Weak index finger

[cuberdrift]

I have already asked for help about this before, concerning a "weak right hand". It's been a few months now since that time, and I am well aware that the problem stems from just one finger - the second.

After recovering from a heavy injury involving the damage of a tendon, I have been told my therapist (thankfully) that it can still be restored to equal strength as the other fingers. However, I am still struggling with its use in the piano since it is perhaps only half the strength as the rest of my fingers.

Most of the problems lie in descending passages - for instance, I find it particularly difficult to execute a smooth, sixteenth-note scale run, descending, with my right hand. My index finger seems to have difficulty in being agile enough to hit the right note on time, from the right posture.

Let me elaborate. After the finger's operation, I would be very protective of it, hesitating to use it for tasks such as typing, holding a glass of water, etc. and, when playing on the piano, I "curve" it in a way that it is not lifted as much as the other fingers. Now that I am aware of its condition, it is mainly because it is weak, that it takes more effort to lift it up, than the other fingers. This results in it being a lot less agile than the others.

Now that I have almost forced myself to "play it the right way" (hitting the note with the flesh portion and not the nail portion which I once did), I seemed to have even "worsened" my playing.  Now I stutter a lot in quick passages, and I cannot play quick runs and trills. It seems to me that my inclination to "lift it" more than before seemed to make it even harder to play fast passages easily and smoothly.

So the question is - what exercise, piano or non-piano, would be good to strengthen it? How long do you think it would take?

Thank you for your time. 

[flashyfingers]

PM me