I love practicing, if my hands didn’t give out after an hour, I’d bow all day long. But I get this particular ache in my left wrist(pinky side), from turning it around the fingerboard.
The ache relieves after I finish playing, but is it a normal thing? Is my left hand just not used to this really awkward position? Or am I holding it wrong?
I know it’s not a lot of information to go on, but if you could give me a little advice from your beginner days, maybe I could tell if I’m holding it wrong.
There are always aches and pains while things stretch. My tendons and such are still stretching after two years. That position is not really natural for your wrist and hand. However, don’t overdo your practices. An ache from stretching tendons can turn into worse.
I know you have a teacher. You should go over left hand position with him. Much easier to cover this in person.
Uh huh, because tendons weren’t designed to stretch. If you try to stretch a tendon either you get an inflammatory response (tendonitis) or you weaken the integrity of the tendon.
Tendons hold muscle to bone. The stretch is done at the muscle tissue and to accomplish that easiest you need to warm up the muscle first.
Besides hatha yoga, I warm up my hand muscles before playing by washing the dishes.
Interesting ideas, I’m going to try warming up before I play from now on.
And I didn’t know that about tendons.
I’m lucky to know a doctor who specializes in musician’s injuries like some do athletes’ injuries (they’re often very similar). He tells me that stretching and preparation are as important to playing as they are to running a marathon.
Hmm, anyone know of any stretching exercises?
Besides ones I just make up on the top of my head.
I usually just clench my hand around slowly and shake it from side to side, but I’m sure there are more effective ways..