Scared pianist with wrist tendonitis and arm pain
by Aly
(Alabama, USA)
I am a pianist. I started feeling pain before my last recital, but kept practicing for 3 weeks until my recital, then continued, like an idiot, to practice another week for one more hour long recital. Now I have terrible pain. It used to be only after I practiced - like the next day or that night, but now it's all the time.
It stings as I type this question. I have pain in my wrist (stinging pain) and sometimes down my arm or on top of my wrist and into my fingers. I do not have numbness, but lately I have started feeling a lack of strength.
Just picking up a baby wears out my arms and they start feeling limp. I have been ice dipping my arms a LOT but my arms get worse every day. I was on naproxin but as that didn't help, I was put on celebrex.
This doesn't seem to be working either.
WHAT CAN I DO? Will I have this forever and never play again?
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Joshua Comments:Hi Aly.
Yes, playing through pain without doing any effective self care isn't the best thing in the world.....
Will you have it forever? I hate to say it, but unless you reverse the
Pain Causing Dynamic, it's unlikely that your tendonitis symptoms are going to go away...unless you quit playing piano.
But even if you do quit, even if you take a year off, if you came back and started playing again, it's
predictable that the pain and other symptoms will return.
There are
There Are Two Types Of Tendonitis, with damage and without damage.
It's unlikely that you have any actual damage. But you do have a progressive dynamic of muscles that are TOO TIGHT and connective tissue that is TOO TIGHT and a freaked out nervous system and an acute
Process of Inflammation.
All that combines to make your structures both VERY irritable and poor workers.
If you're icing A LOT (what does that mean, exactly?) then that points to one or both of A. You're in an acute inflammatory state and/or B. nutritional deficiency (Vit D, magnesium, protein, good fats, etc).
Naproxin and Celebrex clearly aren't working, and cause problems of their own.
What can you do? Granted, I'm biased, but I think you should get a complete plan, and get my
Reversing Wrist Tendonitis program.
Aside from that, see:
Magnesium for Tendonitis, get your Vitamin D level checked, increase your protein and good fats intake (Omega 3's, coconut oil, avocado, etc).
More questions, more answers.
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----------------------- Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert
www.TendonitisExpert.com