Hi folks

Just lately I have found, despite a decent warm up, a couple of hours practise leaves my fingers and sometimes even my wrist and elbows stiff and sore. Have you guys encountered this, and what do you do to remedy it or prevent it in future?

I'm working on being a fairly relaxed player, so the tension creatd by the unsurety of learning new material should soon be alleviated a little, but in the meantime my finger joints throb! Cod liver oil has helped a bit. Do you guys take any kind of supplements for your joints, or have any exercises you like to use to limber up a bit?

I've been practising quite a lot recently but I can't say it does leave me stiff although my joints do feel 'warm' with all the exercise! My shoulder aches by the time I'm finished but that's just with holding up the violin and it eases pretty much straight away. I do stretches with my arms when I'm finished and that seems to take care of any aches. I have a problem with my left wrist anyway but playing the violin doesn't make it any worse.

I do have a problem with the first joint of my first finger on my left hand and there's a lump on the joint. It's not painful but it's quite noticeable. I'm terrified I'm getting arthritis in it.

I'm such an old crock

Are you keeping warm enough or playing in a cold room?

You are just getting old!!

I get sore joints all the time, but I have Lyme disease, but it gets particularly bad in my shoulder and left wrist when I play my solid silver throughout flute which is a right pest.

Cod liver oil is good, as is Ibuprofen gel if its getting unbearable!

I have this problem all the time, but then I have rheumatoid arthritis!

A good policy to adopt is putting your violin down from time to time during your practice when things start to hurt, and stretching out your joints. You could also try splitting up your practice into two or more shorter sessions instead of one long one. But check that your set-up is right for you too.

Perhaps you're just plain over-doing it! Not what anyone wants to hear, but sometimes it's the unfortunate truth.

Thanks for coming back to me guys! Some good suggestions there. I'm going to stick with the cod liver oil, and break each session into a couple of shorter ones. I'm definitely in a warm room - my partner gets cold so easily it's always really hot in my house. Quite often I have to sit down to play in my shorts!!!

Mind you, my finers are feeling stiff and clumsy at the moment, and my last practise was at about 11 this morning. Heigh ho - it probably is old age!!!

I hate to say this and sound like the crank I am...for years I heard that people with arthritis avoided sugar and refined starches, but heck, I didn't have arthritis, nothin' to do with me, I was just getting a bit older, computer work was bad for my back and fingers, a few old injuries...

Then I started cutting down on sugar, and more importantly, eating whole grains. I wasn't thinking about joint pain at all, so I was astounded to find how much less stiff and painful my joints were when I ate that way. Conversely, when I stopped eating that way, after a while the pain returned .

Taking supplements such as glucosamine with chondroitin, or Omega 3 capsules or even Cod Liver Oil capsules, really can make a difference to joint movement and help prevent stiffness.

There are vegetarian (and probably vegan) versions of these out there too. Try a Holland & Barrett healthfood store, or maybe even their website.

Yes but have you tried taking that glucosamine oil stuff? I'd rather stick with rubbish joints if that's the alternative...

One of my whippets has arthritis in her elbow. She was on a glucosimine/condroitin supplement and had quite a pronounced limp. I ran out of her tablets a few weeks ago and she stopped limping

Now I don't give her the supplement at all and the limp hasn't come back

All my dogs get oily fish at least once a week though and a capsule of cod-liver oil twice a week.

Well when I first started my wrist used to get stiff but now, after a few weeks of practice, my wrist doesn't get stiff. I hope this helps.

Shouldn't we all?? I read more than once about folk eliminating athritic symptoms simply by eliminating dairy foods - all of them.

Wasn't aware that it was available as an oil, I've only ever seen the tablet form.

Nutrition isn't as simple as that. Eliminating a particular type of food from your diet because you've heard someone else did it, can potentially do you more harm than good. Everyone's dietary requirements are different and I think the key to eating anything is, 'in moderation'.

Moderation and balance are indeed vitally important, but choosing one type of starch rather than another isn't the same as eliminating the whole dairy food group! Not to say that what suits me would suit everybody, of course.

Lucky you...

Oh crumbs... I slipped in the garden this morning while playing with the dogs and landed badly on a pile of rocks (well it's really my 'rockery' but the plants are rather self-seeded and straggely so 'rockery' seems a bit of a grand name.)

ANYWAY, I landed on my left arm and shoulder and I'm bruised and sore and feeling sorry for myself. I can't raise my arm without pain so no violin for me just now

Time for some ibuprofen and arnica methinks....

Are you sure you were taking glucosamine? It normally comes as tablets, although there is one mail order firm that has recently introduced a liquid form. The tablets are tasteless and both myself and my husband take them and find them excellent. I have deformed joints on the 2nd and 3rd finfers of my right hand and the 3rd finger of my left hand, but since taking glucosamine and chondroitin plus cod liver oil, there is very little loss of mobility and I can play piano and cello without pain. Make sure if you use these supplements that you use a reliable supplier - active content and price can vary considerably. I can supply information of a reasonably priced and reliable source by pm if anyone is interested.

In answer to the original post. two hours at a stretch is almost certainly too much. I can't do more than an hour of cello practice without my fingers and other muscles needing a rest!

Yep, definitely. Because I hate taking tablets and I don't have much cartigile left in one knee since it all crumbled and got taken out, along with some bone, so my mum made me take it. I think I had it twice and refused after that. It tasted like oil and something else gross. Bleugh.

It's worth doing stretches beforehand, and during, too, especially if you're playing for a long time.

lottie, I hope your bruising goes away soon!

My wrist is completely worn out...
Although that's possibly with writing so many essays for A Levels and doing 4 hours of fencing a week too

Still, I'm in 5 music groups and it does get pretty wearing on your wrist (and shoulder).

You get the stereotypical "bruise" on your chin if you play too much fiddle as well... I know someone who practised for EIGHT HOURS for his Grade 8, and his neck as blleding when he went into the exam - crazy! He did only drop a couple of marks though...

I also play the rebec (medieval fiddle), which instead of going under your chin rests below your shoulder, so your wrist has to support it, which gets really tiring. Plus the gut strings blister your fingers.