Cold Hands

[Fhugo]

Hi there,
First of all, I am sorry if this subject has alredy been discussed on the forum, anyway I cant seem to find anything on it with the search tool, so here goes:

I am a teenager piano student, and I just got out of puberty. The thing is during puberty my hands started to get really cold, and i find that to be really bad to my performance, not to mention anything about muscle lesion. I started a Gingko (Biloba) and vitamin b12 diet to start pumping more blood to my extremities about 8 weeks ago and nothing improved so far. Does anyone have any suggestions? Anything goes really, Im quite desperate.
Since I live in a tropical country, winters can be very cold indeed and do go below zero most of the time, but we do not have the heaters tradition, so I wonder if heaters really do a satisfying job for you pianists living by the poles?

Thnks a lot for reading -

felix

[donjuan]

Welcome to the forum, Felix!
here is the thread that existed before:

https://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=perf;action=display;num=1082893749

I suggest you read through it and read Bernhard's advice.  His excercise is expecially helpful, even for me up here in Canada, eh?  Our temperatures drop down pretty dramatically as well..

I still prefer to use hand dryers from public washrooms - Before my performance at competitions I always run off to the bathroom to use the dryer.
donjuan

[Rach3]

Try warm water from the tap - personally I find it works fastest and requires no physical effort on my part.

[donjuan]

Try warm water from the tap - personally I find it works fastest and requires no physical effort on my part.

yeah, but then without the hand dryer, the water evaporates slowly, stealing heat away from your hands, putting you right back into the same mess.

or at least that is what happens to me...
donjuan

[bernhard]

yeah, but then without the hand dryer, the water evaporates slowly, stealing heat away from your hands, putting you right back into the same mess.

or at least that is what happens to me...
donjuan

Er...

Have you ever heard of towels?

[donjuan]

the minus 50 celsius was torture like. Thats the coldest Ive ever felt, coldest winter I got in Montreal, thank god for heating and hot tap water in restrooms

-50?! holy shit!!!

that is way too cold!!! The coldest I have ever had is -40, and I thought that was horrible!
donjuan

[in_love_with_liszt]

Personally I find I play better when my hands are kind of cold...that way they don't sweat and I can keep a clean performance...although when my hand start to warm up I do notice I can play faster, and in general better. I try to find the right balance between the two....I dunno it sounds like I'm the only person who has hands that sweat though...I think I might try your little stress ball idea as my hands are usually cold when I'm not warmed up at the piano.

[Tash]

wow it's like deja vu at first i thought this was the thread i started and was then like ah hang on that's not me.
yeah just read the exact same thread as this and it's all there- good advice too my cold hands have never been so great in winter though i can't say that relative to the rest of the world it really wasn't that cold (omg 16 degrees celcius let me freeze HAHA)

[Hmoll]

I usually heat a bottle of water in the microwave, and use that to warm my hands while I'm practicing.
Evaporating water has a cooling effect, so I don't run my hands under hot water. Yes, Bernhard, I have towels, but it's impossible to dry your hands off completely, so there is no evaporation.

[rhapsody in orange]

Ah yes I've had this experience before. It was really bad before my examination the last time. I couldn't get to warm up on anything, and the waiting room was just so cold. I just started practising today without any warm ups and my hand was kind of 'cold'. And the result was a disaster. But when i repeated the same piece again (this time my hand was warmed up), it was way better. Any ideas if there are ways to practise 'cold', such that you would be able to perform without warming up first (sometimes you don't really get a chance to have a piano before a performance). Any particular exercises or sorts? Sorry if this post is not phrased well

[rhapsody in orange]

and oh i couldn't get to the link that donjuan posted up there

[donjuan]

its because of how nils updated the forum software.  now the urls are all different. 

[janice]

Whenever I play a solo at church, especially, I may have to wait a long time between warm-up, and the place in the service where I am to play.  What I do is wear mittens.  Not gloves, but mittens.  Mittens are better because body heat from your hand and other fingers is soooo much better than even the warmest gloves!  I don't have a problem with sweaty hands (I did when I was your age).  Now that I'm "old", my hands tend to get dry alot.  The mittens help add moisture.  If you have a problem with that, try inserting a paper towel into the mitten. 

[Spatula]

How about sit on your hands...oh not very professional. 

[Tash]

i find it fascinating how rhapsody in orange goes and revives all these old threads and then people continue the discussion!

[Brian Healey]

I guess I never knew that puberty makes your hands cold, I don't think that ever happened to me.

Anyway, I've found that if my hands are cold, then just moving my hands for a couple minutes is enough to circulate the blood. For instance, start with a straight hand, then make a fist, then straighten it again, and repeat quickly. After about a minute of that, my hands are ready to go.

[johnnypiano]

I think it's more a case of having the whole body warm, which you would get by walking, running, or any exertion which makes you puff a bit.  Just imagine that the fingers are at the extreme point of a central heating system and if the boiler isn't giving off heat you will get no warmth at the ends of the system.  Run up and down stairs a few times or/and play sport or swim regularly.  If you keep fit this will improve your muscle tone, which is essential for speedy reactions in piano playing.
Cheers.  John   

[mosis]

If your hands are cold, it doesn't do much to just put the hands in the water, as all the muscles that do the work are still cold. Do as Glenn Gould did: fill a sink with warm water to the brim, and submerge your entire arm to the elbow. Stay like that for a few minutes, (I also like to massage my hands and forearm), dry your arms off, and your fingers will be flying!

[musicismylife]

you could always play really really fast! Okay, just kidding.
sorry, not helping.

[faulty_damper]

Wear a warm sweater that keeps the heat contained.  The more heat that you can retain in your arms, the more comfortable you will be as the heat insulates the muscles in your forearms that control your fingers.

[donjuan]

I agree with Faulty- It's impossible to have warm hands if your arms are cold.

[Daniel_piano]

Hi there,
First of all, I am sorry if this subject has alredy been discussed on the forum, anyway I cant seem to find anything on it with the search tool, so here goes:

I am a teenager piano student, and I just got out of puberty. The thing is during puberty my hands started to get really cold, and i find that to be really bad to my performance, not to mention anything about muscle lesion. I started a Gingko (Biloba) and vitamin b12 diet to start pumping more blood to my extremities

Indeed this is a circulation problem
You should use sublingual vitamin B12 such as Phoenix or Solgar 2000mcg as it's the only vitamin B12 absorbed even if there is a lack of intrinsic factor
So, the sublingual is the only one effective when there actually a deficiency

You also probably has a problem of periphereal blood flow known as blood pooling
The veins in you legs dilatate and the blood keep accumulating there while leaving the hands withou blood supply

Never play after eating
After eating the blood flow is redirected towards the digestive system leaving a lower blood flow in the arms

Drink a lot
Blood pooling can't be cured (and yes, it starts with pubery on predisposed subjects) but it can kee kept under control

Have your sodium and your blood pressure chrckrd by your physician
If low, you can eventually talk to him about the possibilities of using licorice estract or salt tablet
Drink often, blood pooling is also a problem of hydration
You don't have to drink much, just very often, several time in an hour .. take few sips but drink often

Don use hot water and don't drink hos beverages
Hot dilates veins eve more worsening the problem instead of improving it

Take several rests during each practice session
As soon as you feel your hand cold, lye down on your back on a sofa with you legs up, this way you prevent blood pooling from occurring

When using water to warm your hand, just alternate 30 seconds of very hot vater with 30 seconds of very cold water for 3 minutes
The themic difference betwewn cold and hot will  oblige your body to redirect circulation toward the up body areas

You can also have your potassium levelsd checked to see is there's not a problem of potassium homeostasis leading to water and sodium loos
When you talk with your physicianm mention also diabetes insipidus
This would result in tachycardic horthostatic intollerancefrom low osmotic pressure to water loss from lack of an hormone dealing with retaining of fluids

If you're not allergic to nuts, eat some nuts as snacks as they raise the internal body temperature from the fats metabolism

You can use some gloves on the meanshile with the fingers cut so that at least your wrist and palm are kept warm

Hope you solve your problem soon

Daniel

[Bob]

You could always learn to play with cold hands.

I've found it just takes my body awhile to adjust when the weather changes and gets little bit colder.  My muscles just stay tense all the time and it takes awhile to get used to the extra tension.

I wonder what would happen if you went the other way and purposely made your hands and forearms cold.

If you want to warm you forearms, you could cut the ends off socks and put those over your forearms.  I've never done it, but it sounds like it might work. 

I have worn thin gloves while I've played.  It helped.  (along with long shirts and a coat)

Are you sure it's just the cold?  It could be something you're doing in practicing, and the cold only exagerrates it.

[caro]

You could always learn to play with cold hands.

I've found it just takes my body awhile to adjust when the weather changes and gets little bit colder.  My muscles just stay tense all the time and it takes awhile to get used to the extra tension.

I wonder what would happen if you went the other way and purposely made your hands and forearms cold.

If you want to warm you forearms, you could cut the ends off socks and put those over your forearms.  I've never done it, but it sounds like it might work. 

I have worn thin gloves while I've played.  It helped.  (along with long shirts and a coat)

Are you sure it's just the cold?  It could be something you're doing in practicing, and the cold only exagerrates it.

yes,i agree about the socks thing. They are reaaaally helpfull. i wear them often. If u can worm up ur wrist u don´t need more.
 But since i have to wear dress my arms are visible and it´s not very aesthetic and sometimes 2 smelly 

Caro