Is There Anything Worse For A Musician Than A Hand Injury?
Is there anything worse than being injured from playing your piano? – Especially if you’re a professional musician!?
Maybe you’re just beginning to experience pain in your fingers, wrists or elbows and are starting to worry about whether you have an injury – Especially a tendon injury…
If so, you’re also probably struggling with the question of whether you need to stop playing (not necessarily) – And how you’re going to pay the bills if you do have to stop…
Even if playing the piano is more of a hobby and not your profession, (and you’re not as stressed out about the pain) – It can still suck the joy out of playing, can’t it?
So, in the spirit of helping you figure this out and find the right treatment path and strategy…
Here’s an overview of what’s covered in the article:
- Can you get Tennis or Golfer’s Elbow from playing piano?
- The truth about “Tendonitis” / inflammation
- The myth of “Total Rest”
- The missing link in piano RSI treatment
- The conventional treatment approach
- A better treatment strategy
- Optimizing technique and posture
This article originally appeared on my Tennis Elbow Classroom site. For the full, original article please visit:
Overcoming Piano Related Pain: Finger, Wrist And Elbow Injuries (RSIs) — The Missing Link
Podcast Interview With A Pianist
Also, check out this interview I had on my podcast with Andrew Furmanczyk, a piano and music educator, who’s been teaching piano 15+ years both online and off.
Andrew joined me to share his Golfer’s Elbow injury recovery story, ponder the dilemma of injured piano players, and offer suggestions to injured, suffering musicians who are looking for injury prevention tips. Andrew’s site: How To Play Piano
Here’s the first two sections of the article:
Can You Get Injured With Golfer’s Or Tennis Elbow From Playing The Piano?
Piano-related pain can appear in many different places, including your back and neck, shoulders, elbows, forearms, wrists, fingers and thumbs.
Your elbows may seem like an odd place to hurt, but keep in mind that most of the muscles that act on your wrist and fingers have their origins (Origin Tendons) at your inner and outer elbows.
Which does put pianists and keyboard players at risk for Tennis and Golfer’s Elbow.
(Although, guitarists probably suffer these injuries even more! Article on ‘Guitar Elbow’)
Pianists are all-too-often afflicted with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, as well, which we’ll cover but, first…
- Inner Elbow Pain = Golfer’s Elbow / Medial Epicondylitis – Pain at or just below the little bony knob at the inner elbow often turns out to be Golfer’s Elbow
- Outer Elbow Pain = Tennis Elbow / Lateral Epicondylitis – Pain at or just below the little bony knob at the outer elbow often turns out to be Tennis Elbow Elbow
These two injuries, along with ‘Carpal Tunnel Syndrome’ (CTS) and painful wrist, finger and thumb tendon problems fall into the category of ‘Repetitive Strain Injuries’ (RSIs) as you may know.
(Not to dismiss shoulder / Rotator Cuff injuries and back and neck pain among pianists, just that this website focuses on issues from the elbow to the hand.)
Unfortunately, these vexing tendon conditions can sometimes (often?) be more difficult to recover from than acute injuries. (Sudden, traumatic injuries, like fractures.)
This has a lot to do with the nature of tendons and tendon injuries, including the fact that:
Tendons are notorious for not healing easily or well.
Tendons often need a great deal of “encouragement” and can’t just be left alone and expected to heal (more about the “rest myth” coming up.)
The Truth About “Tendonitis” And Inflammation
There are a lot of myths and a great deal of misunderstanding about the true nature of many, if not most, chronic tendon conditions – In fact…
- They’re NOT usually Tendonitis – The truth is that most chronic tendon conditions are not inflammatory in nature – Which is what the ITIS suffix suggests.
- It’s usually TendinOSIS – Most chronic tendon conditions are degenerative in nature. The OSIS suggesting degeneration rather than inflammation (which is worse, unfortunately.)
Not that there’s no such thing as an inflammatory tendon injury / Tendonitis at all.
There is – and some tendon injuries may start out that way – BUT…
When it’s been going on for months, chances are, the inflammation is largely gone, your tendon still hasn’t healed and the process of degeneration is what’s causing your pain.
Essentially, degeneration means there’s a gradual breakdown process happening and ones body isn’t keeping up with the repair (regeneration.)
So, rather than a hot, swollen “excessive” inflammatory process, imagine something more akin to rot or decay in order to accurately picture degeneration.
For the rest of the article please visit:
Overcoming Piano Related Pain: Finger, Wrist And Elbow Injuries (RSIs) — The Missing Link
Treatment in Marin / San Francisco
If you’re in the Bay Area, please see my page about how I treat Tennis and Golfer’s Elbow:
My approach to Tennis Elbow therapy
You get 100% hands-on Neuromuscular Therapy to help your muscles and tendons heal and recover naturally without dangerous drugs or invasive measures.
