About a month ago I was diagnosed with repetitive strain injury in my left arm. I can't play any of my instruments, and I shouldn't really be typing either to be honest, until it gets better. However at the moment it just seems to be getting worse and I'm worried it's not ever going to recover! I'm having physiotherapy but I'm not sure whether it's helping or not. Can't do any rowing either. It sucks.

It's especially depressing not being able to play... especially as I'm supposed to be thinking about careers at the moment. I honestly can't think of any jobs available for a musician with only one working arm, who has lost the ability to compose, who doesn't want to teach (got put off the other evening when I was helping at my old school and I got shouted at by other people's parents for putting the crisps in the wrong place), who thinks she would be lousy as a therapist and who isn't a particularly great singer...

Anyway if you have any ideas for how to beat RSI, or for what I can do after I leave uni, do let me know!

Crumbs Cheeble, i have nothing productive to offer, but would like to give you my best wishes for a speedy recovery from this, and i do hope that someone can give you some sound advice and encouragement

The rowing may well have caused it - I got severe tendonitis in my 3rd term from rowing and was forced by the doctor to give up - he gave me an ultimatum - if I didn't give up the rowing he said I might damage my wrist to the extent that my piano playing would suffer permanently...........Are you stroke or bow side? I was bow - and it was my left wrist. The uni coach identified my problem - I was actually pulling slightly with my feathering hand instead of using just my right arm for pulling power but I don't reckon feathering the blade is actually a good movement for a wrist anyway..... but I was on strong painkillers and had a quadrupled support bandage on my wrist aswell and it was just getting worse.... (which really p**d me off as the uni coach was wanting me to trial for the uni squad AARRGGHH!!!!! And I didn't exactly please LMBC when I told them the doctor had told me to stop either..... ) But on the plus side I stopped and my wrist recovered and I can still play the piano!!!!

I have suffered from this in the past and also with migraines too.
I was introduced to Bioflow and their magnetic braclets/products i bought one and my migraines have reduced and i am also not getting the pain in my hips, and arms. My husband has also tried onetoo as he was getting pins and needles in his arm/hand and was loosing grip.
I have now become a distributor so if you are interested please pm me and i can send you some information.
All are covered with a money back guarantee.

Yes I have RSI in my right wrist, and I've had it since about April/Mayish time. There is not much that can help apart from lots and lots and lots of rest. It weakens your hand, but you can build up strength gradually after it's healed. Trying to use it in anyway at all will do it no favours and as you already know, it may damage your hand permanantly.

With me there wasn't much choice, it was the middle of A-levels and I was practising for my diploma, I'm right handed so I just had to deal with it. Afterwards I just pretty much stopped using it, and it's gotten much much better, but like it said it's weaker. It gets tired and aches much more easily than it did before, but it gets better.

It will get better, so though it's annoying now, the less you use it now, the better it will be in the long term. I know not using it at all is a silly concept, but you'd be suprised at how much you can do with just one hand.

Aw Cheebs, you still suffering *sends CHEESE and hugs*

You ARE a good singer

I don't know what to say, but I hope you get better soon. We'll have to catch up sometime.

I had RSI a few years ago after an evil piano teacher had me playing nothing but hanon and I was doing far too much practicing of it to get it right. I had to wear a peculiar thing on my arm, wrist and hand for a couple of months. I havn't really played the piano seriously since. But i'm sure you'll be fine! I now have lymes disease and its affecting my joints but I can still do my 4 hours practice a day (if not all at once!)

Sorry for what you are going through at the moment. A world without playing music must be terrible!

At the start of 2006 I developed a tennis elbow type injury. It was caused by an extended session of clapping latin rhythms in a jazz workshop (I felt it happening but thought it was one of those muscular things that was stiff for a day or two then gets better) then exacerbated by a combination of saxophone playing and computer keyboard/mouse work. Six months after I picked up the injury I was still suffering, I went to a party and can clearly remember wincing when I shook someone's hand and needing to use two hands to pour the jug of Pimms.

But....at some point it got better. Now apart from a very occasional twinge it doesn't cause me any problems any more. I think that damaged tendons take an awfully long time to heal, but provided there's no other underlying problem they DO heal, you just need to be patient and give it time.

Have you tried acupuncture?

Acupuncture is what got me back on track when I damaged a nerve in my right hand from playing. I was off for 5 months - complete nightmare. I was restricted to 30 mins piano practice and had my diploma in the middle of the period. I also had to learn to write with my left hand - not fun for GCSE mocks...

During this I was wearing a Fortuna wrist splint, and going to physio. The physio turned out to be a qualified acupuncturist, and gave me acupuncture twice a week for about 3 months. Much as I disliked it, I am sure that it played a large part in my recovery.

Please PM me if you have any questions - or just want to rant to someone who understands!

Poor you Cheeble

thanks for all your replies everyone - some useful stuff!



tell me about it! I was so stressed out trying to find a sub for the getting-on race... thankfully my boat was the fastest non-qualifier so I didn't have to find one for bumps, but I still got into huge trouble with CCBC! have told them I don't want to row next term in case the same thing happens again - I don't want to let my crew down!! think I'm going to have to give up the rowing permanently though - too much stress for the arm!




I have, yes. My physiotherapist also does acupuncture so I'm having that as well as the regular physiotherapy. Weird experience!! I'll keep you updated as to its success.

Thanks everyone! it's feeling a little better today... I don't want to tempt fate, but hopefully it should be OK eventually! xx

Poor cheeble - really hope this gets better soon.

All the best for a speedy recovery cheeble.

I've got RSI in my wrist, but because I kept playing anyway it's gone into my shoulder, neck and back and I have to crack my back every so often. I just ignore it, coz stopping playing isnt really an option and I've had it for 4 years now and Physio is only a temporary stop gap.

I stopped playing for a while, but then everything seized and whn I started working it again, it just went back to what it was anyway. I do stretches, but that's about it. If it really hurts when I practice I stop, but otherwise just keep going in rehearsals and stuff!

It's a bit naff really, but doctors don't seem to get that you loose so much more from stopping completely because everything else goes dodgy. I know that's the only thing they can suggest, but it doesn't really help. I got banned from playing and singing for a while (this is my 4th week) because I kept havong asthma attacks and I've just tarted playing again and my clarinet playing is awful. It's like being a beginner again! My fingers won't work because my hand;s seized again and I still can't breathe down it/ But never mind!

edit: hope it gets better soon, it will do!

You yourself might be able to deal with the pain, but this is precisely why you shouldn't just ignore it. As you've said, stopping does make things go backwards for a while, but some people might prefer for that to happen and have things get better, rather than having to learn to cope with increasing pain.

You said that everything siezes up when you stop playing, but that's possibily becuase you don't rest for long enough and so when you come back to playing, it will just end up making it worse. When I rested, I did it for a long time (approx. 3 months). Even now it's not completely healed, but I am doing much much better than I did before.

hope you all get better soon

I am sorry to hear about the problems some of you are having. Unfortunately, after initially resting you still have to be very careful. As well as the physiotherapy, self-help is also important. Exercise such as swimming is very beneficial, and pilates classes. If you have problems with your elbows the best swimming strokes are back stroke and front crawl as breast stroke puts too much strain on the elbows. When you feel the tension building up in your arms it is best to stop what you are doing as it does make it worse. It is a question of working in a way to keep your symptoms under control. Sometimes there are days when you will be able to perform for longer periods and days when you cannot manage more than a short period. Hope you all feel much better.

Cheeble, there is a good holistic health practice in Hills Road. If conventional medicine doesn't work, PM me and I'll send you the details. There's also a lot of complementary stuff around Cambridge City Centre that I've heard good thing about. I hope you get things fixed. If you parents can help get an Alexander teacher. It may not help you now, but will help prevent the problems recurring. My Step-father used one in Cambridge after playing too much Viola caused him problems. Again PM me and I'll get the details if you're interested.

Jo