 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: psychotic lil clarinet girl (don't as
Date: 2004-11-21 11:24
well, I've posted before about my fingers aching and stuff... Well they got over it, and now my wrists are acting up... I have no clue why, and it seems like after holding my clarinet for a long time (or sometimes not even too long a time), my right wrist acts up... But, my left wrist is the one that hurts more (go figure)... And I try rolling them out and stuff and it doesn't really help... grr... Any suggestions?
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Author: Stepan
Date: 2004-11-21 11:29
Oh my gosh, you probably have painy wrists, there is really nothing you can do with it, BUT: you can cut your hands off. This really helps...
Seriously: the problem might be, that you not only press keys with your fingers, but that you also hold the clarinet, and it is pretty heavy. The first thing I would think about is to try a neck strap.
Post Edited (2004-11-21 11:30)
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Author: psychotic lil clarinet girl (don't as
Date: 2004-11-21 11:31
yeah... good idea... but I don't see how that would help with my left wrist... All I know is it's 6:30 in the morning over here, and I couldn't sleep partly because of my "painy wrists"... grr... IT HURTS! :(
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Author: Stepan
Date: 2004-11-21 11:35
Your left hand might be trying to help the right one and you do not even know about that.
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Author: Bnatural
Date: 2004-11-21 14:51
Use a neckstrap...
Take some time off..
Ice and aleve should take the edge off of the pain
Don't just play through the pain... it can get to be very dibilitating
I had to take a few months off and get surgery. I would of been back sooner but I kept playing through the pain and made it worse.
Their is obviously something amiss here, you shouldn't be having this many problems unless you are doing something severley wrong w/ your technique, or their is some problem w/ your joints. I don't no what your situation is but next time your at a doctor I would mention all the problems you've been having.
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Author: idahofats
Date: 2004-11-21 16:06
Ditto on the neckstrap, and as Don Berger might suggest, try moving your thumbrest. Also, tinker with resting the instrument on a knee. As far as the pain itself, I've been dealing with repetitive stress injuries for years (try a bboard or general Web search on that subject.) My own solution, especially when I can't sleep, is to drop my arms off the side of the bed or chair. To deal with intense pain, I hold my arms straight out to the sides, flex my fingers as widely as possible, and rotate my forearms as far as I can, clockwise and counterclockwise. over and over, flexing especially the second finger as far as possible, in an attempt to stretch the associated tendons. Also, if the problem is related to circulation, rapidly windmilling your arms will push blood toward the extremities. If all else fails, bring this to the attention of your instructor and family doctor. Finally, stop hitting the wall with your fists...
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-11-21 18:02
You could be pushing too hard on the notes. I remember when I first started (and I still see people do it from time to time), I would push on the keys "extra hard" to "make" the note come out. Over time, I imagine that would start to take its toll.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2004-11-21 18:15
It could be from the clarinet but I doubt it.
Having pain in both wrists is more indicitave of computer usage than clarinet playing.
I currently have some thumb tendonitis/nerve cap - but I know it's from heavy weight lifting.
Power lifting and Clarinet don't mix too well.
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Author: psychotic lil clarinet girl (don't as
Date: 2004-11-21 18:45
ha, well I don't hit the wall with my fist :p
hehe, and I dunno... Just today, it was my left wrist that was hurting and not my right one... And the other day (when I was only playing for about 20-30 minutes in the band room), my right wrist started hurting like crazy... :(
And my mom doesn't really believe in doctors... And she would probably say, "If this turns out to be nothing, then you're paying for it"... Or something of the sort...
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Author: Marie
Date: 2004-11-21 22:03
All of the above advice is good.
For my own wrist pain, I've had to lay off it a bit, permanantly switch hands when using the mouse, use a neckstrap and stretch before, during and after I play.
When the pain was great, I used a wrist brace to stabilize the wrist, took celebrex and slowly stretching my arms up in the air, feeling the tendons through my finger tips. My physical therapist had me repeat this exercise 10 times, every 2 hours. The PT also massaged the hand and arm, and did some sort of electrical therapy. There are other exercises, too. When the pain came after playing, icing and heating the arm and hand decreased swelling and increased bloodflow. I hear it is very dangerous to not deal with this.
It took one day of not playing with a neck strap for six hours to damage it again. It took two months before the pain began to subside. I make sure to ALWAYS use a neck strap, and the above precautions and I've been doing well while still doing lots of playing. I also no longer need the anti-inflammatories. A good physical therapist has saved many clarinet players where I live. My general doctor prescribed pain killers and reccomended me to a PT for the insurance to pay for it. SO, a doctor may be able to give you limited support. It's the PT that helped me.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-11-21 23:30
I would see a doctor, or perhaps a chiropractor. (I've actually just seen a chiropractor for the first time, as I had started unwisely wearing a heavy shoulder bag that my body didn't agree with.) Something as simple as playing in a slightly different, more natural and low-impact position may ease the pain significantly. I'd go with Marie's advice of seeing a therapist; while I'm sure there are lots of regular doctors that can fix the problem properly, there are also some that will just medicate like there's no tomorrow. In summarium, see someone that specializes in the pain you're having.
As for your mom not believing in doctors, a little bit of proper treatment and possibly adjustment of habits now can save much worse, and more costly, long-term damage. If you're losing sleep over it, seek help!
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: DavidC
Date: 2004-11-23 21:00
I had pain in my right wrist when I was in college from practicing the clarinet. I solved the problem by tuning my thumbrest upside down, which raised my thumb the better part of an inch, and took all the tension out of my hand position. I was unable to use an ideal hand position because of an early childhood injury to my right little finger. Anyway, the adjustable thumbrests that I have seen mostly let you move the rest lower, not higher than the standard postion, which in my case didn't help. A pad on the thumbrest (a baby bottle niple) made it comfortable in the upside-down position.
Someone said they thought the pain in your left wrist might be from the left hand trying to help the right hand. This is possible. I had tendonitis in my right arm a couple years ago from playing tennis (classic tennis elbow). After suffering for a week or so, it magically appeared in my left arm too, just because I was favoring my right arm and the left one was picking up the slack.
David Coe
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Author: psychotic lil clarinet girl (don't as
Date: 2004-11-24 02:30
I dunno.. possibly... Everytime I play the piano now my hands are so sore... And I just practiced my clarinet during lunch for like 10 minutes and my wrist started hurting again... I was standing up, when I sit down and let it rest between my legs it's not so much of a problem... I have a pad thumbrest thingamajig... but oh wells...
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Author: florizell
Date: 2004-11-24 03:21
i have wrist pains too, but know for a fact that i have loose ligaments all over the place. however this doesnt mean that i know how to deal with the pain!
my wrists have cracked since i was a kid but are only painful when i play. fingers also get a bit ouchy at times.
anyway with regards to wrists i'm trying to break my habbit of flicking them about to get them to be more comfortable after being told off by both my teacher and boyfriend (sax/ piano player) both had various ways of dealing with the problem and i've foung a combo thats been working fairly well so far during the strenious time of uni auditions.
1) if you think you need to crack them, grab your wrist with thumb (where you'd normal go to feel a pulse) and rest of fingers on the back of the wrist and hand. gently move your hand back untill you can feel it crack.
its still a bad habbit i know so if you can avoid doing it then do!
2) forget about pin wheeling your arms or whatever, just sit down with some moisturiser and rub you wrists where they hurt untill the moisturiser is all rubbed in.The moisturiser not only makes it easier to rub but it also gives you a time period to rub for! id reccomend doing that about twice a day, say when you get up and before you got to bed :O)
i also rub around my tendons becuase i've found that they've been getting a bit flared up recently.
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Author: OpusII
Date: 2004-11-24 17:20
Go to a doctor or physiotherapist, this really could be RSI. Stop playing before things get worse, otherwise your arm can become useless!
RSI stands for Repetitive Strain Injury:
http://eeshop.unl.edu/music.html
Don't think to easy about this subject and really go to see a doctor or physiotherapist!
Ooh, and the Kooiman Maestro works great for me after 4 weeks of resting...but I was still in the first stage of the "illness"....could take more than a couple of months to regain your strength.
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Author: psychotic lil clarinet girl (don't as
Date: 2004-11-24 17:42
Well mid-state is coming up, and then Christmas Break... And during christmas break I'll try to take a rest... I talked to a bass clarinet player at my school and he said he has similar problems... it might just be growing pains... who knows...
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Author: David Peacham
Date: 2004-11-24 18:15
David Blumberg wrote:
>> I would go to a real doctor - most chiropractor's aren't.
Things may be different in the US, but if you go to the average family doctor in England complaining of muscle/joint pains - and most especially of back pain - you'll get very little help.
An osteopath or chiropractor will at least try to treat the condition, and is unlikely to make things worse.
Moreover, any competent osteopath or chiropractor will have quite enough medical knowledge to know whether the problem does require medical treatment.
Also, don't assume that wrist pain is a symptom that you are doing something wrong with your wrists. It is quite likely to be caused by something misaligned in your shoulder or your back.
-----------
If there are so many people on this board unwilling or unable to have a civil and balanced discussion about important issues, then I shan't bother to post here any more.
To the great relief of many of you, no doubt.
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2004-11-24 20:33
ok, if it helps you than good. I've never been helped by a Chiropractor except that they lightened my wallet (so the back strain reduced....)
Post Edited (2004-11-24 21:00)
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Author: Gretchen
Date: 2004-11-25 03:04
go to a hand doctor...a good one. Tell them you're a clarinet player.
I hope that you stretch before AND after every practice session. If you don't, you'll be working your muscles too hard before they've had a chance to warm up. It's like a runner starting to sprint for an hour without a warm up first. If it's ridiculous for runners not to warm up, why isn't it for musicians? After all, we are "small muscle athletes".
I hope you warm up too. Do long tones and then light finger movement like scales at an easy tempo, concentrating on slow and relaxed movement of the fingers.
A neck strap should help the right hand, buf probably not the left. Since the left is bothering you, maybe you're not relaxed enough. You might want to think about changing your wrist/hand position. Maybe you're playing with a position that is straining, causing the pain. I'd talk to your teacher...unless you don't have one. Then maybe talk to your band director??
Just so you know, if you have numb hands at night while you sleep, it's a sign of carpel tunnel.
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Author: psychotic lil clarinet girl (don't as
Date: 2004-11-26 04:59
Thanks... they now my fingers are sore again... it's like it went away for a while and then came back... But anyways, I'll probably lay off the clarinet for a while after mid-state... I haven't even played it for the last couple of days...
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