piano for sixth or so months, and my muscles that have normally been used are out of shape? I also have pains in my upper back muscles from moving my arms briskly, like I've pulled them, but I know that's going to go away soon. That's normal for me. Again, it's only in my wrists and a couple of muscles in each of my forearms.

The most demanding piece that I've been playing is Albert Elmenreich's Spinning Song, and my arms/wrists first ached after playing it for 45 minutes straight (when I was learning it, which was at a very rapid rate). After I had learned almost all of it, except the middle section, my arms at wrists began to hurt a little bit less. If they ever did ache, I would just practice the middle section very slowly to ward off any tension. Now, having learned it, I can usually play it about 8 or 9 times before any muscle tension seems to occur in either my wrists or forearms, and that's usually if I don't play anything else. Any thoughts?

[hyrst]

Try resting the muscles for as long as you use them.  Take regular breaks.  Gradually build up your strength.  You wouldn't think of running a marathon without adequate training, and you would expect some of that work to make your muscles ache a bit - they are working when they are not used to it.  The same with your small muscle groups.

However, you need to watch bad habbits - another reason for taking regular rests.  Tension can result from compensating for weak or tired muscles - wrists tense when our hands are not strong enough for what we require of them.  Make sure you are not holding your breath while you are working.  Concetrate on breathing as much as movements. 

[slobone]

A certain amount of tension is to be expected if you haven't played in a while. Practicing the piano requires intensive exercise of a set of muscles that aren't used that much for anything else, particularly the forearm. So it's only natural that they feel more tense at first. I don't think there's anything wrong with that as long as there's no pain.

But it's only beneficial up to a point. Once those muscles have tightened up enough to be useful, tightening them up further isn't helpful -- at that point you need to bring other parts of the physiology (particularly the nervous system, but also the upper arm, shoulders and back) into play if you want to make progress.