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Re: Right Hand Tension

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2020-07-24 17:24

platinumdoor wrote:

> I play with a
> neckstrap and while this definitely helps, sometimes I feel
> tension in my right forearm during and slightly after playing.
> I have been diagnosed with hypermobility in my hands; this
> makes them weaker than the normal person so I have found a
> neckstrap really helps with support.

I suspect the suggestions about more supportive thumb rests may be the most straightforward answer to your question. There are also a few supports on the market (or discontinued but available second-hand) that take most of the weight completely off your hand. If the problem is primarily the weight on your thumb, some kind of mechanical remedy is certainly possible.

But from personal curiosity I'd like to know a little more about the problem. I've never before heard the term "hypermobility" and find when I search for it online that it's basically joints that hyperextend beyond their "normal" range of motion. It seems to be a more formal way of describing "double-jointedness." Is there more to it than that? Do you have this hyperextensibility only in your thumb or in all of your fingers? Does hypermobility of a joint necessarily imply muscle or tendon weakness?

Have you been able to analyze exactly what's causing the tension in your forearm? Is it just from the strain of trying to keep your thumb straight, or has your doctor found any sort of muscular weakness or a nerve problem in your arm? Is there a hypermobility-related problem in your wrist?

I've had "double-jointed" students for whom supporting the clarinet on their thumbs was hard because of their thumbs' tendency to collapse. I've also had students who had trouble keeping their fingers flexed when they pressed them down to cover a hole or move a key because the knuckles ended up turning inside-out with any pressure. It didn't stop any of them from playing - but none of them had professional aspirations.

"Tension or tightness" is a concern only because it indicates fatigue because the muscle is being overworked. That can interfere with technical control, but it should be avoidable if the overwork part is corrected by mechanical aids or adjustments to your technique. I suspect unless there's more to this than I've read about that there's no reason to fear unusual injury. You've probably already been over this with a doctor, maybe an orthopedist, and maybe also an occupational therapist.

My knee-jerk (and non-medical) advice would be to find whatever approaches help the most, go ahead with your plans and see what happens. Changing a major in mid-course isn't unusual, and you won't really know if your hypermobility is really a career-changer unless you try.

Karl

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