injury to hand

[liszmaninopin]

Today, I was practicing, and the tendons in my left hand started hurting me.  I still can't practice.  This wouldn't be such a big issue normally, I could just wait for it to heal.  However, I am in a competition this Sunday-playing pieces very hard on the left hand.  What would you suggest doing if my hand doesn't improve?

[belvoce]

Ouch! I have had tendonitis in my right hand for the last two weeks. It stopped for a while, but it is unfortunatly back again.   My advice: don't do anything that makes it hurt. Rest it as much as possible and see what happens. If it is a sudden occurence and you rest your hand before it becomes worse, your hand should improve rather quickly.

[liszmaninopin]

do you think it could improve by Sunday to the point I can play as I should at the competition?

[monk]

You are paying a high price for thinking that you are your thoughts and your body is just a useful donkey who has to do what "you" command.

You should discover that you are also your body and that loving yourself is the most important thing to do.

At the moment, you seem to love the competition more than yourself. If it weren't so, you would 1) admit that the pieces are too difficult at the moment to be played really well by you (when the performer doesn't feel good, the music won't sound really good!) and 2) look after ways how you could move, how you could treat your body so that no pain occurs. At the moment you just want with the head through the wall, and so to say the "headaches from banging on the wall" are your hand aches!

Don't play the competition and start some body-oriented work.

Best Wishes,
Monk

[liszmaninopin]

You have some interesting ideas, but I think that I can play the pieces well.  I've performed each of them at least once already (the one of them I've played in front of an audience 5 times), and they have been in my repertoire for over a year.  I don't know what caused my hand to begin hurting; but I should specify that what I was practicing earlier was not what I am actually going to play for the competition.  I was playing something else, and my hand started hurting.

What do you think I should tell my teacher if I can't play at the competition?

In reality, I don't love the competition, I'm not even especially looking forward to it.  However, I do want to give a respectable performance.

[ted]

If you decide to ignore the pain and play, that is your decision. Monk's advice is sound. Playing the piano is not like aerobics or bodybuilding, where a certain amount of discomfort is acceptable. Pain in playing the piano is not acceptable and means something is definitely wrong.

A caring teacher would not want a pupil to play with pain and risk doing further damage.

[liszmaninopin]

I'm not necessarily saying that I'm deciding to play or not to play.  I just don't want to disappoint family, teacher, etc.  They probably wouldn't let me not play even if I asked.

[donjuan]

I'm not necessarily saying that I'm deciding to play or not to play.  I just don't want to disappoint family, teacher, etc.  They probably wouldn't let me not play even if I asked.

You are young, so you should heal up quickly.  i would take lots of pain killer and go for the performance, not practicing too much on the day of the performance.  

but then again, that's what I would do, possibly not what you should do.
There is really nothing you can  do to make the pain better..

hmm... some of my best performances were done while I was sick with the flu.  Im not sure why, but there is something about discomfort that helps music come to life...
Which pieces are you playing?
donjuan

[liszmaninopin]

Bach's Prelude and Fugue #6 from WTC bk. 1
Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata
Rachmaninoff Prelude op. 23 #5

They have some good points, it's probably wiser (safer) for me not to play.  I don't know how the idea would go over with my family, though.

[liszmaninopin]

Forgive me, I know each of those pieces is terribly overplayed.

[donjuan]

Especially the Pathetique sonata will be a problem with a bum left hand.. (all those tremolos)

You know, it is REALLY difficult to win competitions playing the kind of music everyone plays..so maybe you wouldnt be missing too much..
donjuan

[liszmaninopin]

You are right.  Actually, this is my first competition in the strict sense.  I am participating as much for the experience as anything else; perhaps later in the year I'll participate in a competition more seriously, including more unusual repertoire.

[donjuan]

sounds like a great plan
good luck

donjuan

[goalevan]

tendon problems never seem to go away once they get bad I would be careful not to injure it much more

[donjuan]

Cziffra injured his tendons permanently during his services in the war (hauling heavy blocks..), and he couldn't play afterwards without his leather wriststraps.  Of course, he was one of the greatest pianists ever, and there were spectators who believed the leather wrist straps enhanced ones virtuosity.

of course, it doesn't work- just something someone made up, hoping it would be true so they could play like cziffra.

but-- he was lucky, there have been cases of tendonitis where pianistic dreams have been shattered...

sad,
donjuan

[monk]

I'm not necessarily saying that I'm deciding to play or not to play.  I just don't want to disappoint family, teacher, etc.  They probably wouldn't let me not play even if I asked.

OUCH!!!!

You obviously are loving your family and teacher more than yourself!!!

And if it's really true that they won't allow to cancel the competition: Are you their slave? Are you living in a dictatorship?

What you wrote is NOT A VALID REASON to play the competition and risk injury.

Loving yourself also involves that you learn to decide for yourself and do what is best for you.

And Pathetique, for example, is poison for your left hand.

Best Wishes,
Monk

[liszmaninopin]

You're right.  Actually, yes, I am rather living in a dictatorship of sorts. (aren't all minors?)  I really shouldn't play.

[bernhard]

I am sorry to hear about your problem. Where exactly does it hurt?

Monk is right, and I join him in that I would strongly suggest that you do not play on Sunday, since it is almost impossible not to play tense and stressed on a competition. If you already have the beginnings of an injury that would be a sure way to make it into a full fledged injury. Many of these injuries may take years to heal, if they heal at all. Consider if it is worthwhile to risk having the next 2 – 3 years being unable to play at all.

As for you parents and teacher, (although I am amazed that they would suggest you play irrespective of an injury) they may be ignorant of the issues involved (maybe they have a “no pain, no gain” attitude). I suggest you print the helpful material in the two sites below, and give it to them for reflection.

https://www.ismennt.is/not/sen/musmed.html

https://pianomap.com/injuries/

Meanwhile, drop the virtuoso repertory and concentrate on physically unchallenging pieces but with a high degree of musicality. (I am afraid no Prokofiev toccata for a while!).

I also suggest that you consult someone who actually knows about this stuff and specialises on pianist’s injuries: most medical doctors are completely hopeless: they will give you anti-inflammatory and painkillers. I cannot stress this enough: Do not take painkillers. Without pain you will be doing movements that will make the situation worse. The pain is there to protect you: it will not allow you to make movements that will aggravate the condition further.

Leon Fleisher stated in an interview how bitter he was towards the medical profession. Most of the advice he got (and unfortunately followed) was wrong, Including a couple of  unnecessary operations. It took him 30 years to go back to (sort of) normal. He reckons if he had gone to someone who actually had experience in treating this sort of condition, he would probably recovered without need for operations in about a year. His other mistake (according to him) was not to take the situation seriously enough in the beginning and just hope that it would go away by itself, and he just kept practising the way he always did (which was clearly incorrect), until disaster struck.

Read about it here:
https://www.cello.org/heaven/disabled/fleish.htm

(and if you google Leon Fleisher,  you will get over 20000 links!)

I wish you all the best,
Bernhard.

[squinchy]

There's a piano fiction book that involves a 17 year old girl who breaks her wrist doing ballet a short time before a prestigious competition (the prize is admission and full scholarship to Julliard). When the wrist has healed enough for her to play, her teacher forbids her to play anything but a really easy piece and exercises. However, she plays a Rachmaninoff etude in G- for her boyfriend, re-injures her wrist, loads up painkillers on the day of the competition, plays through the pain, and wins.

I think you should do exactly the opposite, for the reasons already stated in above posts.. You wouldn't want it to get worse for something you're not overly enthusiastic about, would you?

Besides, the girl in the boook turns down the prize due to her realization that she has no smidge of passion for piano.

[liszmaninopin]

All your advice is greatly appreciated-although I feel that I might have given an exaggerated impression of what had happened.  In the area of the base of the fifth finger, I had some discomfort one day. (specifically, I was playing Hannon exercises)  Pain was a bit strong of a word, but it was unpleasant enough that I stopped practicing for the day.  Today, I played at slow to moderate tempos for about 20 minutes, and no pain or discomfort occurred.  Can overpractice cause temporary discomfort?  I suspect that perhaps I had been practicing a bit much that day, and somehow strained something.

[bernhard]

All your advice is greatly appreciated-although I feel that I might have given an exaggerated impression of what had happened.  In the area of the base of the fifth finger, I had some discomfort one day. (specifically, I was playing Hannon exercises)  Pain was a bit strong of a word, but it was unpleasant enough that I stopped practicing for the day.  Today, I played at slow to moderate tempos for about 20 minutes, and no pain or discomfort occurred.  Can overpractice cause temporary discomfort?  I suspect that perhaps I had been practicing a bit much that day, and somehow strained something.

Very difficult to tell.

If I was in your shoes I would consider that a warning and I would take it seriously. You must examine carefully the way you are playing and decide if it is anatomically sound (have a look on the two links I provided).

Also have a look here, and see if visualising the muscles and nerves of the hand helps you pinpoint the problem. By experimentation you should be able to identify the movement and the muscle/tendon that are the culprits.

https://www.newmediamedicine.com/handanatomy.htm

Best wishes
Bernhard.

[faulty_damper]

My God!  That link says that there are muscles in the hand.  I heard there were only two in the hand by some expert on the radio and I believed him.  I still do!  That diagram sees so wrong to me...

Or perhaps that certain people have evolved to have muscles in their hand while others have evolved to have their finger muscles in their forearm, like me.

[belvoce]

There are muscles in your hand. But it is not something taught in the average highschool biology class.

[bernhard]

Yes, but those muscles are very limited in strength and motion. Most of the important finger movemnts are done by muscles in the forearm.

The interesting about that site is that it shows you the movements.

[Drillyourtechnique]

Ooh!
Rach's prelude # 5! I'm doing that one now too!