Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

[spdam]

I recently started playing keyboards with a rock band and after doing alot of practicing I developed some of carpal tunnel problems. I've read some of the threads that talk about correct posture and I find that helpful.

I'm hoping someone can share some thoughts if they have CTS or have experienced it in the past. What solutions or coping techniques are you using? I'm trying all different things from Vitamins to body alignment exercises, playing a little less and not hitting the keys so hard. I'm only getting a little relief.

I really enjoy playing these days and hoping I can continue. Thanks!

 

[goz211]

Sorry to read about your CTS. Are you using a piano style weighted keyboard?

 

[spdam]

No. I'm mostly playing on my new Roland Juno di. My Yamaha sy-85 has a somewhat semi-weight touch, but It's only a midi right now - hasn't got any internal voices right now. I'm working on fixing it.

 

[tstanhope89]

You should try some yoga. I do Bikram Yoga and it opened up my wrists and shoulders. I noticed I hit a wall with speed and had some cramping in my hands all the way up to my neck (it's all interconnected). If you use your muscles you have to stretch them.

 

[spdam]

thanks tstanhope89,

its been a while since I've done yoga and I know it would be beneficial with this. I've taking some b6 vitamins and that seems to help also. I'm also going to do more strenghtening.

 

[tstanhope89]

Nice, fish oil and glucosamine are good for joint health as well. Yes, alot of pianists develop muscle imbalances because of the way they play. I myself experienced this as my teachers did not teacher me about the proper technique. You might find this link helpful as it talks about the biomechanics of hand and how they should be used when playing. http://www.jazclass.aust.com/piano/default.htm

 

[Becky]

Ouch! It's definitely a good idea to give your wrist a rest by having regular breaks when you practice. There is also some good advice on NHS Online. I hope you manage to fix it!

 

[spdam]

thanks guys. I'm looking into those suggestions

 

[hatricklov]

Pretty new to the board, but this topic struck home with me. I don't have carpal tunnel, however the way I was taught piano was a direct result of my piano teacher having it. Lemme explain ...

I took lessons starting in 1st grade thru my senior year in high school. About 2-3 years into lessons, my piano teacher was having issues with CTS. He took a good long while off to see a doctor with a musical background that helped retrain his ways of doing things. Initially I was taught touch-press-release mechanics to playing a key. Had I continued I would've ended up in the same boat as my teacher. Needless to say, the new process was much more complicated but obviously worth it in the end. Bear with me as it is a bit to explain, but I'll try the best I can for a forum ...

One of the main goals was to remove the effort of playing away from your fingers—I know, sounds crazy. Instead of using the force of how hard your finger(s) can individually press a key, you have varying degrees of the elements of your arm providing the effort: the weight of your hand/wrist (soft volume), the weight of your forearm (moderate volume), the weight of your arm from your shoulder down (louder volume), and finally a small but additional amount of effort from your shoulder (loudest volume), all of which cumulatively add together. That's just one small part ...

An additional pair of techniques came into play with forearm/wrist rotation (like neutral position typing and rotating to a thumbs-up) as well as the location of where the tip of your finger ended up on the key itself.

The hand/wrist weight I mentioned above is derived from your hand relaxing from a thumbs-up angle to the neutral position (try it and watch your hand literally fall down). Another point during this exercise was to form the chord you were going to play as your hand follows through with the rotation so by the time your fingertips were at the keys 'everything' would be in position (and then the 'weight' would actually provide the effort to play, not 'press' the keys).

As for fingertip positions on the key, there are 3 (assume white keys for now): 'in' near the edge of the black keys, 'middle' in the middle of the white key and 'out' near the edge of the white key. Any play on a black key is considered an 'in'. Thus each finger has a specific depth. Your thumb and pinkie are 'in', index and ring fingers 'middle' and your middle finger 'out'.

This positional thinking is then coupled with an IN/OUT (capitalizing for distinguishing the above) wrist/forearm rotation. IN meaning a thumbs-up relaxing motion towards neutral (like your hands resting on a keyboard) and OUT meaning a bit of an over-rotation (towards your thumb) from the neutral position motion towards the neutral position.



Confused yet? Let's play the C scale for an example, right hand for sake of ascending (to the right on the keyboard):

1. Rotate IN and 'in' to play C with your thumb.
2. IN (re-rotate your forearm for the effort) and 'middle' with your index to play D.
3. Rotate IN and 'out' with your middle finger to play E.
4. Cross-under with your thumb to play F, which results in an IN (w/o re-rotating) and 'in'. Leave you forearm rotated IN for the next motion to result with an ...
5. Rotate OUT and 'middle' for your index finger to play G.
6. Rotate OUT and 'out' for your middle finger to play A.
7. Rotate OUT and 'middle' for your ring finger to play B, and finally ...
8. Rotate OUT and 'in' for your pinkie to play C! Now let's go back down ...
9. Rotate IN and 'middle' for your ring finger to play B.
10. Rotate IN and 'out' for your middle finger to play A.
11. Rotate IN and 'middle' for your index finger to play G.
12. Rotate IN and 'in' for your thumb to play F.
13. Rotate OUT (w/o really going IN) and 'out' as you cross over your middle finger to play E.
14. Rotate IN (w/o re-rotating) and 'middle' as you play D with your index finger. And finally ...
15. Rotate IN (re-rotate) and 'in as you play C with your thumb.

Congrats if you followed all of that (hopefully it makes sense) and even better if you sat down at the piano and went through it. Keep in mind that when your wrist/forearm is already loaded/wound from rotating (steps 4 and 14), don't create an additional and unnecessary motion to IN or OUT. In other words, if your wrist is already IN and the next motion will lead to OUT, don't rotate IN twice just to get to OUT—and vice versa. The same effort applies to the left hand in a mirror-like approach.

A great deal of focus during my piano lessons was placed on whether my wrists and hands were tensed. To test this, my teacher would gently pull my arm back (at the elbow) just enough for my hands/fingers to miss the keyboard—if my hands stayed 'level' with the keyboard, I was tense and using muscles I shouldn't be. Ideally, my hand and fingers would flop down 'weightlessly' as soon as they met the edge of the keys!

As always, practice slow at first and work your way up. The grand idea is that when you start playing at full speed, the effort is the same but the motions described above are not as exaggerated or obvious + the (muscle) effort from your fingers is GREATLY reduced. Reducing the effort from your fingers is key to minimizing the effects of CTS.

Keep in mind, I practiced these techniques alot along with weekly sessions alongside my teacher. As with everything it takes a great deal of practice to master. Don't expect this to come to you overnight, but hopefully it's something helpful to keep in mind as you watch how you play!

Sorry for the long post ...

 

[spdam]

Thanks Hatricklov,

Greatly appreciate all that info. I will print it out and go over it more thoroughly. I had increased my practicing time before playing out last Saturday and had a big flare up. I've been taking time off to rest and have been taking other measures to rehabilitate the muscles, tendons, posture, etc. It makes sense that I'm playing too hard with my hands and fingers and I need to change my way of playing. I'll be working on this. Thanks again.

 

[Jmcoote]

I got this about a year ago, unfortunately from playing acoustic guitar (something that I don't do a lot of. What a bummer!) I now have a little stretching routine that I do before gigs and that keeps it at bay.

I start off rotating my wrists inward whilst breathing in, and then outwards whilst exhaling. All to do with your "inner chi"

I then put my hands in a praying position pointing upwards next to my chest. I then - keeping both palms together - gently push down to stretch the muscles.

Then I put arms straight out, and go from having my wrists point down, and then up.

Then I start warming up on the keys.

I hope it goes away for you! I only tend to get it coming back when i'm doing loads of successive shows. Paticularly the other day playing outside when it was getting cold.

 

[spdam]

Thanks Jmcoote,

I will incorporate those into my routine. I have been practicing some Qi Gong also. I just need to keep it a regular practice. I start feeling a little better and then I taper off which isn't a good idea. I'm not usually in much pain if I keep my playing down to a minimum.

Other folks tell me they have a good success with surgery. I'm hesitant on going that route at this point.

 

[Schnicki]

I use the " power ball" http://www.amazon.com/Exercise-Fitn...TF8&qid=1349768826&sr=8-1&keywords=power+ball

and, it helps and it makes fun.

Dirk

 

[happyrat1]

I found this youtube of warmup exercises that seem to be VERY thorough.