Avoiding injury

[bravuraoctaves]

Please help:

I am coming across this problem whenever I play Chopin etudes.  I play fine for a day or two when I learn them but afeter a few days, but then I get wrist pain :

 I tried Chopin's Op.10 No.1, got the first two pages done fine, but, as I was practicing I found to my horror, the my technique was slowly going wrong. It started as a slight warmth, which I mistook as muscle pain, but then turned into a dull pain. To avoid tendonitis, I gave it up for 6 months.

Now I am trying it again, but am experiencing exactly the same problem. Two/three days ago I relearned the first two pages - I started at roughly 90BPM.

How I am learning it: (spot the flaws please)
Anyway, I repeated it and it automatically began to pick up speed. By the, tenth time or something like that I was back at something like 130 or something like that. By the twelth time or something like that I was back at full tempo. No pain so far.

The next day, I started back at something like 120 or something like that. By the end of twenty minutes I was back at 176 or something like that automatically. A slight warmth

Today I feel as if my technique has deteriorated again. I definetely feel as if I'm stretchching something that shouldn't.. I don't get pain when practicing, just after.

[BoliverAllmon]

it is probably just muscle/tendon soreness. You basically give your 4 and 5 fingers a monster workout when playing that etude. Make sure your wrist is relaxed and I would probably only work on this piece every other day until your build some stamina.

boliver

[xvimbi]

You need to be a lot more specific: where is the pain located? What motions or pianistsic challenges cause it? You are saying "your technique is going wrong". What do you mean by that? In any case, it is true: if you do experience pain, something is going wrong in terms of technique.
Can we assume that your problems don't occur with other pieces?

In contrast to boliver (who I almost always disagree with when it comes to pain, which leads to interesting discussions), do not play through the pain. It has nothing to do with building up stamina. Instead, carefully analyze what causes the pain, then try to get rid of the causes. Pain does not go away by repeating the motions that cause it.

[bravuraoctaves]

it is probably just muscle/tendon soreness. You basically give your 4 and 5 fingers a monster workout when playing that etude. Make sure your wrist is relaxed and I would probably only work on this piece every other day until your build some stamina.

boliver

It isn't muscle soreness. I am sure. It's deep in the forearm. I think its inflamation of the tendons or their sheaths.

I don't know what the cause is. I try all sorts of movements but pain does not go.

[xvimbi]

It isn't muscle soreness. I am sure. It's deep in the forearm. I think its inflamation of the tendons or their sheaths.

Sounds unlikely. There are lots of tendons in the forearm, but problems most often arise in the wrist area, not deep in the forearm (unless you have a specific injury).

You still need to describe exactly where the pain is located, how it feels and what the motions are that make you feel it. If you want help, you need to be a lot more specific and descriptive.

[ehpianist]

Sounds to me like you are picking up the tempo way too quickly if only 10 or 20 times gets you up to performance tempo.

When you practice, practice slowly, make sure your wrists are very supple (exaggerate wrist rotation playing slowly).  It is very hard to know what you are doing, but obviously there is a problem with your technique if you are getting any pain at all.  Do not attempt to play fast if your wrists and foreamrs tighten up to do so.  Have you discussed this with your teacher?

Elena
https://www.pianofourhands.com