Exercises for Tendonitis and Carpal Tunnel

[jesc]

Just as the title says. Please observe "due diligence". I've been practicing a lot lately (piano) and as an added bonus (yay!) I had additional "keyboard" (computer) work. The strain put on my hands took their toll. I scoured the net for exercises to prevent injuries and this seemed quite okay.

Tried them myself, got good results but again... try at your own risk. I don't want to be held responsible for injuries so read the comments below(in youtube) or even consult a proper physician before doing it.

BTW I think he's also a musician.

[jmanpno]

Piano playing itself can be more the enough to heal oneself of any manual ails he finds.

[jesc]

I'm sorry, TBH I don't care about your comment. But I do care about some desperate bloke who drops by this thread with serious muscle injuries and reads it. Then by some miracle or absolute stupidity, follows your comment.  

If a pianist is experiencing pain during play the last thing he wants to do is to continue playing. Piano playing does not heal overworked muscles and carpal tunnel.

I have yet to encounter a teacher who tells the student to continue playing once the student experiences pain. Furthermore, I shudder at the thought of someone experiencing carpal tunnel and then being urged on to play further to heal it.

[jmanpno]

I deliberately meant to be contentious but only to the extent that it spurred further conversation.  You have made the assumption that I am encouraging one to merely go on keeping on with all of the faulty motions that caused the pain and CTS symptoms. 

On the contrary, one must learn to identify the incoordinate components of his technique and bring these movements into alignment with the principles of healthy biomechanics.  While absolute coordination should be the goal and the objective standard by which to judge a hand, the fact is that there will be a tipping point for every person.  A point where one will have reached the critical mass of coordinate motions necessary to get himself out of any trouble one finds himself in.  This, of course, is the secret of the great pianists who can be found to be doing so much "wrong":  despite the curling of the fingers, or hyperextension (or any other blacklisted movement pattern) he has a fundamentally coordinate technique underneath these superficial elements which in essence is forever healing him of any trouble he may be getting into.  When a pianist lacks the resources to correct these imbalances, pain and injury results.

It is my opinion, and that of other fine pedagogues, that this work be done at the piano, for it is at the piano one has gotten himself into trouble and at the piano he must correctly work in the future to avoid disaster.  Healthy restorative movements can occur anywhere.

I rest my case.

[jesc]

Thank you for giving a well thought out response which is less subject to misinterpretation and will help the readers who stumble onto this thread. That is your opinion and you have a right to post that.

And I took the time to express my thanks before I take my leave of this forum, note that.

[jesc]

--- Also, the same way others have the right to argue against your "theories".

[jmanpno]

I am open to any and all discussion.  May I ask why you are leaving the forum?

[ajspiano]

...mm..  neither typing nor piano playing should cause either of these conditions for anyone

Thats a bit of a dream though since its not hard to dig up figures on how many injured pianists there are out there.

If the injury is a result of piano playing (or typing for that matter) then its because you have flawed technique more than it is because you did more of either activity. Though quantity is likely a factor in injury if you have technical flaws..

I think the underlying point here is that if you injure yourself playing the piano, resting will heal you..  but you will still have technical flaws and the next time you play you risk injuring yourself once again. The real solution is to figure out what exact movement(s) is causing your injury and remedy that. Which can only be done at the piano (unless you want to solve this by giving up the piano altogether)

Coordinate movement feels free and easy and the idea of hurting yourself doing that is totally absurd. Its difficult to injure yourself when you are not putting yourself under any stress..  Ofcourse reaching that point technically isnt something that just magically happens without working at it, unless you are incredibly lucky.

-----

All that aside, if you have either condition the exercises may be of benifit to the healing process? I didnt watch the video so wont comment.. (I have no access to audio at the moment so figured its not worth watching)

[jesc]

I'm willing to embarass myself since I'll be dropping by this forum less often 

On my specific case above, I just found out I blamed the wrong culprit. It was the stupid gamepad. I'm not a gamer but I just recently got into it cause I'm looking for short/brief relaxations.

I must be using it in a wrong way. I stopped the gamepad habit and the pain went away. Even when I played all my difficult pieces in a row, there was nothing, no pain.

lol, first thing to get right, know the real cause of the pain.

[jmanpno]

Hardly.  It's what I was saying from the start.... correct faulty movement patterns.  In your case, you removed them.

[jesc]

BTW my thanks to ajspiano, right all along. Piano shouldn't cause those pain

[jmanpno]

jesc.

you sir, are an ***.

i advised you well from the beginning and your own testimony hath borne the truth thereof.

[drexo]

Thank you for posting this video.

I have quite some shoulders problems lately and I'd love to see a similar video with shoulder stretches.

[jmanpno]

@drexo: adjust your seat height! BAM! problem solved.

[jesc]

Thank you for posting this video.

I have quite some shoulders problems lately and I'd love to see a similar video with shoulder stretches.

You're welcome . I'll do so if I come across some good ones. It's the selection from tons of uploads that is tricky. Actually, the video wasn't exactly for me (it was incidental that I had similar problems). It's in connection to someone who had problems on carpal tunnel to the point he had to get surgery. That is why I had to put a "caution".