The Advice Musicians Ignore Until It’s TOO LATE
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 พ.ค. 2024
- The truth about musicians' injuries...
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I think another thing that often got overlooked by musicians is protecting your hearing. Please protect your ears and avoid long exposure to high noise levels. Invest in quality high definition earplugs and bring them everywhere. You never know when you needed it.
On the bright side my ears ring at a C 😂
If you’re a musician, invest in custom musician earplugs. A local audiologist can take a mold of both your ear canals, which does two things: maximize comfort and maintain spectrum fidelity. It’ll cost you $200-$350, but they are indispensable.
I really wish I knew this when I was younger. I'm a brass musician and the fellow brass is so much more damaging to ears than one might think.
Absolutely. Hearing injury is the dirty secret among musicians. We don't talk about it. We need to push hearing injury awareness a lot more.
Absolutely right. I started working in headphones and didn't take any breaks, so in three weeks i got severe pain in my ears and had to recover for long. Thankfully i didn't damage anything severly but it was really hard mentally.
Please don't be like me guys :( take breaks every hour if you work in headphones or listen to music, and the volume level should be as loud as the person speaking near you. Please stay healthy 🙏
_Nahre's 7 Tips:_
*1. Ease into intensity.* Speed, strength and duration (SSD), each adds to the level of intensity.
*2. Improve your overall fitness.* Be careful with sports that affects limbs used the msot for your instrument. Maintaining and improving level of fitness will reduce stress and tension when playing your instrument.
*3. Learn about the anatomy of the body and the human hand.* Use the whole structure of the hand, not just the visible fingers.
*4. Stretch and massage.*
*5. Listen to your body cues.* Never think that pain is normal.
*6. Mind your posture.* Mind how you breathe. Pay attention to your posture throughout your day.
*7. Take care of your mental health.* Physical and mental health tend to decline together.
I’ll add one more tip for injury prevention (based on Carol Leone): play on a keyboard that fits your hands. In the case of small hands, that would mean playing on a narrower keyboard.
This is so important and vital. Also been through wrist injury twice, listen to your bodies, don't overestimate yourselves. The backlash can be massive!
Thank you…! And take care as well 🙏🏻
@@NahreSol I’ll add one more tip for injury prevention (based on Carol Leone): play on a keyboard that fits your hands. In the case of small hands, that would mean playing on a narrower keyboard.
This is severly overlooked, for every type of instrumentalist. Thank you for this video!
Thank you!!! 🙏🏻
I agree~have been through whiplash from a car accident, foot issues, OA in both thumbs and due to finding the right PT, podiatrist, and hand doc have not had to have any shots, surgery, etc. I had also been through some very stressful family issues! I have found over the years when in school and then as a teacher for 40 years, church musician also that there is a kind of "bravado" culture of overdoing. Thank you Nahre, you do a great job!
I`m a professional piano player and I am doing wheight training since I was 16. I`m 49 now and still workout with weights. It is the best you can do. When your body is strong and when you are really in contact and "dialogue" with your muscles you have no problems. Another thing I do before I play is to put hot water into the washbasin (as hot as I can stand it), put my hands in it and stretch my fingers to the ground of the washbasin. After this, your hand is relaxed, the skin is soft and well perfused. Especially in winter this is very good, when you have cold fingers. If you have problems with tendon sheath, learn the Siu Nim Tao, its the first part of the Chinese "Wing Tsun" Kung Fu. There are so many stretches and movements in it, that are good for piano players. I can`t recommend it enough!
Yes indeed, weightlifting is underrated. You will not look like Arnold if you weightlift, and your 70 year old self will thank you.
Getting tissues physically warmed up is really helpful as well, I use the hot water trick all the time.
Thanks for this!
I never thought of that! Brilliant advice (and so obvious now you've given me the idea) ☺
Leaving a comment here so I can return to this more easily. I’ve had a wrist injury which still is my weak spot despite the ‘actual’ injury being over…
(Alex from the video here) I love how you point out the "dialogue with the muscle" which again reflects on the idea of listening to your body cues as we perform any given activity. I definitely see the use of weight training, as long as we bear in mind it is a challenge to be fit for multiple things rather than just a few, and so pursuing multiple objectives at one can be difficult sometimes. Tailoring the workout so it respects our needs at the instrument and paying close attention to the interactions between one and the other seems to me like the reasonable thing to do. Great to hear you gained from that and that it's a thing. I do believe resistance training for musicians has been underestimated in the past and still is due to the "relaxation paradigm" we seem to be in. Muscle balance for whichever tasks we set our mind to should be the goal in my opinion.
I highly recommend reading the book "What Every Pianist Needs To Know About The Body" by Thomas Mark. It has great explanations and illustrations that are very helpful to understanding how movement at the keyboard affects the anatomy.
That book is great! I highly recommend it too!
Amazing book!
It"s an excellent book!
getting injured last year was strangely, the best thing that could have happened for my progression as a pianist. really opened my eyes to how important technique is and how intertwined it is with the music itself
Be very careful to not undergo treatment from someone who isn't a science-based medical professional. I ALSO went through a couple moves in 2020. I was lifting furniture and boxes of books with little concern for how it might affect me. In one of my intermediate living situations, I underwent a DIY home renovation project that required me to do a lot of overhead work on a ceiling (long story). So I spent hours at a time over the course of a couple days looking up while working overhead with tools. The other thing that I think hurt me at the time was that as I was moving and packing up, I packed up the pillow that I normally sleep on, and when I unpacked, the first pillow that I found was an extra-firm, extra-bulky pillow that I bought for a family member who prefers that kind of pillow when they would come stay with me in the past. Well, it turns out that sleeping on this extra-firm, extra-bulky pillow plus the home renovation plus the moving put a lot of strain on my upper back and neck.
Someone advised me to see a chiropractor. I never considered chiropractors to be "real doctors", but, at the same time, I decided to be open minded and just try out a session. It was a terrible mistake. Many chiropractors believe that they can use "adjustments" to realign your spine. They will use sudden, abrupt and violent motions to push and pull on parts of your back and neck. I went to the chiropractor because I had some upper back soreness, but then I developed numbness in my arm and some other areas. I searched online to read about injuries that chiropractors inflict on their patients, and I found one or 2 articles in peer-reviewed medical journals citing thousands of cases in which chiropractors attempted an "adjustment" on a patient that then resulted in a serious injury requiring the patient to go to the emergency room. This is very well documented. Sure, maybe there are chiropractors who are more conservative or maybe chiropractic adjustments can sometimes help patients, but this does not mean that they're safe. You can go rock climbing without ropes dozens of times and survive without falling, but this doesn't mean that it isn't dangerous and risky.
I ended up undergoing physical therapy at a medical research hospital in a big city. This was after I saw a doctor who did some medical imaging. The physical therapy started to help me, but I also think that my condition got better when I bought a better pillow, started sleeping better and getting exercise, and simply just took some time to recover. A year later, my symptoms pretty much went away. I can play piano without strange fatigue in my arms. I even ended up going on a long cycling trip in which I biked for hundreds of miles through Canada last summer. Maybe this wasn't a good idea, and I did get an injury from it that wasn't what I might have expected. I rented a bike for the trip through BC, and my rental bike had a click-shifter. My knees, back, shoulders, neck, etc were all fine for my 300-mile bike trip, but I developed thumb and wrist pain from repeatedly shifting gears while biking 10 hours per day on very hilly terrain. The hand and wrist soreness went away after 2 or 3 weeks.
These days, I can play piano without any pain. I'm not a professional -- just an amateur who enjoys to play piano. I practice less than one hour per day and often just a few hours per week when I don't find time. I do think that I benefit from stretching my fingers and wrists regularly. It helps my playing, and my hands feel better as well. I just sometimes don't get around to it. My physical therapy helped me quite a bit, and I should et back into a routine of strengthening my upper back and neck. In any case, I have to say that after maybe 18 months of chronic pain and numbness, it feels great to know that I can bike for hundreds of miles or play piano without serious pain or fatigue.
My main piece of advice, I guess, would be to think very carefully before you take any potential medical interventions. Consider the risks. Going to the chiropractor is risky. Getting hand surgery -- even from a reputable and experienced doctor -- is risky. Yes, trying to carry 30 large boxes full of books in one afternoon by yourself when moving to a new apartment is definitely risky. Be mindful of risks so you don't do anything to hurt yourself.
To Nahre and everyone else reading this, I wish you health in 2023 and beyond!
I’ve dealt with wrist and elbow tension/pain for a little while and I’ve also found that squishing playdoh for like five minutes before i even start practicing helps a lot with tension and stamina!
(Alex from the video) What an interesting and original idea! Thank you for sharing.
@@alexandresavardo i first started doing it because i noticed my forearms/elbows getting really tight and fatigued during certain gym exercises, and so i decided to basically try warming up my grip strength with playdoh before exercising; and it worked so well i applied it to piano practice too!
@@emmetharrigan5234That’s actually a physical therapy exercise for wrist injuries they’ll give you puddy to regain your grip strength because a lot of tendons will be weak or have trauma depending on how the injury occurred. Also to massage the forearm arm because the muscles get tense and overworked so it’s good to release that tension with massage and also strengthening by twisting a towel like your trying to squeeze a wet towel will work those forearm muscles.
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" --This is such great down-to-earth advice that most of us musicians are just not aware of most of the time. I also developed tendonitis a second time and had to stop playing music for almost a year. I am slowly getting back to playing my instrument. Thank you, Nahre, so much for posting this video!🥰
The toughest part for me has always been trying to predict where my next pain spot will be. As a violinist, I’ve dealt with a lot of situations caused by bad technique and posture. It’s painful every time it happens, but I always improve my technique, and I become better in the long run because of it.
(Alex from the video) Yes, some discomfort at the very least is part of learning natural technique! It's our body providing us guidelines ... We have to listen!
As well as the excellent advice you provide. I think many musicians have obsessive or compulsive traits and can’t stop playing once they become interested and engrossed in practice . The inability to control this self destructive behaviour results in injury. I have first hand experience of this!
Alexander Technique has been super helpful in me playing less tense as well as outside of playing music (it even made my yoga practice much less tense). Also, I've had to learn hard lessons about your first point (easing into intensity); This is true on the instrument, in the gym and everywhere in life. I'm preparing for a performance this week and realizing that I have to be especially careful to not let the stress of it introduce more tension into my practice than normal.
AT is SO helpful for proper posture, movement & singing.
injured my left hand (my dominant) in 2017 and had it casted for half a year. lost a little of my power in my pinky when playing guitar and piano and also had to change to traditional grip on drums. Also had to give up my favorite sport ultimate frisbee to recover. Be careful everyone!
VERY important issue! and a very good sleep to recovery it's so important too. Great video thanks for your incredible work
As a software engineer who fractured his wrist from skateboarding and wore a cast for nearly a month, I can say you made an IMPORTANT video! The pain from the injury was NOTHING compared to the frustration of not being able to work efficiently. For you musicians especially, you can't afford to not practice for an extended period of time. Hope you recover well and stay out of it for the rest of your career, and indeed, life!
Its very generous of you to do such a through video to remind us about the basics. I am a "hobby" musician and work from home full time as an IT person - ie in front of screens all day.. I got 2 takeaways from this video that I will put into practice immediately that should be beneficial. Thanks Nahre for being a good human being and caring. I hope you find some stability in 2023 and not have to move for a long time!
Excellent video, Nahre! I still play piano almost every day, but most of my current work is based around singing. I have found that if I take care of my body (and my instrument), my body will take care of me. I pray that your recovery has been a complete one and that 2023 is full of wonderful music for you!
On the subject of "posture", here's a consideration. The position you sleep in can affect everything from your neck to your toes. There are specific guidelines that physiotherapists can provide you for best ways to sleep to avoid or to improve upon the repercussions of bad sleep posture. We sleep a third of the day, and it is very tied to how we'll feel both mentally, emotionally, and 'physically' during the day. If you ever wake and feel that a wrist feels a bit quirky, you may have had it in a stress position while you slept. And no joint should ever be at it's limit of motion or twisted (including the neck, or the shoulder, of course) while sleeping... something that can easily happen without taking achievable, necessary precautions. Problems can evolve gradually due to poor sleep positions.
THANK YOU! There’s a lot of videos out there that talk about injury, but only really go as far as saying “stop being tense”, without any detail.
I pushed myself too hard prepping for a recital and I’ve been dealing with carpal tunnel syndrome for a few months now.
If you have pain or injury, it can be treated - talk to a medical professional! Pain is a great teacher, though. If you listen to your body, you’ll clean up your technique REALLY quick.
Pianists, drummers, most musicians have this risk. I'm sure it doesn't go away by topping off your insurance. Knowing your body and not trying to always punch above your weight class also helps. Great episode, brilliantly explained and executed as always Nahre!
if I'd found a video like this a year ago, my 2022 would have been so much better lol 😭 The past year I've been dealing with chronic pain in my arms/hands, battling bad GP's, getting all the ultrasounds/xrays, rheumatologist etc and am now on a medication to help it. Still don't have a label to put on the injury/pain, but I definitely overestimated my strength prior with multiple stressors from piano, drawing, gym and working in a kitchen. Have definitely learnt a lot from it
I developed radial tunnel syndrome, a playing injury. I play guitar and this happened to me over the span of several years. It is paramount that players rest, avoid pain, and warm up well before playing! Playing slow is the best way to be able to play fast. Over doing it without warming up can get you a bad injury! Anyway, I'm almost FULLY recovered now :)
I profited most from the Taubman method. I avoid any stretching when it comes to piano playing, rotation is all, evem if subtle. You will and should never experience pain in handa, arms, shoulders, or neck.
I had a repetitive stress back injury from performing so much... Take care of yourselves!! Much needed PT and sauna... Got me 'back' to normal! We have to participate in our own healing and transformation. It's an active process not passive.
thank you for the reminder! I had the same Issiue with my left hand during summer 2022, i got back into guitar after years of not really practicing. went all inn on scales and played for hours at the time. after about two months i got carpal tunnel. was not able to hold a simple cord without it hurting. i did listen too my body early enough (luckily) so it wasnt to be cronical. it took months for it to recover, so today i am much more aware of easing into intensity, rather do 4, 30mins sessions than a 2hour one. These tips works, Take care of yourself!
3:35 I only just noticed in this video that valuable and invaluable mean the same thing.
Thanks for presenting this essential information! Appreciate the specific variables the professionals broke things down into, and your visuals make it so much easier to follow along
Wow, this feels like a wakeup call I really needed. Thank you so much for making this video ❤️
Thank you so much this is so important :) as a visual artist who is also a musician, this information is imperative for the longevity of my artistic practices!
Thank you for this video :) I've been through 2 injuries and recovering from a 3rd now, and I wish someone had told me all these things when i was much younger. Even though this is my 3rd injury and I've had injury experience now, it's still encouraging to see videos like this so we know we're not alone in our journey to recovery! I wish you continue to have good health and a much better year this year compared to 2022!
So helpful and also very practical and applicable for any musician at any level. Thank you, Nahre!
Really fantastic video. I love how you get to the point while still being thorough enough to be really informative.
I found the description of an adequate stretch most helpful. Thank you for that.
Thanks for this, Nahre! My first cello professor was also an Alexander Technique teacher and practitioner. I think back to those early lessons before I start to tackle *anything* my body hasn't done before.
This was so spot on, I practically walked through my entire guitar journey and pinpointed where many of these same principles revealed themselves to me. Playing guitar made me super conscious of the way I tense up and contort my body, especially when I'm playing. First was knowing when to rest when I felt the slight tingling or tension in my hands, next was being aware of tension in my arms and back, my posture, etc. One thing that I didn't consider for years (but suffered through, nontheless) was staying properly hydrated. I play and sing in the subways here in NYC, and after a few hours it's damn near a full-blown workout, something you only really experience during gigs or rehearsals. Duration was the strength test I had yet to endure at that point, so the effects of dehydration smacked me right in the face many times. Your entire forearm locks up enough times to where your hand is stuck looking like rigor mortis set in while you were playing (that sounds pretty cool...you'll pry this guitar from my cold, dead hands!), oh you start listening to what your body's telling you!
Great video and so important! I developed DeQuervains in both thumbs about two years ago and had to stop playing for several months. I gained relief thanks to a great PT. Your points of stretching and the intensity curve are parts of every practice. I’m also very careful about playing with cold hands and arms.
Thank you so much for this, great advice. As you get older this matters more than ever, as injuries happen more easily and healing gets slower with each passing year. It’s so easy to act like we’re still 20 cos we feel 20.
Thanks for sharing, Nahre. Knowing that a musician as accomplished as you has dealt with injury gives me hope! It’s definitely not a straightforward road to recovery.
Thanks for this! Great information and a great meditation on how we can better our musicianship (or at minimum, not impede our musicianship) with a more mindful sense of our bodies.
You are extremely talented and very couragous. Thanks for sharing always the deepest aspect of your personnel experiences! Such a generosity is very rare nowadays.
Incredibly important! Im currently going through ulnar nerve injuries as well (from an unrelated health thing) but this is super super important
What timing!! I injured my left wrist/hand in October (and I’m left-handed, go figure), and I’m STILL recovering. Still very restricted with how much piano I can play (only 20 minutes a day), and I still can’t hold a pencil for long. I’m finally starting physical therapy soon and this video has been immensely helpful! Thank you for sharing your experience, Nahre.
Super important video and the issues that you address! Thank you, Nahre Sol!
It’s great to see a video acknowledging this more than anything! For me personally I’ve been battling a tight tendon in my right forearm near my elbow for 1-2 years now, and I wish I would take the time to stretch and massage my hands and arms before playing. I would also be in a “rush” so would never practice and just go straight into trying to play at the top level of my playing.
I’m very fortunate to have a chiropractor and physiotherapist that are helping me get through this and slowly but surely I can finally get rid of this pain.
Like it’s mentioned in this video prevention is definitely the best thing you can do! Someone in the comments also mentioned ear protection - definitely not as widely talked about as it should be
😊thank you… the whole finger bone length image has helped me so much!
Instantly my playing is at another level
I have had injuries before from being a self-taught musician so I am always interested in anything I can learn about injury prevention! Thanks for this video!
Thank you for this! I recently hurt my wrist doing push-ups and then over worked myself during guitar practice. I hit one point where the pain got to me and I couldn't play for about 2 weeks. It really scared me!
Thank you for shedding light on an often overlooked topic in the music sphere!
Thank you so much for making this video! As a musician myself, these are things I easily take for granted.
Thanks for addressing this! I think this isn't talked about quite enough, and it seems like many higher-level musicians go through this kind of thing. Well-spoken and practical.
A few more general principles:
-Pain does not always mean "damage". *Don't catastrophize* . Pain is a complex neurological mechanism that turns on for many reasons, and not always because of "damage" (it's often "threat perception" as well). During a recovery process, pain can still be present, and that's sometimes okay so long as it's not significantly worsening session to session or in hours following
-The things that correlate most strongly with pain in almost any field are inappropriate load ("SSD" as mentioned; big stretches or other "endrange" movements you haven't trained in fall into this category) relative to volume at different ranges of motion, and factors like stress, sleep quality, etc. Chronic inflammation can be a problem for some and addressing dietary triggers (i.e. grains, dairy) can be helpful.
-While posture doesn't specifically correlate with pain in the scientific literature, extended periods of time in the same posture and "endrange" postures (or any one static posture at all) *do* correlate with pain, and this can often bring on nasty issues like neuropathy and "sticky nerves" that get irritated. Movement and adjustment is vital. Something as simple as sleeping with your arm under your pillow at maximal flexion can bring upon issues in the long run.
Where a lot of musicians seem to stumble is when they've had extended periods of off time. Despite what you used to do, if you've taken a month or more off, you have to scale back into playing, not jump in for 4h a day. The docs in this video covered this well.
I've always been a big believer in "headroom". Exercise and physical strength not only massively, *massively* improve longterm health outcomes, they also create capacity for what life may throw at you. You will not look like Arnold Schwarzenegger if you do resistance training, especially as a female (in face, I'd be willing to bet money most women couldn't get "bulky" from casual weightlifting even if they tried), and the same principles apply -- approach gradually and allow for adaptation time.
Thanks again Nahre, for your thoughtfulness and sharing. While entering my 40s i was forced to change my posture (as well as seat height and distance from the kybd). That, along with stretching and excercise (in my case a lot of swimming), went a long way in reducing pain and restrictions in my lower back. Rock on cats and kittens... 👍👌🖐🖖✌✌✌
Love the video as always! Permanently injured my right shoulder and now have to play in a pretty different position when standing up (guitarist and bassist), plus now actually have do stretches to make sure it doesn't get sore.
When the injury first happened, I couldn't play for 6 months and that definitely impacted my overall mental health. But slowly getting more fit through physio and exercise I'm back to being able to play relatively normally (albeit a bit differently).
Thank you very much for this video! I am a gigging musician who plays guitar (acoustic steel string, "Americana", and roots rock, etc) and I have been dealing with pain in my left hand where the thumb joins the first finger. I'm also in physical therapy for my lower back. Anyway, this video gives great, usable advice, which I intend to put into practice immediately. Thanks again and take care!
I have a history tendonitis two times and I gotta say that your video is perfect in every aspect. If I had followed these tips, I would have had none.
Seriously, these tips don‘t come out of nowhere!
(Alex from the video) Thank you very much for your praise :)
Cold immersion therapy solved this problem for me. I get elbow tendinitis and debilitating arthritis in my hands and now it’s not a problem.
Hopefully i only had tendinitis once!! Because it never went away
@@davidduarte2887 I have elbow tendinitis as well. Did you have to immerse your elbow(s) in cold water too, or did it go away just by using cold immersion therapy on your hands?
@@adammiller6299 soaking my elbow in cold water works great. I’ve moved onto full on cold swimming as well. You can ease into it. For my hands and elbow I go as cold as I can stand for as long as I can stand. Check out the Huberman Lab episode on cold exposure. Explains the science behind it.
I broke my wrist about five years back, and have been feeling pain in the years following it. I got it checked out a month ago, and realising that you at 2:16 had the same wristband that I was prescribed made all of this information hit harder
Thank you for sharing all of these information with us, and for teaching us to care for ourselves in and outside of learning music!
This is great advice. Unfortunately I ride motorcycles every day, so my "injury prevention" ship has kinda sailed.
Thank u for making this video and sharing so openly! So helpful. Also, your videos are awesome.
Happy new year Nahre! Great video. These are top tips. #4 and #7 I pay very close attention to, more than the others.
Health should always be the top priority. Cherish it! Protect it!
Thanks for sharing your experience. I am 61 years old and I've been playing for 55 years now. It's only within really the last few years that I've been having problems with arthritis and trigger fingers and stiffness in my hands that is really requiring me to pay a lot more attention and warm my hands up a lot more before I play. Also addressing how much pressure I use when I actually play guitar to make things sound beautiful, and not overpressure the instrument. I have had one surgery on my right hand for my middle finger for trigger finger and will never do that again. The challenge is being able to use your hands effectively and with strength but not get injured over time. I'm not entirely sure that's possible as the aging process seems to make things more difficult that require strength, dexterity and flexibility. I do agree strongly that preventative health maintenance of the hands and body are extremely important. Each instrument will have its own issues and problems that need to be addressed. Wind players have pressure issues with their mouth and their neck, string instruments because of the body position have problems with neck, hands, back and wrist, etc. etc. etc. Learning to be able to stay relaxed and still be able to play strong are part of the challenges of being a life/career musician. Always appreciate your intelligence and creativity and willingness to share good information with the community. Thank you. PS I found that for me acupuncture is really great, as is daily arnica gel and stretching my hands a lot. One thing that I did buy that was incredibly helpful was a paraffin wax machine that lets me submerge my hands in hot wax and the heat and moisture do wonders for my hands. That works for me and I can't tell you what that would be like for someone else, but I can say that the hand therapist that I work with after my surgery highly recommended it.
Look into cold immersion therapy. I developed arthritis in my hands last year and discovered dipping my hands into cold water (as cold as I can stand go as long as I can stand it) solved the problem. Now I do it daily, usually in the morning.
as a bass guitarist, chorister, and someone who plays a lot of games, an important thing to remember is to MIND YOUR ELBOWS. a *lot* of rsi care, especially in music and digital disciplines, focuses on the wrists and fingers, but your *elbows* are just as vulnerable to injury. i'm still waiting to go under the knife on both elbows because i developed ulnar neuropathy (basically carpal tunnel in my elbows) due to playing too many rhythm games and holding my choir binder incorrectly. keep an eye on the tension you hold in your elbow, and make sure to stretch them specifically as often as you stretch your wrists and fingers!!!
I got this in my left elbow and I just had my right wrist operated on. Good luck healing and recovering. It's rough.
As someone who once lost a job due to an injury, I can super relate.
Ive had this twice, luckily not too severe but I had to wear a brace for a few weeks. My sollution? Buying a wider piano stool. That way I can move more and position my wrist in a better position.
Thank you for sharing your experience in such a well-made video. I'm sure it will help others.
I appreciate all this excellent advice. I am a musician (classical guitar) who has a background in music performance while back in my school days. At any rate, I quit playing for many years and have recently returned. I find it quite interesting what I have discovered as a recently returning guitar player. First off, my muscle memory is much better than what I initially thought it would be. I find learning (or re-learning) pieces quite easy. What is most challenging, however, is endurance and physical strength. Stretches that I once accomplished with ease is, well... a stretch! It seems to take a lot more effort to make those huge stretches over the fretboard and play for long periods without taking a break. I'm hoping that this is a natural phenomenon. I suppose playing an instrument is akin to being an athlete... one must gradually build up endurance. With time, I should regain the needed strength and endurance. But I will not push it to the point where my hands simply give out (as I had been). I love playing and practicing... but not to the point where I injure myself!
I've been feeling that pain when I was learning to play, and now I feel it in my right hand while practing new skills
Thanks for this video! I injured my ulnar doing gardening work. Being a musician on the weekends and programmer during the week really took a toll on recovery. It’s been almost 2 years and it’s still not at even 90%. Thanks for the reminder to take care of my whole body, not just my hands.
I'm a classical guitarist and right now I'm dealing with my sore left hand and your video really help me. Thank you so much❤
Thank you so much for sharing and your honesty!
As a pianist (singer songwriter not classical) and painter I had a hand injury last summer and really it took long to get better. And it was so ridiculous how it happened: I opened a pickles glass. I am serious. After that there was constant pain.
2 months later I did one concert with a huge amount of painkillers and then I rested for several weeks and started slowly. and i am lucky that physio therapy and resting helped me. One doctor said after the mri that otherwise I might need an operation. But I think that would have been the start of the ending.
Now I take so much more care with what to do with my hands and what not.... with one exception: I play Badminton once a week. While playing Badminton I protect my hand with a bandage now. But I don't want to stop it, because it is so much fun. But anyways at the moment i can't play, because i broke my foot in November. :D
Very important video! I got into indoor bouldering last year, at the same time I decided to practice piano consistently 3 hours a day. Rock Climbing + intensive piano practice = a bad idea. Got an RSI. Nowadays I can balance to the things and haven’t had issues.
Hey Nahre! What an eye opener! I was reminded of so many musicians during this video...from Valdimir Horowitz and his flat hand type of playing to David Helfgott and his battle with mental health issues. I personally experience pain in my shoulders due, I think, to trying too hard and putting too much pressure on myself. If you have discovered how to be rid of this demon...I would be glad to hear about it. Thank you! Thank you!
Merci beaucoup pour tous les conseils ! 🤗🤗 Thanks from France
Great video Nahre on injury prevention.
What a ridiculously well timed video. I am currently waiting for a response to an email I sent to a doctor (Specifying in musician's injuries) over my left hand first finger pain. I have been very stubborn in not playing less because of discomfort, but recently it got bad enough even for me to realize this is gonna jeopardize my whole future in violin playing. I am in the process of auditioning for music university, and approaching 22 years of age, I am not in the mood to postpone my development any longer...
(Alex from the video) You are absolutely right to take your time and take care of yourself before you embark in a situation where you could feel like you have no choice but to practice all day ... Balance between challenging ourselves but then asking too much from our body is key!
What a great video. Really important tips for overall health and wellness.
Absolutely wonderful video, Thank you I really needed it
Great video, and thanks for your talent. Néstor, from Barcelona.
You are so kind, thank you so much for this video! 💗
Great information and take on injury prevention. My own regiment for hand/wrist/shoulder health which has sustained no injuries during all of my years playing of piano (I’m a 39 year old male who started playing an average of 3 - 4 hours everyday around 18 years old) is counterintuitive to the idea of protecting my hands. Everyday (or nearly so) I
do 64 cartwheels
hold 1 or 2 handstands for around a minute each
I know it sounds aggressive, but for whatever reasons, all the tendons and muscles of the arm and hand have seemingly benefited from use in those ways.
The closest I have been to feeling the onset of an injury was during a two day stint of playing piano 10 hours each day. I stopped for about 3 days after that.
I believe that the dynamic stretching of the hand and wrist during the cartwheels is great at relieving tension in the muscles of the hand. The handstands are more like a static stretch and I usually do those after the cartwheels.
Sometimes I’ll massage my forearms from the elbow down with fingertips or knuckles.
Excellent Video Nahre!
thank you its very important information and is often valued after an injury when its may be too late.
Thank you!
Great video.
Remind everyone to take care of their physical and mental health. 💚💚💚
Music to my ears.
Definitely it is important to listen to your body. Also doing any particular motion repeatedly over a long duration is asking for trouble. It doesn't matter whether you are a musician or a construction worker. I have my own views about the best kind of rehab, often just having a break from that motion is as good as some specific therapy. Look into the evidence around the effectiveness of stretching for injury prevention for example (there isn't much at all). Sadly a lot of people ignore advice until it is too late whether that advice is around diet, exercise, smoking or whatever. Some of those things that happened to Nahre seem to be unfortunate accidents though like when she lost grip of a heavy box. Regarding the blame that was placed on moving. I wonder if the moving just triggered an underlying issue that already existed. In my opinion every person that is able should be doing an exercise program that involves both "cardio" and resistance training, building physical capacity is good for injury prevention.
I really needed this. Recently my wrists have been hurting every time I use the piano. I overlooked it at first because it was only every now again when I would stretch my hands too far. But now every single time my hands feel very slightly tight and there's a sharpish pain. I think I will take a break for a little and improve on my technique.
Before I clicked on the video, I knew the injury could be related to the ulnar. This comment might not even reach many people, but you definitely should know this: your finger positions determine your hand position, which ultimately will have an effect on your wrists.
This is why this acknowledgement here is so important 5:37, in a few words: you have to be as ergonomic as possible when playing!
You really don't wanna put stress on your wrists, and the best way to do that is by minding the declination angle of your wrists while playing. For example, so many of us play tetrachords using the middle finger, when we should actually be using the ring finger (not always though). By using the middle finger we have a tendency of pressing our wrists outwards. This might not seem to be a problem for most people in the beginning, but add up the years and long rehearsal hours, and you will start to have more and more discomfort in the ulnar area.
I've been relearning old peaces by acknowledging this and it makes a huge difference!!
On the point about the similarities with sitting at the computer editing videos, I'd highly recommend at least exploring using a vertical mouse, not for everyone but can be hugely helpful if you are noticing pain in your mousing hand in particular ^^ Thanks as always for a great vid Nahre! Hoping you have a lovely and injury-free 2023!!!!
This is so useful and well produced thank you!
Totally brilliant video! I'm subscribing.
As an amateur musician and retired keyboard-basher I'm trying to ease myself back into piano playing after "trigger finger" tendonitis on both hands - one successfully operated on, but the other is still around and refuses to leave - I may have to go through another operation ☹
Ten years ago, I thought I had an iron grip - I never dreamed I needed to protect my hands.
Thank you for this video Nahre.
Good words! We also need to be mindful of sitting height at the piano bench/computer, twisting one's neck to look over at students (or zoom camera) while playing piano or typing. I know this, but it's good to be reminded of the tips in this video -
Very good video Nahre. And a good reminder to us all that this is no joke and can happen to anyone out of nowhere so prevention is key.
agree!
Hey Nahre, great video. I have various wrist issues (guitar) and I do PT stretches all the time, before and after, and while not playing. I also sleep with a wrist brace to keep my carpal tunnel from getting squished while sleeping. This is a very under discussed issue, I feel, and your video is really appreciated.
Wow great lesson and advices many thanks best wishes
great topic! thanks for the push!
I did have wrist injuries, though that was related to PC gaming. These are all great tips in general.
Every point here makes sense. I am young, and I have been going to the gym, working out 6x a week. I also have improved my mental health and I am much more focused when practicing. You will be more mindful of the pain you have, be more focused, reduce injury risk, and much more if you just fix your mental and physical health. Sure, you mau injure yourself when working out, but that is avoided by doing higher than 10 reps with proper form (resistiance training).
You just reminded me of a 2017 injury; after a couple job switches, i was riding my bicycle to work on a road i was comfortable with and happened to find a Suburban's rear quarter panel with my non-helmeted head. Was in the hospital for 2.5 weeks and only remember the .5 part. My brain is fine now (or better be), but i have had 60% hearing loss in my right ear snce then. Point being, don't over-estimate what you think you can do and always stay within reason for life in general. I miss hearing how I used to...
Thanks for the heads up, your videos are so helpfull !
As far as prevention goes for injuries away from the piano, I recommend doing calisthenics. It helps with all of the 7 points ( 9:12 ) when done seriously.
Also, avoiding strength related activities leads to weakness, and we can't avoid it all the time so it's better to be prepared.
Along with the strength gains and wrist bulletproofing, we also gain a sensibility to what our body can manage