Author: oboesax
Date: 2012-04-26 20:59
My daughter, age 16, had trouble last year with carpel tunnel in her left wrist. It might not have been caused by playing oboe, because she is also an alto sax player, plus plays clarinet and sometimes bassoon in pit orchestras.
I found a musician's hand clinic in Baltimore, Maryland. Not that close to us, but it was well worth the trips. My daughter is fine now. Here's what we learned in the process:
--stretching techniques, hand and finger exercises. These are done every day. Also it is important to regularly exercise. For my daughter, that activity will be swimming, since she was a competitive swimmer in her youth, and she can swim all strokes in a controlled manner.
--after you consult with an expert from a musician's clinic, find a physical therapist/chiropractor near you who will follow the clinic's recommendations. For us it is a sports chiropractor who was already very familiar with the stretching techniques. I took my daughter to him every 2-3 weeks for 6 months, just for prevention, and he stretched out her wrist and arm every time.
--get neck straps for the oboe and English horn. My daughter found she didn't need it for the oboe. We also modified the keys on the EH for the right hand and made them more ergonomical.
--look at what else may be stressing your wrist. We determined that it was the bassoon playing that injured her wrist, holding up the bassoon. My daughter decided to give up the bassoon when we discovered that, at least for now.
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