I think I've overdone the stretching and have an aching thumb tendon. I'm taking ibuprofen at the moment to hopefully calm it down.

It's the tendon on my palm side to the middle of my thumb..

Is there anything else I should do? I get the idea my doc will just say rest it?

Can't offer any advice, I'm afraid but lots of sympathy as I think I am suffering from the same thing! I posted a little while back about my hands aching generally after stepping up my practising in preparation for my grade 2 in December. I'm doing TG exams and one of my pieces (Handel Gavotte in G) has octave jumps in the left hand and I think this is what has caused me problems! I have small hands and can manage an octave and that's it - really envious that you can get a 10th! My hand is actually looks a little swollen but I'm trying to just rest it - my scales are getting lots of attention at the moment, since they don't require any stretches! I'll follow your thread with interest in case someone has a magic cure for us!

Hum.. I don't think a 10th matters, as the piece that has caused all the problems is octave span chords

I can actually see the tendon clearly in my thumb as it's so swollen and tender - it's always been prominent in my right hand and I never thought anything of it, but it's now uncomfortable and much more visible than normal If I touch it, it hurts, and it's never been like that before. My friend who is a GP said, "I wouldn't like to comment, but see your own GP, he will probably just tell you to take ibuprofen and rest, though".



On the off-chance... any medical peeps on here got any advice (I won't sue you)?

It's all Beethoven's fault

I'm not a medical pers but if you've got a friend who's a GP and s/he has suggested you see a doctor, I would see a doctor, even if that's only for reassurance that all it needs is painkillers and rest.

I don't know about you but my left hand is much weaker than my right hand so you could try viewing it as an opportunity to strengthen your left hand... but that's just trying to look on the bright side, I can imagine how dismayed you must be about it

Ouch - that does look sore! I have something similar, though not as pronounced and it's not in the same place - it's right at the bottom of my palm, where it 'folds' and runs vertically, down towards my wrist.

I hope mine will benefit from a break from my piano and clarinet playing for a day or too ( ) but I agree with Skylark that it's probably worth seeing your GP, just in case!

Definitely see a GP but you must find out what you are doing when you play that is causing the problem. Even if rest and anti-inflammatory drugs sort out the current problem, it will recur if you use yourself incorrectly at the instrument. The ideal person would be a properly qualified piano teacher who also uses the Alexander Technique (difficult to find I suspect) or even any Alexander teacher who has experience of working with pianists.

Good Luck!

This is the first time I've ever had this and I think I know what's caused it, it's playing over lots of large chords which didn't feel very comfortable at the time. I'll avoid that piece altogether now

Because I can reach a reasonable distance, I do have a bad habit of just spanning my hand rather than moving it. I think I'll try to be more conscious of that in future.

Thanks

One of the many mistakes people make is to carry on pressing when they are holding down notes.

You can get the feeling very easily. Depress a note on the piano and keep on pressing hard. Release it, depress it again and this time release most of the press, only using enough power to keep the note depressed.

Sounds like this note needs some pretty pink pills to treat its depression.

Sorry. More seriously, the above exercise highlights how little effort is needed to keep a key\group of keys depressed, yet most people use far too much weight for the same purpose.

If you have been using too much weight on the chords you describe, then this is a sure recipe for hurting yourself. Lots of pianists, myself included, play pieces involving chords ridiculously to large for their hand span without injuring themselves simply because they know how to use their weight appropriately.

Hope that thumb clears up soon. Once it does, treat it kindly when you play.

Have never thought about how much weight I use to keep the keys depressed, especially playing chords, interesting, will bear this in mind thanks

I have only noticed a stretching feeling when practising G5 arpeggios quite intensively, i.e. 2 pages of them, fairly fast x 4 over 3 octaves







.... just wanted to add hope your hand feels better soon

we are only as strong as our weakest link !!

Thanks

After a bit of time off work it seems OK now. I'm wondering it it's more to do with using a computer mouse most of the day. I was playing quite a lot yesterday and didn't have any discomfort... oh well, I'll see how it goes! I'm going to use my left hand for the mouse for a while to see if the problem comes back.

Aah BUT were you playing the piece you originally thought might have caused the problem? I don't think my sore hand has been on quite the same scale as your thumb tendon but I can definitely narrow it down to one particular piece - unfortunately, I cannot abandon it completely as it's one of my exam pieces but I am warming up with lots of scales etc before I play it now and it's not quite as bad as it was initially!

Hope your hand continues to improve!