Preventing and Rehabilitating Piano Injuries
As a piano instructor, I often witness the physical and emotional toll that piano-related injuries can have on musicians. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned performer, understanding how to prevent and rehabilitate piano injuries is crucial for maintaining your health and continuing your passion for playing. In this blog post, we’ll explore common piano injuries, prevention strategies, and rehabilitation techniques.
Common Piano Injuries
- Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI)
- Symptoms: Pain, tingling, or numbness in the fingers, hands, or wrists.
- Causes: Prolonged practice sessions with poor posture and incorrect hand positioning.
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
- Symptoms: Numbness, tingling, and weakness in the hand and fingers.
- Causes: Compression of the median nerve, often due to repetitive motions with poor wrist positioning.
- Tendinitis
- Symptoms: Pain and inflammation in the tendons of the wrist or forearm.
- Causes: Misuse (and not just overuse) of the playing mechanism, playing with improper technique and often excessive force.
- Back and Neck Pain
- Symptoms: Stiffness, soreness, and pain in the back and neck.
- Causes: Poor posture while playing/lack of ergonomic adjustments of the bench. Poor technique.
Prevention Strategies and Rehabilitation Techniques/Proper Technique and Posture
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- Hand Positioning: Keep your wrists relaxed and in a neutral position. Avoid bending your wrists or moving them independently left/right.
- Seating: Use an adjustable bench to ensure your elbows are slightly above or level with the keys. Sit upright with your feet flat on the floor.
- Learning and utilising the principles of the Taubman Approach helps the hand to adopt new, healthy habits. At the same time, getting rid of old, injurious habits, allows the pianist to enjoy a new sense of freedom and ease on the piano keys. The weight is now transferred with ease from note to note, and the technique is transformed.
