Injuring 5th finger. Neep tips

[musicsphere]

Hi all,

I am teaching myself to play the piano right now because I can't afford a teacher yet. However, I have been straining and injuring my 5th finger a lot these days. My 5th finger isn't strong enough to play some of the pieces, but every time I practice, I tend to hurt it. Are there any tips anyone can offer to help alleviate the strain and strengthen that finger?

Thanks.

[jimbo320]

Hey Musicsphere,
The reason our fifth and fourth fingers are weaker is because we learned to use our first three for most tasks. Try using your fifth finger in everyday situations like pressing buttons, turning the pages of a book and alike. You'll find that retraining the use of all your fingers takes some getting used to but you'll gain strong agility.
Another tip which I do is to play scales backwards. That way you put strong emphasis on your fifth finger.
Try playing the piano riff for 'Tubular Bells' for three minutes straight. I do that to get all my fingers in shape...

[pianoplayjl]

Don't play too much. 

[keyboardclass]

Here's my trill exercise:

Here's the notes:


...and before anyone comments - I know the elbows are low.  It was fine by Deppe!