Wrist pain

[resourcefulhedgehog]

Hi,
Recently when playing I've noticed a sort of sharp pain in my wrist, mainly in my left hand. I think it mainly happens when playing big fast changing chords. My hand is relatively small and my current max is a ninth. I've also only recently started playing more challenging pieces so maybe that's why I haven't noticed the pain before.
The thing is, the chords aren't outrageously massive for my hands and I think I should be able to play them without pain, so I'm sure it's something im doing wrong. I took a break for a week but it came back as soon as I started again. I will ask my teacher but my next lesson is in 3 weeks and I'd like to be able to practice before then.
So, I took it upon myself to try and find out what's wrong, which is proving harder than I thought. After rooting around on the internet, and making sure my wrist isn't too high, or low, or twisted... The pain persists. One thing I found out which might be helpful is the advice to "play with the weight of your arm" rather than playing "with the wrist", which makes sense regarding the type of pain I'm experiencing. I've heard this before but have trouble understanding how to actually employ it when playing. Does anyone have any advice for this or any other ideas about what else might cause wrist pain? Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[jamienc]

I don’t want to sound super cynical at the beginning of my reply, but I can’t stress enough how much destruction the term “weight” causes when it comes to piano playing. I have never been able to find anyone who can reasonably explain what that means and how to do it without instigating other technical problems, especially with chord playing. The term “momentum” is a much more useful way to describe the way in which the playing mechanism should engage with the key. Now, this can be from the elbow or from the knuckle, but very rarely the wrist.

The reason I have such a problem with the term “weight” is because in my experience, it is interpreted by most as “push.” I suspect your wrist pain might be developing due to the wrist being used as a shock absorber when playing chords. When you play a chord, watch what your wrist is doing. Are you pushing the fingers into the key, collapsing the support of the fingers at the knuckle, and thrusting the wrist into a high position? In other words, does your hand look like it is clawing the chord with a high wrist? If so, this is how “weight” is being interpreted and put into physical action.

To remedy this, try slowly playing the chord with as level a forearm/wrist configuration as possible from above the key. Shape the chord you need with the fingers and do not allow the hand position or the wrist to collapse when you engage the keys. Generating momentum from a few inches above the key and putting the whole mechanism into motion from the elbow will help you get a feel for the correct gesture. The key bed will obviously stop that motion, so once you feel the key bed reached, stop the momentum and refrain from pushing the key further or shock absorbing with your wrist. Your arm and hand position should be in the same configuration as when you started the process. If it is not, that is the main problem. Let me know if this helps!

[blackpianistjp]

Hi,

I skimmed through your post, and yes try to feel things in your back first.

Maybe I can help

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Cheers

[resourcefulhedgehog]

I suspect your wrist pain might be developing due to the wrist being used as a shock absorber when playing chords. When you play a chord, watch what your wrist is doing. Are you pushing the fingers into the key, collapsing the support of the fingers at the knuckle, and thrusting the wrist into a high position? In other words, does your hand look like it is clawing the chord with a high wrist? If so, this is how “weight” is being interpreted and put into physical action.

Thanks for this really insightful response- I put into practice this idea, and I reckon that was the crux of it! I could see how I was using my wrist as a "shock absorber". I still notice a bit of pain when practicing but it's definitely reduced so i suppose i should just make sure I'm implementing this all the time when playing.
I also noticed whilst trying to observe what I was doing wrong how much tension I'm carrying in general... I noticed my shoulders are pretty much permanently tensed up so I should probably work on that too.
Thanks so much!

[lelle]

I also noticed whilst trying to observe what I was doing wrong how much tension I'm carrying in general... I noticed my shoulders are pretty much permanently tensed up so I should probably work on that too.

That can definitely help! Tense shoulder and neck muscles can even create referred pain further down in the arm, as I and many colleagues have experienced. Any kind of practice to become aware of your body and help you feel peaceful and relax can be helpful. People do everything from Yoga to Qi-Gong to Alexander Technique to stretching to massage. Whatever helps you and you enjoy doing, go for it!

[jaquet]

i used to get wrist pains, it was due to over practice and repititive strain. Also i used to get finger pains, i thought it was due to playing to much but it was actually due to over streching them and clicking them to much. Just an obscure thing which  ithought i should point out if u were doing the same. Best of luck with this.