I play violin, and I get muscle pains in my left forearm if I play for longer than usual, and sometimes just after normal practice. Is this normal? Can I do anything to help prevent/ease it?

Also, has anyone got any tips for speeding up calluses? I've started teaching myself acoustic guitar, so my fingertips are sore which affects my violin playing too.

Probably caused by unnecessary tension in your wrist or elbow (or both). You should focus on allowing your arm weight to drop through your elbow to the floor, ensuring your forearm is perpendicular to the ground or slightly to the left, but never to the right (except in 6th pos+, depending partly on hand size and joint flexibility). Also try to take "posture checks" every 10 mins of playing or so, just put your violin and bow down and completely relax your upper body, a la Alexander Technique. Really, you need to look at your basic technique though, to solve this long term. If by "longer than usual" you're talking in the range of 4h+ in a day, or have recently increased your practice very dramatically, then perhaps it is to be expected occasionally, but otherwise you should be able to rid yourself of this pain with the help of a good teacher and maybe some AT lessons.


Left hand pizzicato and glissando scales. Have fun with those See Ricci's book "LH Technique" for superlative exercises in both areas.

Hello

I find them normal. I get hand, arm and chest pains (the latter I had checked out by my GP just to be on the safe side).

I am hoping that over time the body will adjust to the new movements.

Please be very careful, my daughter has suffered for a year with pains in arms but mainly her hands and is only just starting to recover. One of her problems was her left wrist was bent and it should not have been, her new teacher saw this and this stopped her arm hurting. Her hands are still ongoing.

There are lots of exercies on this web site which might help. http://www.bapam.org.uk/perf_clinics.html

Daughter has been complaining of pain in her left arm and her hands (especially finger joints) a lot recently.
I've been very concerned to be honest and she's seen and had plenty of blood tests done- also been referred to a rheumatologist.

She started with her new teacher in September who doesn't think that there is anything wrong with her technique. We've try to reduce her practise time so that she doesn't practise everyday and/or practises for much shorter time than she was practising for a few months ago, and have asked her to stop everytime her arm starts hurting.

I hadn't really thought that it could be really connected to playing the violin as she doesn't play for that long compared to many of her friends, and so am surprised to hear of others here who've been suffering from arm pain too.

She also starts feeling quite sick and dizzy everytime she plays the violin - could this be anything to do with bad posture and tension, etc. or is it just normal 'practise blues'?!?

I'll certainly look into the BAPAM assessments for her. THANKS.

Definitely should get professional medical advice, but I am serious when I say that she might be "forgetting to breathe"....If she's also getting joint pain then possibly she is lacking in some kind of nutrient in her diet or is anaemic (I had this and it had similar effects in my case to those you describe).
From what you say though, I agree that it sounds unlikely to be violin causing the problems. Maybe you could very carefully experiment with more practice, and see if the arm pain is affected. If not, then it's probably safe to practice as much as she likes, but in a way less good as it suggests the cause of the problems is something harder to detect. Good luck, I hope this works itself out.